Thread: New to crappie fishing

welcome to the forum!!!!!

Welcome to the board. I live a couple hours from you, but you live in a prime area. Cypress and Black Bayou are just a little north of Bossier. Cypress used to be my home lake. The fish usually hit the deeper water out in front of the launch on Parks Road this time of year. Just follow the boats. However, you do need a sticker for your boat and trailer to be able to fish Cypress or Black Bayou. You can buy them at the park entrance after 7:00 AM. I always had good luck on either red/chartreuse or electric chicken jigs. Some of the guys pull cranks and do good. If you ever see a boat with 50 rods sticking out of it; that would be Docwaldo. He catches a lot of quality fish on Cypress. LOL. Just kidding about the 50 rods. It's probably only 48. LOL.

Lake Bistineau is just a few miles south of you. I have fished it a few times. I always launched at Port-O-Bistineau which is south of Minden. Once again, fish the deep water this time of year. I have not fished Bistineau enough to have a favorite jig color, but have caught a few on blue thunder.

Just a few miles east of you is Lake Claiborne, also a former home lake for me. I used to live on Lake Claiborne and still own a home there. During this time of year find some water that is at least 30 feet deep and the fish will usually be close to 25. There are a couple of places where the water is more than 40 feet deep and I have caught them suspended in the really deep holes. My best jig was one that was colored like a rainbow trout. I used it on a chartreuse jig head. But they will bite electric chicken there. Some of the folks that fish Claiborne use shiners and catch a lot of fish. I just never liked to murder innocent little shiners. No, just kidding. But, you can probably tell by now that I am a jig man.

A few miles farther east is Lake D'Arbonne. The fish will be in the channel and once again deep. There are some big fish in D'Arbonne. There are a couple of guys who live on the lake that may weigh in and give you some good pointers on D'Arbonne. A lot of people fish either side of the Hwy 33 bridge just south of the town of Farmerville or close to the Hwy 2 bridge a few miles west of Farmerville. Jigs and shiners will both work there. It seem that some days the crappie want jigs and other days they want shiners. Usually when they want shiners I go home empty handed. LOL.

There is also Caddo Lake and the Red River over to the west of you. I know nothing at all about them except that people on here do catch crappie out of them. Black Bayou at Hosston is also a beautiful cypress tree studded lake. I have only fished there in the spring or fall. It is fairly shallow but had some good crappie in it when I used to fish it. There is one fellow on here that has a camp on it. He would be the one to talk to about it. I think his name is Charlie.

When I lived on Lake Claiborne I usually caught my biggest fish during December and January. As I said earlier, I still own a house up there that is sitting empty right now. If it doesn't sell or if I don't rent it soon, maybe we can plan a trip up there soon. Well, I have probably confused you enough for now. There are a lot of folks on here that are much better crappie fishermen than I am. I am sure they will be chiming in soon. Good luck and God bless.