First Crappie on Lake Monroe 10/02/14 Trolling

[wojtek9321]

Hello everyone! I have been reading the forums for weeks and decided to finally join and become a member.

This summer I decided to dock my boat at a marina and not trailer it anymore. I have a spot on Lake Monroe now and am constantly trying to fish and learn new methods and techniques to get a good catch. Being that the bass action is slow in the summer I started trying targeting anything that would make my day a little more fun. A baitshop told me it was going to be rough until the heat dies down a little. I was used to fishing lakes up north so didn't realize it could get too hot for the fish lol. I was trying crickets and night crawlers to see how the panfish action was, but the small sizes weren't much to write home about

So I decided to try trolling for crappie. I mounted two rod holders on the sides of my small 15' rig and decided to order up some Bandit 200 series lures. The morning started off at 7:00am. I was on Lake Monroe's southwestern end maybe 500-1000 yards from the shore heading north towards the old power plant. For 2 hours I didn't have a single bite. Constantly had to clear off the treble hooks off snails or some plant material. I was running 3 poles. One on each side and one in my hand in the center. I had about 20-40 yards of line out depending on the cast I'm guessing. At 9am, I swapped one rod to a Mr Crappie Slab Daddy jig. I had a #6 (if I recall correctly) slip shot 2 feet above the jig to keep it weighed down. I put two Berkley Powerbait niblets on the tip. Within 5 minutes the line was reeling out. It was one of the biggest crappie of the day! My first crappie in 10+ years!!! So I was excited. I decided to pull the other two Bandit 200s in and swap all 3 to the Slab Daddy jigs. Before I could get the 3rd pole rigged my first pole was going out again with the 2nd crappie, another 1lb+ slab! By noon I had about 15 fish caught with 10 being nice sized keepers. Between noon and 3pm when it started raining it slowed down a lot and only landed another 5 fish in the same time period with lots of no action at all, only had to change the nibbles every 15-20 minutes or they'd dissolve.

Nice first time, makes me want to join the tournament next weekend to see if I have some rookie luck. I ordered up some trolling combo crappie rigs, some hi-vis 8lb line, and a couple various tubes and jigs when I got home, I'm hooked

Wojtek

[flycaster]

Great post.
If you are picking up the snails, your bait is dragging the bottom. You need to get your presentation a little higher in the water column.

Come to join us at the Volusia County Park Oct. 11th.
We will start to assemble when the park opens, start fishing, come back to the park to weigh fish, eat and present awards.

[wojtek9321]

I guess that makes sense. To control the bandit crankbaits it's about distance of the line out correct? I'll try running less line out next time I'm out. I'm surprised the bottom is so clean and I didn't pick up anything else dragging the bottom! I'll come out on the 11th, going to post in the other thread now.

[Speckanator]

Great post...............looking forward to meeting you at the slabfest

[wojtek9321]

The largest one weighed in at 1lb 6.4oz by the way.

[TnT]

Nice post and pics. You need to try to make the Slabfest next Saturday. It will be very educating for you on catching crappie and if Speckanator and Flycaster are there, well, lets just say.....Never mind Just show up and you'll have a blast!!!

[huntinslabs]

UH OH! That temptress Monroe done struck again! Welcome to the crowd! Nice report as well.

[65pontiac]

great report and some nice fish. You really should come out next Sat. anybody will answer any question you have except way points

[wojtek9321]

Wife just set me back to reality. I forgot we had previous arrangements for next Saturday, so unfortunately I can't make the Slabfest this year, bummer.

[Anchor Man]

Great catch and report, keep up the good work.