On Easter Sunday, I got a call from Mark wanting to go fishing. My wife had wanted me to do some things around the house, but she (like I) was a bit exhausted from a couple of late nights. So since she wanted to lay down for a while, I got the go ahead to go.
In March and April in Minnesota, the only species of fish you can “target” is panfish. Hard core anglers get out their light tackle and typically go after crappie. This was what we were after that afternoon.
Mark let me use his one of his rods since the only light gear I have is my ice fishing rods. I thought I would bring those out, but he said he would be laughed off the lake if he let me use one of them while out on his boat.
We got on the lake a little after 3pm and casted with slip bobbers and crappie minnows. There were quite a few boats out. More than I expected. On my first cast, within a minute or two, my bobber went under. Instinctively, I tried to set the hook, but the line was too slack and I missed it. Mark scolded me. He said I should just reel in, not set the hook. Crappie are known to have “paper lips,” so if you set too hard, you’ll rip the hook right through their lips.
Another cast and again, within a minute or so, my bobber goes down. I missed it again. Third time, though, was the charm. The bobber went down, I started reeling and was able to pull in a small crappie. I estimated at 8 inches.
Mark gave me some tips on how to attract the crappie and what to watch for with the bobber. His techniques helped to keep the line taut with the bobber. I hadn’t fished with a bobber (other than ice fishing) in about 25 years. I remember now why I switched to casting artificials. Watching a bobber can really play with your mind as you’re fixated on something floating on choppy water. Sometimes you think it’s going down when it’s not. Other times you realize you’ve gone about two minutes without blinking. It takes a lot of concentration.
But this session was a lot more fun than when I was a kid. Over the three hours we were out, we landed about 20 crappie and missed about as many. Mark also caught 3 bass and 2 northern pike. Unlike being on the ice, this time I caught more crappie than Mark. I landed 11-12 and Mark got the rest. Although, with the added species, I guess Mark still outdid me in totals.
Most of the crappie were around 8 inches in length. But we did start to land some bigger ones near the end. I ended up with three 9 inchers, two 10-inchers, and a mammoth (to me) 11 incher. Most of the fish didn’t feel like much as I reeled them in. They’re just too light and don’t put up much of a fight. But one of the 10 inchers hit so hard and had so much weight, I could have sworn it was a bass. I think it was wishful thinking after watching Mark catch several of the bonus species.



I was under orders to come home with fish or not come home at all. We started keeping the early small fish, but ended up culling them before heading home. I took home ten nice fish.

It was a good afternoon on the water. It felt good to be casting and reeling again. Only one fish reminded me of summer, but at least I felt some tugs on the line. Bass opener can’t come soon enough.
Sweet, Looks like you got your limit in crappie. You were using bait under a bobber, I wonder how they would hit jigs? Try a marabou crappie jig next time you go out and tell us how it goes. What was Mark using to catch the bass and pike?
Some of those fish in the pic were Mark’s, but if you count the dinky ones we culled, I got my limit and more. I’ll definitely try a marabou jig if I can get a hold of one. Our minnows were on pink jig heads with exposed hooks. Mark sometimes uses jig heads with and without mini-mite trailers. It all depends, he says. Mark was using the same set up I was that day when he caught the bonuses.