Pate Lake

[skiff89_jr]

Trolled from 6am till 2pm. Caught probably 50-100 crappie but for about every 5 small ones we'd catch 1 keeper. We ended up keeping 12 crappie for the day that none we under 10 inches and the biggest was 13 1/2 inches. Not a bad day they were all filleting size.

Pate Lake isn't like any other lake that we've trolled so it took some getting used to and effort to find the fish. It's a fairly small perfectly round natural lake that doesn't get any deeper than 14 foot. The bottom on the whole lake is clean for the most part and no drop off or significant depth changes. The edge of the lake is cypress trees and a grass line. It's anywhere from 6ft-11ft off the edges of it. They seemed fairly scattered but we fished trolled a grassline in about 10 foot of water and that seemed to get some bites.

It's definitely no Lake Talquin but it's a lot closer to home to fish on days you have to work.

Any input on how some of you guys would fish this lake? It's just south of Bonifay going toward Panama City Beach. I think it would be a lot like some of the lakes in central and south florida.

[Anchor Man]

Nice looking blacks, thanks for shearing.

[Speck Detector]

Thanks for the report & nice catch, never heard of that lake before.

[Yelim]

Those are some pretty Specks. Looks to me like you should be telling us how to fish that lake.

[skiff89_jr]

Those are some pretty Specks. Looks to me like you should be telling us how to fish that lake.

Ok, on your big reservoirs, like Talquin, the fish go out into deep water and hold during the cold winter months. Well in this lake there is no deep water. Only vegetation around the edges. Will they hold in the vegetation and close to it all winter? Where will they spawn?

[Yelim]

I'm sure there spots in that lake where they feel most comfortable at any given time. Finding those spots is the trick. Take a look at this link. There is an article around the internet that is called "Crappie by Degrees" Do a search to find it.

[65pontiac]

http://crappief.startlogic.com/id109.html

[skiff89_jr]

Thanks for the article guys!