East AR Crappie (pics)

[ceb]

Sorry for not posting here lately, but I've been visiting the family and fishing over in the eastern direction. I fished 3 different lakes and found lots of crappie very willing to bite. The weather was hot, hot, hot. And there was very little breeze the days that I fished. I stopped by Peckerwood on Wed. morning as I was driving to West Memphis. Took me awhile to find 'em but I ended up with a respectable limit of 30 slabs by that afternoon. Minnows seemed to be the ticket.

Got back up Thurs. morning and fished at Horseshoe over in Crittenden co. Found fish from 2' deep out to 15' deep. I could only find small females in the deeper water (about 10' deep). I found some good females in one small school that was suspended at about 5' over 14' of water, but I lost 'em and couldn't find any more fish holding at that depth. But, I'm pretty sure that those females are suspending over that deeper water. Later in the morning, I found loads of males sittin' on beds in 3' of water. Some hit blk/chart jigs, but the majority hit minnows. You could just work along the outside bank and find some nice males. I did see some fish caught from under the piers, but not as many. With all the males (which I don't feel bad about keeping at Horseshoe because of all the dinks there already), I ended up with 43. I probably culled through 30 or so crappie. One funny thing from the day...I saw a dude hook up to about a 30lb drum sittin in shallow water. I looked over to see the whooper jump about 3' out of the water and break off...:rolleyes:

Friday, I decided that I'd had enough and needed to rest for a day. The entire time that I was in WM, I kept hearing good reports on Burnt Cane. So, Sat morning I decided to get up and go try it. I went about 6-7mi down the lake to the big bend on the north side. I found lots of good quality crappie about 3-7' deep over 5-11' of water. I found the majority liked blk/chat jig tipped with a shiner or rosie, but they also like blk/white and straight chat jigs tipped with minnows. I ended up with a very nice limit of 30 crappie by 1pm that afternoon. They did seem to be holding tight to cover, as I didn't catch fish until I started getting hung-up. Where you find one, you will probably find about 10 more. They were really full of energy...in fact I had a couple give themselves whiplash from running out at the surface 'till they didn't have any slack line left...:D I really like this lake as it reminds me of the stretch of little maumelle river that I fish here in Central AR. I can't wait to get back there for some more of that.

I guess that I'll rest up for a day or two and then get back at 'em here closer to home. It was a fun trip, and I caught lots of crappie. Out of the 3 days of fishing, I probably boated over 200 crappie and came home with 103 crappie. And rest assured, I cooked the gallon of fillets from Wed for all my family back home in West Memphis. I also have to cook some for my the ol' ladys folks. Then, I guess maybe sometime soon we'll have another get-together around here. So all in all, these fillets be eaten very soon.

So, y'all eastern arkies really need to get on out there and snatch you up some slabs. There very willing to bite on that side of the country... Allright, enough of that...on to the few pics that I captured.

The haul from my trip on Wed...(a few cats included but lots of nice cats released)


A few of the bigger ones from Wed. Notice the sweat pouring off of me...


A cooler full of 43 from Thursday...


Some of the bigger ones from Thursday...


A view of Burnt Cane on Saturday...

[ceb]

Fishin' about this far from the bank on Saturday...


A nice limit from Saturday...


Me and my grandfather drinkin' a tall boy Bud before I got to work cleanin'...and he got to work BS'in...

[creekslick]

Ceb looks like you had a great week. Got to visit with your family and catch fish. What a deal.

[luvtofish]

Good looking fish Ceb. Makes me want to brave the heat and go try em here. I have never had good luck fishing for crappie in hot weather before, so I keep procrastinating...Rick

[randybenham]

Chris,

I'm planning on going to chicot this weekend, & I'm gonna try those trolling tactics. How deep did you have your baits set? did you try to keep them close to the bottom, suspended over the fish, or did you vary the depths to see where they were biting? Great bunch of fish. I got me some planer boards for christmas, & I'm gonna try them out, but I've got to get a 45 dgree pole holder, cause you're supposed to keep the rods high when running the boards (from sources I've found), and I'm gonna use the new driftmaster T-bar that I got a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, lots of good information & nice pics. You looked like you were ready for your grandpaw to help, but it looked like he was much more interested in talkin & supervisin' to me. Ha!
See you on the water!!

[Vince Gray]

Now we all see where you learned to catch all those fish!

[gooch]

Glad you had a good week on the water. Now get your head in a book and get ready for the test. As we both know I am going to need some medical attention and I dont want a dummy like me for a doctor.

[ceb]

Yep guys, I had a great week of fishin' and visitin'. It's nice to head back home and visit some old places, as well as some new places. And Vince, my grandfather has definately passed on a legacy to me. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for him.

And Rick, those crappie are still willing to bite during the post-spawn. You just have to find 'em. And, once you do find 'em, they will dam near yank the pole out of your hand. It seems that as the water temp gets higher, they get more full of it...

Randy, I don't know too much about Chicot. But, if it were me hittin' it for the first time and I didn't really know where to look, I would cover as much water as possible. Try to cover all of the depths with your spread and as you start catching fish, narrow down your focus to the prime depths for your baits. Be sure to try jigs tipped with a minnow this time of year. It seems from my experience that they want a bigger profile bait during the hotter months. Also keep speed in mind, as hot water crappie may want it moving a little faster. Just bump the trolling motor up to speed 1 or 2 and coast. Other than these tips, be sure to try the deepest water that you can find (usually on the outside bend of a channel swing). And if you can find the structure, fish a ledge by making big "S" shapes across it until you find where the fish are holding on that ledge. Also try drifting across the channel. And be sure to keep an eye on your depthfinder. If you see anything that resembles a ball of baitfish, be sure to fish it at the depths just above the ball and just below the ball. Good luck on your trip.

And Gooch, I don't need no stinkin' books...it's all sittin' right up here on my shoulders...:D

[NIMROD]

Glad to see somebody still catching.:D I took a friend yesterday to Nimrod and with the 81 degree water it's slow.

[ceb]

Hey Nimrod, I'm sure that fishin' will pick up for y'all when the water and weather stabilizes into a summer pattern.

I found water temps at all three lakes to be around the 80 degree mark when I got to each one in the mornings. On Wed, the skies were bright, clear, and scorching...and I found 91 degree surface temp before I left. The other two lakes I fished on days with a little more cloudy conditions. One lake had 86 degrees by the afternoon and the other had 84 degrees.

Plain and simple...the lakes are just too dam hot...