The North, Central & South of Wisconsin Crappie Fishing
What’s better than spending five hours with your wife on a hot crappie playground in northern Wisconsin? Not much.
Lori Ellis shows another 10-1/2 inch crappie found in shallow wood
adjacent to reeds Memorial Day weekend on the Manitowish Chain.
The Memorial weekend went about as expected. Make sure the cabin is clean and has water again from the Sandpoint well, the pier is in and level, the yard debris from a long winter is raked and clear, and….well… go fish. That’s what we did.
Colleen Ellis found a bonus bass when targeting crappies Monday.
We’re on the Manitowish Chain in three cabins built by my uncle, famed musky row troller and National Hall of Fame angler Bob Ellis in the 50s and 60s. Lori and I and brothers, sisters and spouses purchased the cabins when Bob died in 1989. Up for the Memorial Day weekend, John Ellis, Jim and Coleen Ellis, Luke and Rachel Ellis with kids Grant and Tate, my niece Shannon Klick and son Sam, and Bob and Barb Johnson (my sister) welcomed a new season in Vilas County.
Barb Johnson, one of three Ellis sisters, didn’t fish but as usual made sure the cabin clan was well fed.
After a long hard winter we didn’t know where or if we would find the crappies. After a normal year we might find the spawning fish in the shallow reeds and wood anytime from late April to early May. Not sure where they were, and with the deeper water adjacent to spawning areas a distinct possibility for staging fish, we rigged up with crappie minnows and slip bobbers and went lookin’.
Crappies to 12 inches with the majority in the 9-inch class made for good
fish dinners for Jim and John Ellis over the Memorial Day weekend.
After sighting literally one big crappie in the shallow reeds, we anchored in adjacent wood and got into fish in just a couple feet of water. It was great fishing for hours, with big fish to 12 inches and enough action to bring home a good fish fry.
Crappie fishing and fishing in general apparently was great all over Wisconsin. Super Guide and On Wisconsin Outdoor contributing writer Dave Duwe found 14 inch crappies, and this 6-pound smallie and 8-pound laker while fishing Lake Geneva with son Nate. Connect with Duwe’s weekly Delavan Lake and Lake Geneva fishing reports on this website under Inland Fishing. Contact Dave direct at 608-883-2050.
Super Guide and OWO Contributing writer Phil Schweik, who mainly works central Wisconsin area lakes and rivers with his clients, found great action with numerous game fish and pannies over Memorial Day, including crappies in the 14-inch class.
Schweik client Mike Vandenboom with a 14 inch crappie.
“Those crappies did not stop hitting for three hours as soon as the bait hit the water in a shallow bay,” Schweik said Thursday morning. I just kept rigging the rods and my client kept working the fish, as fast as we could keep two rods going. Finally, he said, we have to go, my hands are getting sore.”
Have you signed up to win your Kwik Trip Outdoors’ fishing trip with Phil Schweik and Hooksetters Fishing Services? It’s simple….
Pick up your “On Wisconsin Outdoors” at any of 252 Kwik Trip stores, or any of Wisconsin’s 44 Menards stores too. If you’re a Milwaukee suburbs resident, you can also find the paper at any of the four Elliott’s Ace stores.
The Ellis Piers have served as the gathering place for
crab catchers and walleye catchers alike across the decades.
Back to the cabins. A huge part of the fun of having a central gathering place like cabins is meeting new members of the family or reacquainting with the youngest members who are catching crabs with pieces of bacon on a string or maybe working the northern Wisconsin sand with toy trucks; timeless rituals revisited again and again across the ages. Meet Sam Klick and Grant and Tate Ellis, with daddy Luke Ellis.
Sam is a something-or-another- color belt in karate. This is what he’ll do to you if you try to take his Tonka:
Grant is a heavy equipment operator who took time off from the job at hand in the sandpit to offer his best smile.
And Tater? Well, Tater was a little cautious of my dog, Micah, or concerned with Micah’s motives you might say, anytime we approached. The closer the worser. This photos best defines Tate’s feeling for Micah as we approached.
So we will end this blog with a photo dedicated to my great nephew Tate. I trust that his mother Rachael won’t be taping it above his bed.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis