Fall often means hefty catches

There's a difference between mid-fall angling and ice fishing.

Ice anglers like myself truly know that the frigid walk across a lake during ice season is just a mere warmup once we get inside our comfortable, portable ice shelters.

Fall fishermen are another breed. Strong winds, rain, high waves and even sleet and snow will bounce us around like a cork, constantly testing the mettle of a person who refuses to give up and be content with reading past issues of National Geographic.

But if one charges ahead, the rewards are tremendous.

Friend Spence Petros makes his annual pilgrimage into the wilds of Lake of The Woods in Ontario for his never-ending quest to find the beast of all beasts. Of course I'm referring to the giant muskies that inhale baitfish by the gallons.

I prefer to take the low road during this time of the year. My treasure hunt focuses on fall crappies.

One of the e-mails I recently received was from a Mount Prospect reader who asked where he could find the jumbo, fall crappies I'm always talking about in this column.

If you can find the time to drive to northern Wisconsin, a proverbial pot of gold could await you. Fall crappie fishing in the far north country is something akin to a religion, in that local guides around the Hayward, Eagle River and Minocqua areas are generally booked one or two years in advance.

If you can't see your way clear to travel, the next best place is the Fox Chain.

The usual hot crappie spots now are Petite, Pistakee and Bluff Lakes for some very decent fish.

Bluff Lake doesn't get very much pressure. I prefer to use a long spinning rod, 4- to 6-pound test mono with a fluorocarbon leader, a slip float and a tiny white Mini-Mite jig tipped with a very small minnow.

I will look for any brush pile along the shoreline. I also check the channel mouths and backwater areas as well.

A simple rule of thumb is if you find one or two crappies, chances are you've discovered a school. Have another rod rigged with a small hook, some split shot and a wax worm. Sometimes I'll alternate between the two setups when the bite slows.

Of if you want to fish like Petros, try a double rig. This is where you have a dropper jig and about 8-10 inches above that you tie on a small hook with a minnow. One time, on Pistakee Lake, I had double bites all afternoon working the piers.

Some time back a friend and I fished Nelson Lake in the Hayward, Wis., area. It was late October and our mission was to find and catch some of the jumbo crappies that show up in the fall.

He suggested row-trolling tiny crankbaits away from a series of brush piles. We caught and released dozens of crappies in two hours.

The same conditions prevailed on the Chain one fall season. I decided to motor troll around the mouth of several Petite Lake channels and used a 2-inch long crank bait. The crappies wouldn't leave that lure alone.

Before you start your yearly moaning and groaning about the inclement weather, get out there are grab some slabs.

angler88@comcast.net