Cedar Creek ? and Report 06/25*

[KiK]

Hooked up the boat & took the 30 minute drive down the road to Cedar Creek last evening for some minnow-dipping night bite. My brother & I had caught 35 last week, mostly all chips. Last night, I was all by my lonesome. Wanting to stick close to the old creek channel and the edge of deeper water, I found a fairly interesting looking spot in about 28 FOW with easy tie-up to a couple well-spaced old tree-tops. I would have preferred to find an easy tie spot closer to the 40 foot mark but settled for this particular spot cause it was gonna be dark soon and I wanted to get set up.[BR] Dropped a homemade PVC tube with holes drilled in it filled with dog food and corn meal for a little extra insurance. Green LED strips lit up and 6 rods in the holders. Bill Monroe 1 & 2 softly on the bluetooth speaker and I settled in. Lots of small 1/2" to an inch bait fish quickly appeared and stayed with me till 3 a.m. when I untied from the stumps with the crappie still pecking. Sucks to get old...a younger me would've been there when the sun came up. Caught 28 after final count this morning...I miscounted and could've got 2 more for my limit. No length limit on this lake and due to excessive small fish, I was told a couple years ago..."take em out". I culled the smaller ones unless they swallowed the hook and death was apparent. Biggest was 12" last night. 4 lb line/palomar knot was broke once by something that acted very much like a crappie but who knows with the dog food/meal chum. I've yet to pull up a catfish down there while crappie fishing. Dead Aim or CrappiePappy or anybody else that fishes Cedar...is there a chance there are drum in Cedar? I had a good hit and sunk the hook and brought him to the surface where the hook pulled out and I swear it looked like a drum in the glow of my green lights. It was not a crappie unless he'd been bumping his snout on tree bark enough to round off his nose. ;-) I've caught drum in Herrington and down on the South Fork and it seems they are more of a "river" or current fish. If it was a crappie, he was the biggest in the lake I'm sure. Maybe a few years down the road, I'll remember it as the huge crappie that got away :-) How's this pic for representing?

[CrappiePappy]

KiK .... with all the different species in that lake, now, that were never supposed to be there .... it wouldn't surprise me if you caught a Gar

Heck ... they even stock Rainbow Trout in there, but I doubt they survive very long once that water warms up.

People have been taking buckets full of short fish from there ever since they opened the lake for fishing. Now that the size/creel limits have changed, I doubt it will hurt anything to keep a limit of any size Crappie that you care to clean.

You didn't happen to notice if a thermocline has set up there, did you ??

[KiK]

Yeah I've caught some of those trout last year. I was talking to a survey officer down there one day and he said they were pure protein for the bass. I told him if there was a bass in there that could swallow a bigger one I had caught recently, I'd love to see it. He said "you would be surprised".

As for the thermocline, I just took for granted there would be cause the surface temps were close to 85 degrees. I didn't pay much attention to it Sat night cause the crappie had been coming up after dark most being caught in about 5 or 6 FOW. Last night I think I was seeing the line around 18 feet but I didn't do any sensitivity adjustments to be sure.

[CrappiePappy]

Just another quick question concerning your statement : " ... the crappie had been coming up after dark most being caught in about 5 or 6 FOW."

Are you saying 5 or 6ft "DEEP" (over deeper water depths), or are you saying you were actually fishing in 5 or 6ft of water (lake bottom being no more than 6ft down) ??

If you don't want to give away any secrets to the trolls & meathogs on the interweb .... you can PM me your answer.


Oh, and YES ... you would be surprised at how big a Trout can be swallowed by a 6-7-8lb Bass. The whole concept of Cedar Creek Lake was to produce a Trophy Bass Lake ... and when the Gizzard Shad took over as their primary food source, instead of the fingerling Bluegill & Crappie, it just wasn't going as good as they had predicted (or wanted). The introduction of the Rainbow Trout was "advertised" as just another option for the anglers to fish for/catch ... but, I always thought (from the start) that it was more for the benefit of the Bass, in order to increase their size/weight to "trophy" status as fast as possible.

[KiK]

Oops...that was meant to be "DEEP". I try to hang out around the stream channel this time of year following that deeper water access. I was in what I thought would be a very good spot last night but that's what I get for thinking. Only caught 8 decent crappie and a big green fish and a 3 lb cat. Once I set up at night I don't like to move but I probably should consider that. But there's too many obstacles after dark down there as you know and if I pack up and move I lose all my bait fish. I left at about 3 am when the moon come up over the trees.

[CrappiePappy]

... I thought that was what you meant !!

Keep them reports/pics coming !!