BIG PINE LAKE
Why anyone would call a 400-acre lake "big" is amazing, so maybe that's why some people refer to Big Pine as North Pine Lake. Maybe they weren't talking about the body of water when they named it. Maybe they were talking about the crappies.

To find the crappies on Big Pine requires a search strategy that has you moving and drilling. There's no midlake structure, well-defined holes or sharp dropoffs. This allows the crappies to meander the entire lake, typically in depths from 12 to 20 feet.

There's also no rhyme or reason to where the crappies will be in relation to their vertical depth in the water. I've found fish just a few feet under the ice over 18 feet of water on Big Pine, and on one trip, they were so tight to bottom the only way we knew they were there was spotting them with an underwater camera.

So drill a few holes, send down a lure and hope to get lucky. Keep moving and drilling, and don't hesitate to try some of the holes that weren't producing for you earlier. Fortunately, Big Pine is not so big that you can't cover a good portion of the lake to find those meandering crappies.

There are not a lot of options for information or nearby bait and tackle shops for Big Pine Lake, so if you get into some big crappies, the secret is all yours.

PRIOR LAKE
With Prior's close proximity to the metro area and the heavy fishing pressure that it receives year-round, there shouldn't be any big fish left. But there are, and there are some real nice crappies, too. Of course, this is one lake that does tend to cycle from big to few to small to big again, and there is likely another good year or two for those 3/4- to 1-pound crappies again this season.

The north end of Prior -- referred to as Lower Prior -- has some great crappie holes tucked right up next to sunken islands or deep holes sitting right in front of a shallow bay. These spots concentrate crappies all winter long.

Upper Prior -- the south end of the lake -- has much less structure density, but there are plenty of crappies there with fewer anglers chasing them. The only drawback to fishing Upper Prior is that the crappies tend to roam, so you do have to be in the search mode to find them. In fact, you're likely to find some of the biggest crappies in the lake schooled up in 16 to 20 feet of water right in front of one of the bays.

Since Prior gets a fair share of fishing pressure, it's always tempting to nudge up next to a community of anglers to see if you can capitalize on their good fortune. This seldom works for the biggest Prior Lake crappies. If you want to get into the slabs, you need to break away from the community spots and find your own fish. Drill some holes in likely spots and keep up the search. If you're only catching the five-to-a-pound crappies, you're in the wrong place. But remember, those smaller fish will be the next group of big ones in about five years. There are still a lot of big crappies in Prior, so take advantage of the situation while it lasts.

For more information, call MK Fishing at (952) 447-6096.

As in much of life, timing is everything. Now's the time to take advantage of a hot crappie bite when you can find it. These hotspots are good places to start this winter. See you out on the ice!