Black lake trip 5/11-5/13

Getting ready to head up to Black Lake for three days of crappie fishing. But the weather up there has been shaky, snowed Sunday. Water rose 12 inches the last week. Hopefully we will be able to figure out a bite. Started our annual Black lake crappie trip last year. Needless to say we had a great time both socially and with the crappie. Every member of our group( 6) had to filet fish daily. Something we don't do often. Basically bass fisherman that catch and release. But that will be an exception with a quality tasting fish , like the crappie. This years group started at 15 guys but we're down to 9 now. That gives us four separate boats to check different areas of the lake. Each running a different pattern and presentation until we find the holding areas to concentrate our efforts. Then refine our presentation to find the color getting the most bites. Then start filling the live well. Or at least that is the plan. Just hope Mother Nature and the fish cooperate. Will post our results. The water temperature is running behind schedule for this time of year. Should delay the spawn. Tough game trying to coordinate the trip with the Crappie spawn 12 months in advance. Popular crappie lake sells out practically all lodging yearly. Many fisherman from all over state and northeastern states. So we're at the mercy of the weather patterns.

Good luck to you, hope the weather cooperates for you. Crappie fishing in southwestern New York has been up and down mainly due to the weather ups and downs.

We struggled Thursday, three boats and 7 guys. Fished 11:30 till 5:00 pm. Not 1 crappie caught. Only bluegill and Perch.
Friday started the same way rushed from 9:30 to 1:00 pm with 3 boats and 8 guys. And nada for the morning. But started catching a few little after one. Initially, we found the fish to be near the bottom of the water column just let the 1/16ounce jighead with 2-21/2 inch swirl tail. Slow roll the jig back to the boat after letting it hit bottom. This worked for for about 10-15 fish, then it slowed done drastically. We related the school as they had moved up the water column within a couple feet of the surface. Same baits same presentations. Now we had our three boats and of course others near by seeing us catching fish, moved into the area. But the increased commotion in the area put the fish into a negative feeding mood. It was then we realized we needed less noise, so we all avoided using our trolling motor and realized that all the boats had four 10-12 inch depthfinders, front platform and drivers seat, so we turned off all the depth finders.andshortly afterwards we started catching fish again in the upper part of the water column. When we went 5 minutes without a bite, we would fan cast in all directions to relocate the school. At this point 1of our guys put on a bobber about 4 feet up from the lure and put ona clinic catching crappie after crappie.
we left the fish at 4:30pm. Ended the day with 135 crappie all over 93/4. Had a tournament ruler which shortest length mark was 10 inches. So the fish has be be just a little short of 10 inches to be a keeper.
Three guys went home Friday night. Saturday their 5 guys in 2 boats caught about 100 crappie same size as Friday, but different area, found then in flooded bushes. Water temp 60 degrees. Which was the key temperature everywhere we caught the crappie. Various colors for the plastic swirl tails grubs.

But the key was eliminating most of the noise while the school was active. Turning off trolling motor and depthfinders

Glad you guys finally figured it out. Never would of thought of the depth finder spooking the fish but a good tip.

There are other mannerisms and actions that are overlooked. Nothing will shutdown or relocate a school of fish, like the added fishing pressure of a group of boats. Aside from the noise that trolling motors and electronics transmit thru the water, there is the noise of other fisherman dropping and falling in a aluminum boat. So it behooves the fisherman not to draw attention to your success. Few points to accomplish this are: Don't verbally announce when you get a bite or during the retrieve. When you bring the fish into the boat, I use the side of the boat where there are fewer other boaters. I will lift the fish into the boat by raising my rod tip and swinging it into the boat or reach down and lip the fish. Nothing draws attention like some one grabbing a 4-8 foot net to get your fish into the boat.
Understand that when other fisherman see you being successful. One of two things happen. Some( few) will respect your area, but watch how you fish to understand what your using and what type of presentation is working. Do you apply a minnow on your hook/jig. Is a bobber being used? If so how high up the line from the jig is the bobber? And how is he/ she working the bobber( still or short gradual twitches). Or are they using a slow steady retrieve using a curly tail baits.
Then there are the unscrupulous fisherman that have no respect for other fisherman. Why would they put in the time and effort to locate their own fish, when it is so easy to move in on a sit that other fisherman are catching fish?
I sometimes fish with one or up to 10 friends. Normally two to a boat but Occasionally we rub a dubdub (3 men in boat). We all operate mostly as a team. The boats all go to a different areas and start trying to figure the fish out. Where are they in the water column? What depth of water, what type of presentation? After we figure it out we communicate it to the other guys in the group. They apply it to the areas they are checking out. We then get feedback if others in the group start catching fish. Depending on the success of the others they might come to our location and start fishing the area. So now we have 3-4 fishing an area. Of course this draws the attention of others. However over the years we have developed a game plan to rote the our fishing area by blocking off access to our prosuctive area.
So, hope this enlightens other fisherman to respect the areas of other fisherman or how to fend off those that have no respect for other fisherman. When other boats are around, be quite and sky.

Talked to a friend he and two others went to Black Lake A week ago and had a tough time of it. Few crappies caught but fishing disapointing. Sounds like it has been in my area also Southwestern New York.