Thread: Tville 2016

Nice looking boat

Here's a couple pics of mine and Kywareagle's new rig

What kind of rod holders,electronic's ect....are yall goin with on this one?

Originally Posted by Crappiehabits

Here's a couple pics of mine and Kywareagle's new rig

You will sure like that thing hangin off the back of it!!��

Originally Posted by MICKEY1982

What kind of rod holders,electronic's ect....are yall goin with on this one?

I think we've decided on Cumberland crappie for rod holders and we're gonna go Lowrance on electronics.

My brother and I went to Tville yesterday (1/30/16). The wind was howling thru the midday but calmed down nicely during the evening. The fish were pretty hard to find but once we did find them, they were willing to bite.

Water temp was around 45 and pretty milky, tho not as bad as I expected. The number of baitfish has drastically reduced since about 3 weeks ago forcing the fish into the winter pattern finally. So now if u wanna catch craaps u have to fish the baitfish. We were able to find two nice spots with the right combination of cover and forage. We added the right presentation and ended up with a good little mess.

I fished a drop shot while my brother casted a 1/16 oz jig. He switched over to a Thill Pro Series slip float with a minnow right before dark with good success. Bobby Garland Mo Glo Scent Wig'lers have been amazing. Very good product for winter fishing.

All the females were full of eggs with bellys packed full of minnows. The fish we have caught this winter have been the healthiest we have seen come from Tville. I'm really excited about the upcoming spring fishing. The size and quality of fish shld be excellent.

I have to say with the exception of the wind, yesterday is as good as it will get for January. I had a really good time with my brother and finding the fish is as rewarding as it always is. Feeling that thump never gets old!

Originally Posted by BubbaThump

My brother and I went to Tville yesterday (1/30/16). The wind was howling thru the midday but calmed down nicely during the evening. The fish were pretty hard to find but once we did find them, they were willing to bite.

Water temp was around 45 and pretty milky, tho not as bad as I expected. The number of baitfish has drastically reduced since about 3 weeks ago forcing the fish into the winter pattern finally. So now if u wanna catch craaps u have to fish the baitfish. We were able to find two nice spots with the right combination of cover and forage. We added the right presentation and ended up with a good little mess.

I fished a drop shot while my brother casted a 1/16 oz jig. He switched over to a Thill Pro Series slip float with a minnow right before dark with good success. Bobby Garland Mo Glo Scent Wig'lers have been amazing. Very good product for winter fishing.

All the females were full of eggs with bellys packed full of minnows. The fish we have caught this winter have been the healthiest we have seen come from Tville. I'm really excited about the upcoming spring fishing. The size and quality of fish shld be excellent.

I have to say with the exception of the wind, yesterday is as good as it will get for January. I had a really good time with my brother and finding the fish is as rewarding as it always is. Feeling that thump never gets old!

Nice mess there. I'm getting my new troller I've been saving a year for this week. I'm gonna want to get out the next time the weather cooperates. Were you on visible cover?This winter pattern you speak of,do tell!!! Seriously only what your comfortable sharing. I haven't been on the water since early December and I'm pretty sure they aren't in the same place.

For us the pattern has been consistent from fall all the way till this last snow and cold spell. There was still plenty of baitfish to go around so all the fish didn't have to move location much. Add to that the milder winter up till last week and the fish still stayed in the fall-like pattern. Pretty much all my spots held fish. I could go to most of them and end up with a limit in a days time.

This cold spell and snow hit last week and dropped the water temp enough that the baitfish started to die off. We saw plenty of floating forage while we tried to spider rig in the 20 mph wind. Every school we passed over would have a couple baitfish floating on top of the water. But we didn't stay with it long enough to amount to anything on account of the wind.

Learning to use your electronics is a must. I rely on my Lowrance HDS-7 Gen 2 Touch heavily to find the right amount of cover and forage. We found one spot right off the bat that held baitfish and 7 craaps, with 3 being keepers. After that we spent most of the day scanning trying to find baitfish with little success. All my winter spots were void of forage with only Dinks holding to the cover. We did find one channel that held some suspended fish around some baitfish but the wind made it impossible to hold position. Winter time is about fishing as SLOW AS POSSIBLE. And with the wind I couldn't keep the boat still.

It's also about having the grit to stay most of the day. Winter time fish don't feed all day long so you have to be there when they do decide to bite. We went for a while without any success but I had to stay focused and keep telling myself the next spot will be "the one". The wind calmed down nicely around 4 o'clock and we were about to leave. We were up the lake pretty far from the boat ramp but I told my brother we needed to try one more spot. We got to the spot at about 4:30 and noticed pretty fast it was holding a wad of baitfish about the size of our boat right in the creek channel .The wind was dead calm by then and low light was upon us. I could sneak up on our spots with the trolling motor and hold my drop shot nice and still.

That last spot turned a mediocre day into a nice day for January fishing. By not giving up we finally found some good fish. All 10 keepers were 10"-11 1/2" and extremely healthy, again because of the better than average forage until now. With the drop in baitfish from now till spring, finding fish will be increasingly harder. The fish follow their forage because it is getting harder and harder to find and they want to expend as little energy as possible eating it.

With all this being said, in my experience, the "winter pattern" is all about finding the baitfish. If you can find the baitfish around the right cover there will be craaps nearby .You have to fish the area around the baitfish thoroughly to find where the fish are holding. It might be around stick ups. It might be in the channel. It might be on a mid bay bump or ditch. This time it was unexpected. The cover they were holding to was in about 10 ft of water, all because dinner was nearby. The area might be different but the fish will be close to forage. You just can't give up till you find the sweet spot they are holding around.
Hope this helps.

Baitfish+Cover+Grit=Wintertime Craaps