Smithville advise?

Hey all, new to crappie fishing in general, but I'm also hoping to get out on a new lake this weekend. I'm only about an hour south of Smithville and that seems to be a pretty decent crappie spot, yeah?

Any of you have any advice for a new crappie fisherman out on Smithville for the first time in a small 16' flat bottom Jon boat? I hear they're supposed to be pushing out a little deeper now with the colder water temp, but not entirely sure how deep is "deeper". I see on the fishing topology it gets to about 45' in the main part, but not sure they would be out that far.

Few questions I had:

• Where would I put my boat in? I see a ramp off of County Road West near the "Sail Boat Cove" on google maps, but not sure where would be best, and how far out I'd need to go from there... Is there a better spot? Maybe something free?
• What depth should I be looking to target to start with? I understand I'll need to experiment - just thought you smithville vets might know offhand about where to begin that process.
• What color jigs have you all had success with out there? I'm hoping to go mostly plastics, but I could probably grab some minnows on the way. I saw on another post they were using "Pearl", I have some Gulp minnows in that color already. Gulp minnows work well for crappie? I've caught a bunch of little sun perch with them.
• Are there any publicly known brush piles out there, or do I just need to troll and find something for myself?

I dunno what else to ask... Any advice at all? :help

Water temp as of last week was 58, still a little warm for me but I think folks have been catching a few. If you have a depth finder swing by Burtons and he'll download all the brush piles on it.
You said your in a 16' boat , my advice there is pay attention to the wind ,the lake can and will get very rough with the wind so be careful. Probably the best place to start in the winter is the bridge pillars, then main lake brush piles. In the fall/ winter I use 1/8-1/16 oz jigs with blue and white,yellow and white, and black and chart.
Just remember to be careful and wear your life jacket, I've been caught in some big waves and wind. It's not a pretty sight.

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Originally Posted by red ranger

Water temp as of last week was 58, still a little warm for me but I think folks have been catching a few. If you have a depth finder swing by Burtons and he'll download all the brush piles on it.
You said your in a 16' boat , my advice there is pay attention to the wind ,the lake can and will get very rough with the wind so be careful. Probably the best place to start in the winter is the bridge pillars, then main lake brush piles. In the fall/ winter I use 1/8-1/16 oz jigs with blue and white,yellow and white, and black and chart.
Just remember to be careful and wear your life jacket, I've been caught in some big waves and wind. It's not a pretty sight.

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Thanks! I definitely have a depth finder, just didn't know you could download brush pile markers onto them! That would be great!

Appreciate the tips on the wind and life jacket - Smithville is definitely the largest body of water I've thought about taking this little boat...

It looks like there are 3 bridges over the lake: North, Central'ish, and East - would any of them be fine, or do you mean a specific one?

I don't boat but its best to stick around the two big marinas Paradise and Little Platte. If I had a boat I would still fish around near the marinas and along the rocks by the bridges. My friends have been out there and catching on Dark/Chartreuse 2 inch grubs. Good luck and don't forget to come back and report!

Not sure what kind of finder you have, but if it has GPS and a SD card slot Burton's should be able to load them for you, if not he also has printed copies that can help. W bridge ramp will put you right at the bridge and they also have some brushpiles along the rocks that can be good, just don't go North that area is closed till Jan. Camp Branch ramp is right at the marina and close to a bridge. And red ranger is right, that lake can get rough. Be safe and good luck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clownfish

Not sure what kind of finder you have, but if it has GPS and a SD card slot Burton's should be able to load them for you, if not he also has printed copies that can help. W bridge ramp will put you right at the bridge and they also have some brushpiles along the rocks that can be good, just don't go North that area is closed till Jan. Camp Branch ramp is right at the marina and close to a bridge. And red ranger is right, that lake can get rough. Be safe and good luck.

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It's a garmin striker 4cv. It doesn't appear to have an SD card slot that I can see, but it does have GPS. I'll have to play around with it.

Thanks for the advise gentleman. Im hoping to get out there Saturday morning.