Crystal Lake (84)
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Crystal Lake (84) Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Crappie
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Bobbers
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Species
Panfish / Bluegill
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Crappie Sniping
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Early spring conditions, typically April right after ice out. Look for crappies and panfish in shallow bays and canals. Target areas near shallow cattails, emerging grass and old lily pad roots. Target fish by either casting or power corking small 1/16oz jigs tipped with small curly tail plastics in shallow water and around weed edges and clumps. Slow roll the jigs or lift and fall retrieves with small twitches to get jig to jump out of grass. Move around until you find active fish. Quiet and stealth goes a long way with boat control this time of year.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Drop Shot
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Species
Crappie
Season
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Crappie Sniping
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Water Temperature
55°
Most crappie are still pre spawn holding in and around weeds outside of spawning bays. Visually look for groups with eyes or electronics. Fish around looking for activity. Casting and slow rolling a small boot tail grub on a small jig head catching crappies and bluegills. Either Fan cast the area or look for pods of fish or grass clumps on forward facing sonar and slow roll the swimbait and hang on.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Crankbaits 0-6'
Structure
Laydowns
Early spring fishing out of a kayak on the western bay that’s typically inaccessible to larger boats. Steady retrieve with occasional twitch in 3-6 FOW of the 2” Rapala BX Brat Blaze produced medium-size LM Bass.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Blade Baits
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
All of my bites came on a blade bait working the outside edge of flats. Water temp was reading 67 on my helix but I wasn’t finding them in shallow water yet.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Wacky Rigs
Structure
Docks
Chonkie donkey, first big one out of this lake. Not a lot of ones this size here.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Bladed Jigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
05/15/22 I fished from 3pm to 8:30pm. The water temps was approximately 70 degrees in the bay I was fishing. Water clarity was about 3 to 4 foot. I was throwing a white Chatter bait with Hog Farmer Spunk Shad trailer and caught about 12 fish for the day. The largest was a 3.5lb. I didn't need to switch to any other bait the whole time I was out the bite was frequent and consistent. The bay near the launch is known to get pretty thick with aquatic vegetation so now is the time to throw any kind of swim bait.