I went Tuesday and only caught 5 Crappie, but mainly spent the day learning my new fishfinder. Since I know where many of the stumps are in Limestone I decided it would be a good area to see how things looked on the side imaging. In one of the deep holes I could see the individual branches of a tree on the bottom and count the larger fish suspended between them. It's really going to make things interesting in areas I fish with deeper water (over 10 foot) like Moulton and Madison County.

Usually once the water drops into the mid 40's most of the Crappie in upper Limestone will leave on the first water rise. Looks like that happened in the last couple weeks while I was out of town. There will still be a few, but large numbers are unlikely until spring. Once the water warms into the upper 50's they will come flooding back in on the first water rise looking to spawn. While Wheeler is still in winter drawdown is can be unbelievable since the low water makes it impossible for the large boats for another few weeks.

I'm think of trying for some winter Shellcrackers in upper Limestone. I've never fished for them in that area, but the bottom is covered in snails about half the size of a marble so there should be a few.