How to Catch Crappie Through the Ice at Night 

Love it!

A five gallon bucket is kind of over the top. We had a family doing something like that for a season at our lake. It took several years for the fish to reach keeper size again. I actually thought it was illegal to keep that many. Is it different on a private lake?

@@diann546 Almost nobody fishes this lake, and the people who do don't normally target crappies. We only go out there once or twice per season, but even if we kept a 5-gal pail of crappies there every weekend I would be okay with that since they displaced the walleye population. According to locals, there used to be pretty decent walleye fishing on that lake in years past, but over the course of a decade or so, the crappie took over the lake and catching a walleye is increasingly rare. There's been a pattern of this across several lakes in my area, so the general attitude is that keeping lots of crappie on those lakes will, if anything, help the walleye populations recover.

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoy it!

If you try it, comment back on how you did.

@@thegreatlakesfisherman sure thing, hopefully we’ll get that second freeze towards the end of the month that they’re forecasting.

But not illegal to have a lantern in your shanty to see.

Which state?

@@thegreatlakesfisherman Minnesota

@@robjoemama2466 I just read up on it, and you are correct. www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/97C.335 I can tell you, however, that I used a Coleman lantern for years just to be able to see. would think it’s not illegal to have a light source in your shanty to be able to see at night.😏

@@thegreatlakesfisherman this technique makes sense to me! I usually have a lamp on in my pop up at night and that's when I would catch so many crappies. I didn't know it was the lamp, I thought it was just my glowing jig doing all the work 😂

Lol. So true. The sonar won’t read those fish unless they’re directly underneath the transducer.

My livescope entered the chat