Lake Buckatabon (upper&lower)

Vegas, from what I’ve heard since moving onto this lake is walleyes are few and far these days. Hoping they make a come back in the future.

Got my second largest Vilas County walleye on Lower Buckatabon.  28.5 incher.  Lake was half iced over.  All the other lakes were iced in.  We had a boat in the boat house, launched it, found a nice spot and we got some great walleyes that day.

Almost every other lake in Vilas has to be a better walleye lake than Bucky.  But...they were in there and we could usually find them consistently in the spring.  

Ice is 98% off of lower. Very small chunk pushed up against the east side but it should all be gone in the next 24 hours. 

I used to have a lot of fun fishing crappies up there in the spring.  When I say spring, I mean opening weekend.  Dad and I would catch walleyes on other lakes, then come home and relax.  Well, he'd relax, I'd take the boat out on Lower and hunt the crappies.

Crappies like warmer water and green weeds in the spring.  Kind of a "duh" statement.  Because that is mostly the entire lake, Lower.  They school up thick and then move shallower when the water warms to spawn.

I used to find them by just letting the boat drift around the lake while I watch the water.  You can see them stacked up.  Sometimes their heads poke out of the water a little bit, so I was looking for fish as well as ripples on the water.

I took a friend out there once, and we got on them thick.  He chewed tobacco at the time.  We caught fish on every cast for like 20 minutes, then he set his rod down to put in a chew.  I told him that he needed to cast and then put his rod down to get in a chew...and I didn't think he had enough time to do so.  And man, it was hilarious to watch.  He tried so hard, for about a half an hour, to have enough time to cast, set his rod down, open up his can, take a dip and get it into his lip.  He couldn't do it.  Fish after fish after fish.  Finally he gave up, set the rod down in the boat and put in his chew.  Then we pounded on them for about 3 hours.  Never kept any, just had fun.

I won't tell you where, and my guess is it changes.  But for bait?  I always liked the 1/32nd ounce pink headed jig with white fur on it.  You can even tip it with a chartreusse crappie scrub or small twister tail.  We never used minnows for them.  We used bobbers to get long casts out there because when those fish were near the surface, they would spook.  When they were deeper, I liked taking the bobber off and jigging that jig in.

Fishing wasn't always as easy as it was that one day for us.  But it was pretty reliable. Head to Lower.  Find some weeds, fish them for crappies and look for disturbances on the surface.

Any tips where the panfish can be found ice fishing? Or when the ice comes off this spring? Crappies and perch preferably. Just looking to C&R for fun