I selected crappie for the targeted species because that's what we had success catching. We headed to Hayden hoping to find some active pike in shallow bays. After a few hours efforts, and only seeing one small pike flash on a bait, we decided to give the crappies a shot. We weren't looking very long before the action started, and it didn't stop until we decided it was time to head for home. The action was fast and steady. In 2- 2 1/2 hours we caught approximately 60 fish. Most were in the 10-12" range. There were a few dinks and a couple over the 12" mark. These were nice thick fish. For those of you that eat fish, they were well worth filleting. The fish were suspended over weed beds in 12 feet of water for the most part. The schools moved around a bit but not too far. When the bite slowed slightly, we moved the boat a little and there they were again. 1/16 oz jig heads with white or chartruese bodies did the trick. We also watched three boats of fishermen catching them on fly rods. They may have been catching them even faster than we did and it was fun to watch. A 12" crappie would double over their light weight fly rods like they had hooked a steel head. Water temps were 40-41 degrees and we were able to find some nice green cabbage where the fish were holding. The crappies had slightly swollen bellies but not to the point they looked ready to spawn. I'm not sure how long till they do but they are packing on weight now and feeding very aggressivly.

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