Help a Newbie???

Hello,
I just joined yesterday and posted in the newbie forum-thought I'd do the same here. While I'm not new to fishing, I don't have a lot of experience with crappie and thought I'd ask if anyone could offer some advice/tips for fishing within a 2 hour drive of Fairfield, IL. My wife has back issues, and if we drive any further than that she can't fish for very long. Because of the size of our boat (1670 Jon) I don't know about fishing on Rend. A lot of the state park lakes fall within our time restriction, but I don't know much about them...always been a mediocre bass and 'gill fisherman. Anyway, any tips would be appreciated.

wilber and sum of the other guys will help you

No matter where you fish or what you fish for squeeze every bit of fun out of it every time. I'm sure I have lost personal bests because I was laughing so hard! ;-)

These guys on here will help were ever you fish if they fish there just ask for a report. Welcome!

Rend can be fished on calm days with that boat. No problem.

I moved to the Saint Louis area about 6 years ago. One of the best investments I ever made was to take a guided trip on Rend with Crappie Xtreme. The moderator of this Illinois board is one of the guides and he was a tremendous help. From the knowledge I gained on my guide trip I now can go to the lake and catch plenty of fish without the guide. So, I would highly recommend getting a guide for your 1st time on the lake.

If you can't take a guide trip. I know there are several places near gun creek campground where you can put your boat in and start fishing not far from the launch and catch plenty of fish. If you go in the fall or the spring just look for other fisherman in the area.

There's a lot of boat ramps and bays you can easily fish on rend. Closer to Fairfield is Sam dale lake 180 acres. It's full of crappie but they aren't very big. You can catch as many as you want later this spring there. But they are small, no limit. Lake of Egypt has nice crappie in it but they are harder to catch usually, it's down by Marion IL. It's a power plant lake so they are biting there now. Me and another guy caught about 70 weekend before last there. Mostly 10" with a few up to 13" and there are some 2 lb crappie in that lake. I'd say it or Rend are the two best crappie lakes within driving distance for size. But to catch a bunch easy you can just drive up to Sam Dale Lake just west of Johnsonville IL closer to spawn and just go around the corner and fish that deep steep bank just out from the roadbed you can catch them earlier out deeper..... good luck. And I'd say a guided trip to rend would be your best bet to learn to catch them there too. They guide at Lake of Egypt too. The guided trips are always worth the money learning new lakes or areas.