Bandit bite is on

[M R Dux]

Waited to hear from a buddy who was supposed to go with me this afternoon. He didn't call so I ended up sneaking off by myself. I got on the lake around 3 and decided to check out some ledges that I had not fished before. Ended up wasting a couple of hours of battery time for zero fish. I decided to check out my usual spots and picked up some yellows and something that broke me off before I could even turn it around. Also managed to get a 10-12 pound drum in the boat before it could break me off. A fish that heavy on a 14 foot rod and moving 1.7mph is a real trick.

I finally moved off into deeper water and found suspended fish. My 1st pass deep produced fish on 5 of my 8 rods at once. I managed to get 3 of them in the livewell with a couple of really nice ones, almost 2 pounds. I spent the rest of the afternoon in water up to 25 feet deep searching for fish suspended from 12-18 feet.

Around 6, I hit on a couple of spots that were stacked full of suspended fish. My trolling motor batteries were getting weak and I figured it was going to have to happen in 30 minutes or so or I would be paddling. In that 30 minutes I caught nice keepers on every pass and then had something happen I had never seen. I had 14 keepers in the livewell and managed to hook up on 6 of my 8 rods in one spot and luckily got every one of them in the boat. Chinese fire-drills had nothing on me. I had to reel the fish in, swing it over the side, lay the rod down with the flopping fish still hooked, and grab the next rod. I finished out my limit before the batteries totally died.

This is the 1st time I had been on the lake in a month. I didn't see another crappie fisherman in my area all afternoon. As has been the rule all this year, the crappie are liking the dark colors over the bright colors. Every keeper I had were white crappie with 4 over 1 1/2 pounds, close to 2. They are putting the feed on since the water is thick with minnow bait-balls.

[chaunc]

Great job Doug. It's nice fishing a lake when you have it darn near to yourself. Thanks for making my trip to Ky lake this spring, the best one ever.

[M R Dux]

Thanks Kenny. When I finally got that big drum up where I could tell what it was, I thought " That's a dad-gum GASPERGOO!!". I knew you would be proud.

[Grizzly2k1]

Nice Doug! I'd like to trying pulling cranks once seems like it would be fun but a lot of work!

[M R Dux]

Nice Doug! I'd like to trying pulling cranks once seems like it would be fun but a lot of work!

It's funny to see other fishermen pull their boats up close to where I'm trolling and try to figure out what the heck I'm doing, especially when I'm targeting areas that are well away from the "normal" crappie spots. I'm normally standing next to my console, looking toward the back of the boat, watching both my 898GPS and my Lowrance fish finder, and running my Terrova with the remote control. Not a real relaxing way of fishing but it does put fillets in the freezer.

[killum]

Sounds like you had great afternoon Doug! I been busy getting trained by that pup. She is growing like a weed! Going out next weekend on Rough River to start getting her used to the boat. Doubt we will catch much but getting on the water should be great.

[M R Dux]

Sounds like you had great afternoon Doug! I been busy getting trained by that pup. She is growing like a weed! Going out next weekend on Rough River to start getting her used to the boat. Doubt we will catch much but getting on the water should be great.

Had a friend from PA ask me this AM if I had my dogs in the boat yesterday. I told him an 18 foot boat with 8 rods running cranks is not the place to be for even an old dog, much less a 4 month old pup like Layla.

[BIGBADDAD]

Where was my invite????? I'm always ready to fish!

[kytiteloc]

Hey Doug,
Quick question........Have you noticed in your trollling trips if the amount of water that is being pulled tend to make a huge difference on results???

[M R Dux]

Hey Doug,
Quick question........Have you noticed in your trollling trips if the amount of water that is being pulled tend to make a huge difference on results???

I try to make my Bandit trips in the afternoon because of a couple of things. 1st, it lets me get a few things done at the shop before I head out but mainly because that should be the time of max generation at Ky Dam. I have a TVA app on my phone (TVA Lake Info) that gives me how many generators are running and how much water is being released. I think the times of maximum release actually hurt the crappie fishing, seems to be the way it has been this year, but I do want to see 70K or more. The days this year that the release was up to 150+ were terrible for us pulling cranks and deep longlining. Sunday the current was not as noticeable as it has been some days but the fish were stacked up under bait balls. I think the strong current stacks them and the bait up but in places I can't find them. So I guess the answer is yes, but not too much.

I have learned so much from the guys in MS as to their tactics on pulling cranks, especially Kent Driscoll's videos with Russ Bailey. One thing I have envied them for is the fact that their big lakes down there have a definite thermocline in the summer that shows up well on electronics. That gives those guys an instant starting point as to the depth they need to target. We rarely see a hint of a thermocline here so it is just experiment until you hit that magic depth. I guess the amount of current stirs the lake up so it doesn't layer out.