Ef 12/19

My dad and I fished East Fork on Thursday. We only had about 3.5 hours to fish, late morning to around 3:45. We caught 20 crappie total. 8.5-9 inch usual average. No giants. Mostly caught on minnows, but some on jigs. It was very windy. Water temp was 43.5 degrees. We trolled a main area we usually do. There were some fish there but it was so darn windy it was tough keeping the boat from going too fast for those cold crappie. We moved and found a big tree submerged at the mouth of one of the coves and caught quite a few before we had to leave. We should have started there. Most were about 15-20 feet down and tight to cover. We donated quite a bit of tackle. Hope to get out in January. This is the first year that I've decided to fish into winter, on the warmer days. So far so good, though I know its not technically winter yet. Water was low, but that will change this weekend I'm sure.

Good report

I was out yesterday too. I has similar results but fished from about 9 until 1. I fished 4 or 5 spots and caught at least some fish everywhere. I had a little better results on minnows over jigs, it was tough getting those jigs down with the wind. I found enough fish over 9" for a meal if you were desperate but I didn't keep any.
What a difference a year makes, last year the water temps were in the low 50's.

I was pleasantly surprised by how active the bite was when you found them and kept it in front of them. I'm ready to get back out as soon as it warms up a little bit in January. I've set a 50 degree high-temperature-for-the-day minimum for going out in the winter, but that should allow for a couple of trips in Jan/Feb. My only complaint with EF is that the crappie size on average is just that - average. Still a good crappie lake close to home!