Thread: Lake Varner crappie?

They say they can be found down near the bridge, but i have heard they like to hang in the channel that supposedly runs in the middle if the res. wherever they are, being this hot they are probably deep and scattered, then again what do i know, haven't caught one yet.

Hmmmmmm....Made a strange discovery over the July 4th holiday. At Varner the water temperature has been hanging at 88 to 91 degrees lately. All of the experts I've listened to and conventional wisdom say the crappie should be fairly scattered and suspended somewhere between 15 and 20 feet along the drop-offs and creek channels. They couldn't be more wrong.

I've been limiting out (if I want to) within 2 or 3 hours since I found out where the fish are hiding. Surprisingly, they are hanging in 5 to 8 feet of water with 3 feet of hydrilla on the bottom. I've found that trolling with 1/8oz curlytail jigs over the hydrilla, where you have 2 to 5 feet of open water above the hydrilla, will get you a livewell full of crappie quite quickly! The crappie are hanging out IN the hydrilla (cover + increased oxygen?) and will come up out of it to hit at a passing jig. I've had best luck with 2 color combinations: a white 1/8oz jig with a 2" pearl twist-tail grub, or a 1/8oz Gamakatsu chartreuse jig with a green (dark on top, light on bottom)bodied grub with a salmon/pinkish twist-tail. Bass really seem to like the green jigs too! I thought I was hung up last Saturday morning when I realized my line was cutting perpendicular to my path! Turned out to be a 4Lb, 7oz largemouth. Nothing great size-wise, but hook that sucker on an ultralight rod with 4Lb test line and an 1/8oz jig and you've got your hands full!!! I still can't believe I actually got her in the boat (I released her since I prefer to eat crappie over bass. But she sure was fun to fight for a while and she got VERY acrobatic!). I've been told by a Varner old-timer that as the hydrilla grows the crappie will move deeper, but they will stay in the zone where they have the 2 to 5 feet of open water above them while they lie in wait in the hydrilla, regardless of temperature. I don't know if that is completely true or not (I'm about to find out!) but so far he has been correct.

Just wanted to throw that out there for anyone else who is fishing lakes with hydrilla or similar aquatic plants. If you can't find them deep, don't rule out the shallower grass beds and flats just because the water temperature is up. Troll shallow and slow and you might be surprised. I know I was! Now I'm gonna go hook up the boat and head to Varner --- there's still 7 hours of daylight left, it's overcast and 77 degrees, and I've finished my Honey-do list early!!!

BTW: My daughter caught her first crappie when I took her. Actually, her first 30 crappie!!! She blistered me! But that's good, because now she's driving me crazy wanting me to take her to BPS to get her "her own" rod and rig!! The Grand Opening at the new Academy Sports in Snellville is this weekend, so I may take her over there after church tomorrow and get her set up. I think I've got a new fishing pardner!!!!!

Great, glad ya found them, especially for daughter, by the way, ask if she'll leave some for me!

Yeah, she isn't real fond of the whole concept of "creel limits" just yet, lol. But I'll give her credit, after the first 2 fish she wouldn't let me touch "her" rod --- she wanted to do everything herself Thumbs Up!
Now if I can just get her to show the same level of enthusiasm when it comes time to clean all of those fish........................

Awesome post and report. Thanks and CONGRATS too. Glad you got a new partner hooked on fishing.