Greers Ferry Sunday 09/29/08

[TreeMyDog]

After camping at Piney Bay with few fish caught, I decided to head up to Greers Ferry and try my luck.

Caught these crappies on Bandit 300's.

Caught them on MONDAY, not Sunday. My bad. I get confused what day it is when I'm off work.

I like catchin 'em on crankbaits.

I didn't have any of them aluminum rulers, so I had to improvise. :D





Now that's what I'm talkin about.

[NIMROD]

Way to go . Great post with good pictures.

[dedawg1149]

way to go when is the fish fry

[Arkie John]

Were you "long-lining" around timber? I did a little of that this past week-end, using only two rods and not necessarily "long-lining." I had them out about 50-60 feet, with little success. I have had no real success with the bandits on Ouachita this summer. I reckon I have to change something up. But more than two rods is a pain for me and fishin' becomes too much work donchaknow.

Caught about 15 on minnows and jigs, biggest 14.5" w/ several 12-12.5s inchers. The water is still too hot on Ouachita to be optimum. I'll be glad when the transition is over and the serious fall frenzy begins.

Great report and super-great photos. <><

aj

[TreeMyDog]

Were you "long-lining" around timber? I did a little of that this past week-end, using only two rods and not necessarily "long-lining." I had them out about 50-60 feet, with little success. I have had no real success with the bandits on Ouachita this summer. I reckon I have to change something up. But more than two rods is a pain for me and fishin' becomes too much work donchaknow.

Caught about 15 on minnows and jigs, biggest 14.5" w/ several 12-12.5s inchers. The water is still too hot on Ouachita to be optimum. I'll be glad when the transition is over and the serious fall frenzy begins.

Great report and super-great photos. <><

aj

AJ, I hope this helps you some.

I am still brand new to trolling crankbaits for crappie. This was my 5th day on the water trying this.

I owe a lot to Creekslick and Krappie KG for sharing info and posting pictures, which really motivated me to want to try this method.

I'm still puzzled why I did not have success with crankin on Brewer Lake (1 day) or Big Piney Creek (2 days).

When I started out, I was marking shad EVERYWHERE from 5 feet and down. I first started running 4 Bandits staggered at 9,10,11,12 ft deep. I caught a couple, but it was slow, so I kept trying deeper until I was catching them more consistently. That happened at 14 feet. Then I set them all to run at 14 ft and the fun really began.

When I caught these fish, I had 76 feet of line out, which put the Bandit 300 at about 14 feet. I was trolling in 25 - 40 feet of water between the main creek channel and the bank.

I had my trolling motor set on 2, which is about 1.8 mph.

I was going by this chart, which seems very accurate.

Bandit 300, 200, and 100 depth chart. - Crappie.com

I have put a piece of tape on my rods 2 feet from my reel. I just strip off 2 feet at a time until I have the correct length of line for the depth I want.

I have 4 rod holders. The two longer rods are 12 ft jig poles. I put them in the front holders. One on each side. The two shorter rods are 7 ft bass rods. I put them in the back holders. One on each side. This keeps 5 feet separation and helps prevent tangle-ups. Plus I am covering about a 28 ft swath of water.

All rods have baitcaster reels. Just my preference.

I can catch them trolling in shallower water, but I get hung a lot more.
At 4-5 bucks a pop, I think I will just stay deeper.

AJ, Hope you are enjoying your retirement, and some part of this helps.

[L.A. stumpjumper]

Some nice crappie, thanks for the report and pictures.

[creekslick]

Good catch dog. I am glad I was able to help. What part of the lake were you fishing?

[KRAPPIE KG]

Nice catch! Sounds like you've got cranking down. I tried trolling bandits down south on Lake Chicot this past weekend, didn't have near the luck as on Greers but I still think it could be productive there too.

[Quillback]

Gotta love those Bandits! Nice fish!

[CastandBlast]

Good job Dog.....I knew if you stayed after them you'd hook-up......Thanks for the report.