Another Bad Day

I haven't had much luck for several days now (and before that it was mostly small crappie)

Today - I only fished about an hour - then decided to work on one of my projects - because I think the dang cold nights may be keeping water temperature too low

Hope March has couple weeks of warm weather to set the crappie off - they should really start biting if the water temperature will pick up

Oh well - there's always tomorrow - but I started a major project to keep me busy a couple days - so may not be fishing much

Another Crappie Jig Tip

An article in today's newspaper shows how to catch Crappie in winter time. (I still like my method better - see video :) :)

Summary of article - use a regular cigar/tube cork - regular jigs (black /chartreuse or blue/white) - 1/16oz jig - but the 'trick' is to make the rig click - which is what a shad does when scared. He does this by putting a split shot 1/4" ABOVE the tube cork - and then he does not 'reel in' but leaves cork and place and 'pops it' so the cork/split shot click


Notes from article:
He came by his clicking method by accident.

"I used to put a split shot or two on my line below the float, which would pull the float down to sit upright in the water, but the crappie would feel tension on the line when they were biting real soft,"

"So one day I decided to experiment with putting the split shot in front of the float."

According to his theory / experiment - by putting the split shot 1/4" above the cork - replicated the clicking sounds shad make when they are stressed or under attack. (he tested in his swimming pool and could hear the click)

Bottom line - Crappie fishermen need to try various 'presentations' when fishing is slow - like the winter time. But once you find a method that works 'for you' - it's hard to switch because your Lake and cover/structure may be different - I still like my method for a shallow lake like 'mine' :) (this guy was fishing in deep lake 10-15 deep :)

Nice Day

Warm front make it a nice day so I had to fish a couple hours despite fact lake is very low

It was windy so I 'caught' the brush pile 3 times and lost my jig/grub setup but the baby crappie were still around (= I caught over 2 dozen small crappie but not one keeper)

Beautiful days are giving me spring fever (but today a cold front will 'cool my heels'

Bad Day

Last few days - fishing has dropped off (no keeper crappie) - so today - the cold and wind convinced me to make a How To Raise Cricket video instead of fishing :)

Low Lake = Slow Fishing

As predicted - the low water did not help. I fished almost 2 hours and got about 15-20 little crappie i.e. none even close to keeper size - just the babies that hang around my brush pile

BTW: the blue heron sneaked up and got at least two baby crappie

Spoiled - only got about a dozen

Yesterday PM was cold wind that made it difficult to fish (only fished a little over an hour) - and the crappie fishing was slower than previous days - only got about a dozen and none over 8" (good news - I didn't have to clean any fish :) Bad news the little crappie don't put up much of a fight :(

Now today they are dropping the water level - like crazy - dang fools will likely kill the fishing for me later today - but I'll still get in my couple hours since the sun is shinning and NO Wind - i.e. nice day for fishing so it will not matter if they are biting or not :)

crappie 9" compared 12"

Example of 'barely keepers' e.g. too small for fillet IMHO - cleaned 4 of these for my Aunt (I like 15" or bigger - make nicer fillet :)

Same Ole Same Ole

I haven't posted in past few days cause it's just the same old story i.e. fishing two hours - catching 30-40 crappie (dozen bass) - picking up a few keepers (throwing back some keepers by other people's standard)

I do have fish to clean tomorrow - biggest about 15" - several 11" and couple 9" - not sure how many but it could have been more if I kept the 'thick' 9-10" - but same old lazy guy here :)

I would tell about the one that got away but nobody would believe me when I say it had to be at least 2lb (no lie !) Made me so mad I just walked in the house and sit down without saying a word i.e. was too frustrated to even cuss

See - I told you - same ole same ole

Even more fun

The wind was blowing at 25mph (gust to 40mph) most of the day - and it finally 'slowed down' to 20mph around 4PM - so I fished my two hours from 4 to 6PM

I lost count again - but I got about 40 crappie (no bream or bass today) - was getting bites on every cast

The BETTER news is that almost half of them were 10"-12" which is not always a keeper - but most of these were 'Thick' i.e. would make a big mess of fillet especially considered how many of them were this size

But I don't have anyone that wants to clean the 'barely keepers' so I only kept two of them just to show my neighbor how thick they were (will show them that the thick fillet will be good eating even on these shorter fish (I like 15" - real slabs when cleaning them :)

The fish that got away - just made me sick - I got one that was HUGE (I'd guess 18" ) but when I got it on line it was fighting so much I was worried about how I was going to lift it up over the rail on my fishing pier - well I jinxed myself because when I tried to lift it - I got it about a foot above the water - then - you guessed it - it came off
(BTW: this is not first BIG one I lost because I don't use a net when fishing from my pier) It's very difficult to 'flop a slab up over the top rail' without loosing some of them :(

Too bad everyone is too lazy to clean crappie - I had a bunch of crappie that most people would 'kill to get them' - would have made a nice fish fry :)

Here is video showing my jig / squirmin grub setup:

Bigger Crappie = More Fun

Fished from 4:15PM until 6:15PM (too dark to see) and had more fun today than yesterday - not sure how many crappie I got but it was over two dozen

Reason I lost count was that I kept getting bigger ones - got at least 10- 12 that were borderline keepers for me e.g. most people around here would have kept them and got some small fillets out of them but I don't like to keep them unless it yields a couple nice fillet

I got 3 that barely meet my standards i.e. very nice fillet size but not 1.5 lb size that I really like.

Haven't measured them yet - but probably 11-13" (will measure when I fillet them) - maybe tomorrow if the rain / storms that move through tonight have moved on. I may make a video showing the jig / grub setup I use - was setting cork at only 1ft depth today (yesterday I was at 1.5 ft)

The bigger crappie were in my brush pile just about where the 'mud layer' was starting to thin out i.e. there is a drain pipe that was running muddy water into my brush pile all day - but the heavy 'mud / muddy layer) was just at the edge of the spot that turned out the larger crappie hard to explain but water was just starting to clear up right at the spot in the brush pile that had the most fish

It rained most of the day or I would have fished more but I'm fairly lazy and fishing for two hours is about normal for me - after that I get bored - either from catching little ones or not catching anything e.g. either way is boring if I'm not catching any more than 3 really nice keepers

But don't get me wrong - fast action is still fun for a couple hours - even if not big ones (like yesterday) - BUT it's more fun when you get some slabs - like today.

32 crappie + 10 bass

First I should mention that yesterday was slower than Saturday - I only got 15 fish while fishing 1.5 hours

Today - I went out just before noon (to beat the rain headed my way)

I was getting bites on EVERY cast (sometimes more than one hit before I got in) - this lasted about an hour and I landed 25 crappie and 4 bass

Then they slowed down and it took me another hour to catch 7 more crappie and 5 more bass (but still got a lot of bites that I missed) e.g. ended up with 32 crappie and 10 bass

I had a blast - I love catching fish that fast - but I was hungry (past lunch time) and I stopped to eat - then by time I was going back to fish - it started to rain

BTW: I refuse to mention the size of the fish that I landed - but one hint: The 3 lb crappie all got away and the 15 lb bass were not hungry today

Had a blast

Wind was strong (lake warning) and the Razorbacks blew another basketball game so I almost didn't even go out on my fishing pier.

Sure am glad I did - at first I was catching bream (and one nice crappie) in a very short time - then I moved along bank - and found that fish were biting all along the bank. Most were small bass with one small crappie. Then I went down the street in the other direction - still looking for crappie - but all I found were Yellow bass (but nice size and put up a heck of a fight)

So I went back to my fishing pier (after about an hour of working the bank) - and there were the small bass - must have been a big school of them I lost count after about a dozen (plus I know I had more than a dozen bream) - and 4 big yellow bass (in about 10 minutes of fishing that spot)

Well finally just before dark a school of crappie showed up - most were small but I did get another nice one to go with the first nice one i.e. two keepers. I lost count but I got over a dozen crappie all total

BTW: game was over at 4PM and it was shortly after that when I started and I quit at 6PM i.e. total time was less than two hours of FUN fishing - despite fact they were small - the weather was great (despite the 20mph wind) - since it was in 60's today (tomorrow is going to be about 70F - last forecast I heard)

BTW: They FINALLY closed the gates at the spillway - so the water FINALLY stopped falling (it's still very low and not coming up since it hasn't rained in a while)

Bottom line - I should have been fishing all day and not wasting time watching basketball game (we lost again) - but I did have a blast just catching fish (or getting bites) on almost ever cast - now that's the way I like to fish - and I don't keep / clean many fish so that was perfect i.e. only have two to clean for lunch tomorrow (I love to fish - even when I don't catch ANY - and it's a real bonus to catch fish on almost ever cast - especially when I don't have to clean them :) :)

Oh I almost forgot one of the bass was close to 2 pounds - and he put up a great fight
BTW: I was using a jig and my favorite chartreuse twist tail - actually a grub on a jig head.

Great day - I'm living the perfect retired life IMHO (get to fish - which is relaxing most days but exciting some days (like today :)

Month Later

Still not any 'keeper' fish - so haven't bother to tell about the little ones that I sometimes pick up - in late evening (If it's not too cold to fish or I'm not lazy)

Duck season is over but they are still leaving the gates open at spillway to keep lake really low - rumor is that they are keeping water low 'in case' we get lot of rain in next few months - WHICH REALLY SUCKS - since fish like high water - especially when they get ready to spawn in next month or two

Bottom line - AGFC wants what is easy for them - they don't want to have to wait until it starts to rain to open up the gates - they rather keep lake low and not care how it affects people with boats / boat houses / fishermen / fishing