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ce fishing guide, Matt Klug and I had been trying to hook up for a crappie outing for some time. Between the uncooperative ice formation and poor weather, it took a while to get it done. However, persistence paid off and we solidified a date for the event.
It was a comfortable twenty degrees when we arrived at the landing of a St. Cloud, Minnesota area lake. However, we knew this would not last as the front would soon be on us. Just to be safe, I threw an extra jacket onto the sled before we headed onto the ice.
After a bit of a hike, I checked the GPS on my phone to help us find the general location we wanted to fish. The basin we were targeting was quite extensive and picking a spot that had been productive in past outings seemed like a good idea.
Although I am not a fan of fishing in extremely cold weather, we both agreed we would tolerate the predicted high winds and low windchills and tough it out for a few hours. Since neither one of us really likes to fish out of a house, weather can be more of an issue.
Klug knew this location well as it was one of his favorite spots to take clients, especially those that had kids along. Although the crappies did not run big on this lake, the numbers were impressive which helped when taking families on the ice.
With the assistance from a Garmin LiveScope, Klug soon had some suspended crappies pinpointed. However, when we drilled out an area to fish, the crappies spooked and were nowhere to be found. This is not that unusual when there is only five inches of ice.
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