December 30

I went ice fishing with a friend at Red Willow Lake in the afternoon. We caught good numbers of crappies between 6 and 11 inches around underwater brush piles next to a secondary point back in the cove. We caught these fish on dropshot rigs using a 1.5-inch Tiny Shad Assassin and small homemade jigging spoon on the tag end of the line. The ice is 4 to 6 inches back in the cove and the main lake is unsafe with some open water.

December 29

I went ice fishing at Red Willow lake in the afternoon. I caught crappies between 6 and 11 inches around an underwater brush pile back in the bay on dropshot rigs using a 1.5-inch Tiny Shad Assassin with my brother's homemade small jigging spoon on the tag end of the line. The ice is approximately four to six inches in the bay, but most of the main lake is unsafe with open water.

December 7

I guided today and in the morning we went to Swanson Lake and caught 33- and 30-inch flathead catfish, a 28-inch channel catfish, plus a few drum. The fish were caught on jigging spoons in depths of 18 to 24 feet along the river channel ledges. The surface water temperature was 34 degrees on the main lake.

In the afternoon we went to Red Willow Lake and caught crappies and white bass up to 12 inches. The fish were caught on dropshot rigs with a small plastic minnow bait. We fished around the creek channel that swings next to main lake points and humps in depths of 15 to 25 feet. The main lake surface water temperature is in the mid 30s and the bays are iced over.

December 2

I went fishing at Red Willow Lake in the afternoon. I caught good numbers of crappies up to 12 inches on dropshot rigs with a small plastic minnow and a ReelBait Walleye Flasher Jig as a weight on the tag end of the line. The fish were caught along the creek channel edges that swing next to main lake points and humps in depths of 15 to 25 feet. The surface water temperature is in the mid 30s.

November 21

I went fishing for a few hours in the afternoon at a private sand pit and caught largemouth bass between 10 and 16 inches and crappies up to 11 inches. These fish were caught around the drop off next to deep points using a dropshot rig with small plastic minnow baits.

November 20

I went fishing at Red Willow lake in the afternoon and caught crappies and white bass up to 12 inches on a dropshot rig using plastic baits. The fish were caught around the creek channel that swings next to main lake points and humps in depths of 15 to 25 feet. The surface water temperature is in the mid 40s.

November 19

I went fishing at a private sand pit in the afternoon and caught crappies up to 12 inches and bluegills up to 9 inches using small plastic minnow baits on a dropshot rig. These fish were caught along the drop off near deep weed beds.

November 14

I guided on Enders Lake and we caught crappies up to 12 inches, and one walleye at 24 inches, using dropshot rigs with small plastic minnows and live shiners. These fish were caught around underwater brush piles in depth of 15 to 22 feet. The surface water temperature is in the mid 40s.

November 13

I guided on Red Willow Lake and we caught crappies and white bass up to 12 inches. The fish were caught around main lake points and humps using dropshot rigs with a small plastic minnow in depths of 14 to 20 feet. The surface water temperature is in the mid 40s.

November 12

I went fishing at a private sand pit in the afternoon and caught good numbers of crappies up to 13 inches on dropshot rigs using a 2-inch Shad Assassin. These fish were caught along the edges of weed beds in deep water.

November 11

I went fishing at a private sand pit in the late afternoon and caught crappies up to 14 inches and largemouth bass up to 15 inches. I was using dropshot rigs with small plastic minnow baits fishing around the edges of deep weed beds.

November 9

I guided on Red Willow Lake and we caught crappies, white bass, and small wipers on dropshot rigs using small plastic minnow. We caught these fish around main lake points and underwater humps in depths of 12 to 20 feet. The surface water temperature is in the mid 40s and the water clarity is approximately 15 inches.

November 8

I went fishing in the afternoon at a private sandpit and caught largemouth bass up to 18 inches and crappies up to 13 inches. I caught these fish on dropshot rigs using a Zoom Super Fluke JR. fishing the drop off along the edges of deep weed beds.