Wonder Lake

Shore-fished for carp yesterday afternoon.  It rained on us and the bright sun blinded us, all within 30 minutes.  Worst of all, no carp.  We did manage to pull in one 2 lbs channel cat.  As the sun was setting, it happened.  We started casting minnow-mimicking lures because we were getting nothing from still fishing.  We caught a largemouth, a smallmouth, and 28 crappies.  WT1 is pictured with a 9” black crappie.  It wasn’t the best one, but it needed extra attention unhooking, so we took the opportunity to get a picture.  The average size was 10” and we had several 12-inchers.  In the past years, when we were on crappie bites, the white crappie outnumbered the black crappie 9-to-1.  Yesterday, of the 28, only four were white crappies (1-in-7).   Not sure what that means, but I thought to share that information.  Needless to say, but I'll say it for those who don't know Wondertucky1 and me; we are strictly catch-and-release anglers. BTW - that was the "team" report.  Individual efforts - WT1 caught the two bass and 17 crappies; I caught the catfish and 11 crappies.  

Can you still get on the lake, or are the shorelines shot? 

Today I checked the Southwest side and found 4 inches of ice. Then I went to the Northwest side and checked two spots up there. Both spots had 5 inches of white ice. Shoreline was 3 to 3.5 inches. I caught quite a few small perch. Kept three 9 inch perch and two 7.5 inch gills. Most were caught with a size 14 gold tungsten jig, plastics and spikes both worked.  

Wondertucky1 took out his boat this afternoon.  I would classify today as “quality over quantity.”  Okay, we only caught three fish; two bass and one walleye.  The walleye measured 28” and weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz.  The walleye smacked a lipless crank and the two bass were fooled by a spinnerbait.  

Not seeing too many posts this year.  Here's a crappie that hit Wondertucky1's soft stickbait.  He definitely out-fished me last week, more than doubling my catch.  He caught a dozen bass, but only one was a smallmouth.  We normally catch more smallies than largemouths, so it was an unusual day . . .