Thread: Having trouble with hot weather crappie.

This has been my best summer. I have caught at least a few every trip so far. I will say that advice from a member here is what made the difference.

Originally Posted by slackline

This has been my best summer. I have caught at least a few every trip so far. I will say that advice from a member here is what made the difference.

8-9 inchers, or real crappie, hehehe

I have caught plenty of short fish and I have enjoyed every one of them, for sure. But, have only kept fish over 10 inches. I had a couple trips during the spring that I got skunked on Lake Hamilton. But have also had the 100 plus fish in a day in the heat of July. Learning to properly fish a 11 foot jigging rod was the turning point.

Hopefully this weekend will prove more productive. The weather is supposed to be much cooler and less humidity. I can't wait!

our water temperatures dropped almost 15 degrees here and messed them up bad about a week or so ago .going from the mid 90 degree range to the low 80 range in 5 days and water levels coming up really messed them up . I will post up later where we went yesterday and after the water temperatures rose back to what would be more normal at almost 90 the fish were beyond imagination .
I have not noticed anything real unusual about this year and the hot water ,but then again we always have hot water in the summer down here.I do know when it gets super warm here the fish have a tendency to bite very lightly and I think many folks get bit and never know it .
I have seen them even give the minnow folks a difficult time in this mode as well .I only use jigs basically and sometimes one group just wont bite . then the next group we find will . you may just need to keep after them until you find fish that want to feed . and for sure if you can find baitfish or other forage they want, they wont be far away and will likely take some sort of presentation .
maybe tandem jig them with light jigs and light line if the cover isn't terribly thick ....
or possibly something with a lot of flash ?
and many times scent plays a major role in the equation as well .
that's my 2 cents without hitting your lake myself brother .

Thanks for the input Mr. Whales. I will definitely down size and add some scent. I have some gulp minners I may add for scent too. I don't fish live bait for crappie either. Mostly jigs.

The exact address where I fish is...wait a minute!

Took some plastic baits to a local bait shop.Pulled the boat decided to try the local lake for some crappie,/Was ready for anything.The bait shop owner said to hot fish not biting.put the boat in around 9:30 fished till 2:30 caught these on Black/chart.Orange/chart hand poured crappie tubes.Using 2 lb nano-fil line.Rarely use anything over 4 lb test.Use 10 ft,11,ft and 12 ft Basspro crappie max rod's.they wanted the 12 ft today .Father from the post's They were hiding behind..The fishermen at the ramp taking out said they had fished all morning not a bite.These fish were on and old fence row in 4 ft of water could not believe how shallow they were."in August" 85 deg water."thats were the bait fish were"Not big but better than a poke in the eye.Try shallow,try deep,different colors different.These fish wanted the bait moving fast.Reaction Bite.Never give up.Its not called catching its called fishing.Have fun enjoy keep it simple.

Awesome. The bait store owner is probably a fisherman, you can't believe a word...never mind.