Chasing The Day Away

The majority of the crappie fishing that I do during the winter in Vermont is on shallow weedy flats. The few days a year that I get after them in deeper water are very exciting! I started the day well before daylight with a buddy. As the sun started to creep over the mountains, we had our grid of holes covering much of the 20-22' basin. In general, these fish cruise in a circle following the deep edge of a 15' contour chasing shiners. The fish were active right off but it took a bit to find a pod of better sized crappie. My buddy and I hole hopped staying on then pretty good for a couple hours. While maggots worked well, it was cold and moving hole to hole made it difficult to keep them fresh. I ended up making a switch early in the day to a Jamei from Maki Plastics rigged on a Half Ant Drop from Clam Pro Tackle. Once mid day hit, the fish slid up a bit shallower which was unusual. Fortunately, they didn't lose any of their aggressiveness! The bite stayed strong until we left with enough fish for a few meals around noon.