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We are going to be staying in the Jonathan Creek area (Bee Springs Lodge) this weekend and need some info about the fishing there. We will be mainly night fishing live bait under lights for crappie. We might also try some bluegill in the afternoon or whites in the jumps. Any help is greatly appreciated
sorry you did not get any replies before your trip. Had I known anything useful about that area, I'd have been more than willing to help out. Regardless, do let us know how the trip went.Quote:
Originally Posted by E. Jones
And Welcome to Crappie.com !! Hopefully, in the future, you will get the information you seek. ............ cp :cool:
We had to cancel the trip. We are trying to make plans for a trip in Oct. Thanks for the reply.
That will change the face of things, and probably for the better. I generally fish Watts Bar Lake, in East Tenn, in Oct. And I usually find the Crappie on flats with submerged timber, anywhere from 6-20ft of water depth ... and the Crappie are suspended over the timber (ambushing the shad that are moving thru the area). I also find them suspended under the stationary private docks, with deep water (>12ft), that dot the creek & some main lake banks.Quote:
Originally Posted by E. Jones
You should be able to fish the channels & flats of Jonathan Creek, at that time, and find some schools of fish. The water will have cooled off quite a bit by then ...... so look for baitfish schools on the move, and fish under them or set up in their path and let the baitfish bring the Crappie to you.
Check with the Marina guys, and local baitshops, to find out how the fish are being caught (trolling, tightline, jigging, casting). They want you to be successful, so you'll book a return trip or get your repeat business.
I think you'll be much more comfortable, and probably more productive, during the cooler days of Oct. I still pack "winter gear" (clothing) for Oct fishing in E. Tenn ..... since the weather is in a state of flux, at that time.
You might also want to read thru this telemetry study from the KDFWR -- http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/navigat...7&NavPath=C101 -- especially in the "Preliminary Results" link. Read thru the "Fall" results portion of this article, with particular interest on the "Weekly Movements Pattern" portion of the article. Even though the info was compiled during Nov ... it is of interest, and may be of some help, since it shows what/where the Crappie are relating to (flats, channel bends, channel mouths) and how the weather and water level/condition changes affect their movements. Oct & Nov is a transition period for Crappie ... where they move out of the main channel depths, back into the shallows & creek arms, to feed up for the Winter ... before making the move back out to the main channel depths, for overwintering. It's also an interesting study/article, since it clearly shows the differences/likeness' of the Black & White Crappie movements and preferences of depth & cover.
That knowledge, of those preference differences, has proved true for me on Watts Bar. In the many years I've fished it, I've caught mostly Black Crappie during the months of April, Oct, & Nov ... and mostly White Crappie during May. Black Crappie seem to relate more to docks & deeper wood cover (8-12ft of water) during Apr ... while White Crappie seem to relate to very shallow wood cover (3-6ft of water) in the warmer waters of May. In the Fall, Black Crappie are relating to the timbered flats & deep water docks ... while the White Crappie are out in the channels, in much deeper water (much like they are in April). ........... luck2ya ........ cp :cool:
Thanks for the info. I am looking to forward to the trip in Oct.