Kentucky Lake 3/11/11

[kyfishman]

Managed to catch a limit on KY Lake today (if I counted everything I caught.) Actually caught 23, but 11 of them barely measured ten inches or were shorter. Put back all the short fish, released the three biggest and kept 9 good ones for supper
tomorrow night. Most of the fish came from 17-18 ft of water, 16ft deep....but I caught the two biggest (both white crappie females) in about 8 ft of water fishing 6 ft deep first thing this morning. There is a little bit of misconception on this board that ONLY the black crappie will go shallow this early. Some white crappie will, too.... especially big ones, and especially if the water is stained or muddy. White crappie, like most fish, will follow the bait fish and there were a lot of shad in the skinny water early this morning. All the fish I caught today were taken on a very bright chartreuse jig fished with an orange 1/8 oz head. Back in the days before Black crappie became so prominent on KY Lake, we used to always count on finding a few sunny days, late Feb or early Mar, when some white crappie could be found feeding around banks. With the water rising as quickly as it is, the shallow fish are pretty scattered and haven't had a chance to bunch up very well, but they can...and sometimes do...especially in muddy water which warms quicker than clear water.

[darnskippy]

I am heading to the lake next Thursday, you appear to speak from experience, I figure the water will be dropping and at least stained, any observations [hints] you can make will be greatly considered, and appreciated

[ifish]

kyfishman,
Thanks for the post. I like your thoughts about the white crappie and I also see some females up shallow very early sometimes.Especially after a few good sunny days . Crappie can rome several miles a day so going from the drops in the mouth of some of these big bays to the sides and back to shallow water is just a skip in the park. Your point about finding the baitfish is so true.Just ask the commercial fisherman on the north end of Ky. Lake here lately. No shad or birds anywhere and no fish.We really need these sunny days to get everything going.A friend of mine Todd Huckabee that fishes Eufaula doesn't even fish cover or stake beds. His primary technique is targeting the shad.He does pretty good on some big crappie down there. I hope the water temps don't get up to fast before they get the lakes back down. Could have some devastating effects on the spawn this year.We don't need that again!

[kyfishman]

I agree with you, ifish....and I think many people would be surprised over how quickly and how far crappie are capable of moving. And I also agree with Todd. I don't spend a lot of time fishing cover or stake beds. In fact, my experience has proven to me that MOST crappie do not relate primarily to cover, but rather relate to depth changes like drop-offs, humps, creek channels and river channels..and even subtle bottom contour changes of one foot or so. Roger Gant, whom you may know and who guides on Pickwick, has proven that with his side-pulling technique of crappie fishing. I don't know anyone who consistently catches more crappie than Roger. I'm convinced that at any given time the majority of crappie are not relating to cover, for if they were you could pull up to a decent stakebed or brushpile and catch hundreds of fish, given the amount of crappie in Ky Lake. Instead, those fish are relating to bottom contours.....and to the availability of baitfish..which now seem at times "overabundant" in our two lakes here.

[kyfishman]

darnskippy, if you will PM me on Wednesday evening, I'll give you an update on lake conditions and where the crappie might be biting. I plan to fish Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather. Plus I have friends who are fishing nearly every day who keep me informed of what's going on. I'll be happy to share with you what I know.

[ifish]

kyfishman,
I was fishing West Fork Big Sandy a few years ago and I could not catch any crappie what so ever on the brush piles so I started spider fishing and came upon a spot that had a 1 foot drop and I have never caught so many big crappie out of one area in my life. I was a newby down there and I had everyone at the PumpHouse following me around. That showed me something right there. Like you said not all the crappie relate to just cover.Structure plays a big role in the crappie especially on these big lakes. It pays to look around and break out of some of those old habits of beating the banks or sitting on one spot for hours.Good sharing with you.

[fisher_i_am]

Great reports, this is why this site is so popular, the wealth of knowledge sharing is awesome. Thanks and god bless.

Jason

[chuckauten]

Good reports and info.

Thanks

Chuck

[kyfishman]

Ifish, you are exactly right about the structure. Glad to hear that you found them that way at Big Sandy. I have done the same thing down there many times. Just a small drop of a foot or so can often hold bunches of big crappie. In fact, if I could pick my favorite sort of place to expect to find good numbers of crappie, it would be on a small drop of a ft or so which also had some scattered ( and I do mean few and scattered) stumps on it....not stakebeds, not brushpiles...but just small, scattered stumps strung out along a small drop. That's my ideal kind of place. This time of year, if I can find a drop in 10-14 ft of water, it usually is holding fish. In a few weeks, while everybody is beating the banks to death, I'll continually catch "quality" crappie in 8-10 ft depths around small drops. In fact, I've caught crappie spawning around scattered stumps as deep as 10 ft. It's an old fish tale that ALL the crappie go shallow to spawn. Many don't...particularly in the clearer water we have in KY Lake these days. OR at least that's my opinion and experience.

[killum]

kyfishman,

I know you guys are discussing Ky Lake here but I have a question. does this same behavior occur in smaller lakes like Rough River, Nolin etc? I had actually come to some similar observations years ago fishing a small drop in the bucket to even those lakes. I fished a county park lake from the bank in Oldham county and found that the only crappie I caught were in deeper water just off what I would call a ledge in about 10-12 feet of water. Spring Summer or Fall. They seemed to relate more to that than any brush or "typical" structure. I guess the question is really "are these behaviors constant regardless of specific lake layouts or is this localized to KY Lake?"

Thanks

Killum