Going on a night stalk on Hickory

I'm planning to go out on Lake Hickory later this week or maybe this weekend and give a good try at some crappie night-fishing. I have tried several times in the past with nothing to show, so I don't have a lot of confidence at this point.

I've read a lot of information on the subject. I have all the gear, but the biggest question in my mind is location. I always read about channel ledges, flats near deep water, etc, but I don't quite know how to apply that to Lake Hickory. Should I stay in creeks, coves, near main channel, bridge pilings, or all the above?

Any general tips on likely spots? I'm planning to pick out three spots and give each one a couple of hours to produce before moving to the next spot.

And what about ambient or nearby lights, should I try spots that aren't near other lights?

I would try one of the bridges. Like 127

There I s good spot right below Quail run condos, old road bed with big drop off into main channel and creek channel coming into it. Try this area by reading your depth finder and you will find the drop offs.

Thanks for the input - I'm going tonight :fish - will let you know how it goes

How did u do? I went there today to troll for some crappie but ended up catching white perch instead.

I took a friend, and we did pretty good. Was all geared up to try spots I had picked out with the info given here, but thought I'd first fish a spot where I caught several the other evening without lights. Set anchor, put out lights, and caught a nice one right away on a purple/chart tube. After that one, it was about thirty minutes before the bite picked up. Well, they kept biting, off and on, for about three hours. Once the bite slowed for a good while, we pulled anchor and drifted for next hour or two, catching one more. As for bait, we used minnows, shad from the lights when minnows ran out, and a jig.

Got a little excitement from a 18" smallmouth, but put her back to swim another day.

In all, we kept 17 crappie and threw back five or six. I didn't get to try my new target spots, yet, but I have them on the list for later :)

Attachment 138611

Looks like ya'll did pretty good, thanks for the report, and keep trying other spots and areas that is what I do.

Nice catch! Way to go