Fish Lake was 49-50 degrees in main lake areas and upto 52 degrees in the back shallow bays. The crappies are shallow, even watched some warming in the sun, suspended near surface in a calm, quiet back bay. We tried them, but they were not interested, no doubt due to the cold front. We caught some bluegills and crappies on jigs and minnows. Next time I'll be sure to have a bunch of worms with.

The fish were in tight groups and fishing should only get better from now on. We covered a lot of water but the fish were negative and most people had nothing. We dragged our baits near bottom and kept moving, looking for calm back bays with the warmest water and fish that might be interested in biting. We used 1/32nd to 1/16th ounce jigs with small crappie minnows and tails to attract the fish.

The crappies were definitely close to spawn, I have eggs on the back of my boat seat, so they were spraying out of one. We saw a couple pike and 5 largemouth take our small jigs as well. They were right in with the rest. Not a bad start to the year.

Good fishing.