# Portage Lakes Crappie/Gills



## gmoore32 (Jun 1, 2009)

Hoping to take the kids (12 & 14yr old girls) fishing this weekend. They have caught plenty of blue gills during the spring spawn but I want to introduce them to jigs and Crappie. We have a 14 footer with 6 hp so we can't cover a lot of area and I have to contend with the "bored factor" so quantity is more important than quality. Any suggestions of spots or which particular lake to target?


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Turkeyfoot, any 9 to 11 foot of water


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## Zach Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

Is there a horsepower restriction on that lake?


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## Evinrude58 (Apr 13, 2011)

Unlimited HP (maybe 400) just the lakes are pretty much No Wake except for I believe 2 speed zones.


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## Zach Jones (Mar 22, 2016)

Sorry got my lakes mixed up I was thing about Mogadore.


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## gmoore32 (Jun 1, 2009)

guppygill said:


> Turkeyfoot, any 9 to 11 foot of water


Thanks! not looking for anyone's honeyhole just some tips!


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

I trolled the other day catching these, but if there is hardly a wind, you could just slow drift and jig. If you have a locator it showed them pretty good.


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

Keep your jig moving on a plane... that will catch you more then if you’re making it jump up and down.
If you find some Crappie(by sonar or drifting a jig) take note at what depth and count down to your depth before you start reeling slowly to keep it going steady at that depth.


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## gmoore32 (Jun 1, 2009)

guppygill said:


> View attachment 247776
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> I trolled the other day catching these, but if there is hardly a wind, you could just slow drift and jig. If you have a locator it showed them pretty good.


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## gmoore32 (Jun 1, 2009)

Thanks for the info. Went to the far side of Tfoot 11-16 feet right at the bout,caught 15 kept 10 not giants but it sure was fun on an ultra light. They were hitting a pale blue with silver sparkle garland 1/16 yellow head. Got a double header which got my heart going!


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Great! I was out yesterday in the evening, they were a little deeper like you fished, 11-16 foot of water, got mine on pink slug bugs trolling very slow. Marked a ton of fish. All of them were in the 8 to 9 inch range, a few 10's.


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

Same here, found a few in 16 fow, they were gone from the 12 fow wood from the last few weeks. Didn’t end up keeping any though, had 2 good ones in the basket, but they got the get out of jail free card.


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## REY298 (Apr 3, 2014)

Try tipping your jigs with maggots. If the crappies don't bite the big blue gills usually do!


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

REY298 said:


> Try tipping your jigs with maggots. If the crappies don't bite the big blue gills usually do!


My son and I caught some nice ears at Long for a hour last night doing just that... had a Bobby garland itty bit on with a maggot 3 foot under bobber.
Will try to hit it up again tomorrow if the rain takes some breaks.


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## REY298 (Apr 3, 2014)

buckzye11 said:


> My son and I caught some nice ears at Long for a hour last night doing just that... had a Bobby garland itty bit on with a maggot 3 foot under bobber.
> Will try to hit it up again tomorrow if the rain takes some breaks.


Great!


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

Been getting a few Crappie showing up close to shore the last couple times at Long, I’d imagine it’s a good shore bite around the Tfoot peninsula in the evenings too.
Had this cat eat my itty bit jig(on a 1/64 oz jig under bobber) today, I usually don’t land big fish with my UL, so it rewarding to get it to shore and not lose it. It’s been a while since I’ve had drag puller, fun stuff!


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