East Fork 7/24/2020

5 years back, I'd fish East Fork about 7-10 times a year. It was a consistent lake for me. No giant crappie but you could definitely catch lots of keepers.

After the fish kill, it just got bad. I'd make an annual visit and always be disappointed with the abundance of super small crappie in the lake. Though I know others said they've been catching some bigger fish.


I went back yesterday and fished my usual spots for 5-6 hours. No pics but I can say I was really pleasantly surprised with the size of crappie. About like I remember from years back: Lots of smaller crappies but you could catch a solid number of 10+" fish in a day. I'm a catch-release guy mostly these days but I would have a good mess. Probably 40 crappie, average size maybe 9.5". Largest about 11.5", but lots in that 10" range.

Maybe they've stocked some hybrids or saugeye in there to bring things back into balance.

mbk

Thanks for the report.

I am gong tomorrow hoping to put a few in livewell. I will give you a report on how it went.
Bassky

Good luck, I am headed to Alum Creek Reservoir to hopefully do the same. :fish

Went last week and there were a ton of boats. So many it was hard to stay 6 fish apart. I like to troll but was imposable. There 8 boats in one spot trying to get them. East Fork has got a lot of pressure this year for sure.

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Originally Posted by ksnouf

Went last week and there were a ton of boats. So many it was hard to stay 6 fish apart. I like to troll but was imposable. There 8 boats in one spot trying to get them. East Fork has got a lot of pressure this year for sure.

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Ain't that the truth! Weekend fishing has been a challenge this year. Seen a lot more pleasure boating/skiing than in years past. I'm hoping it'll get better this fall after school starts, but seeing that COVID is doing its best to put a kink into that plan, it may be a crappie shoot - pun intended.

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Originally Posted by GPatt

Ain't that the truth! Weekend fishing has been a challenge this year. Seen a lot more pleasure boating/skiing than in years past. I'm hoping it'll get better this fall after school starts, but seeing that COVID is doing its best to put a kink into that plan, it may be a crappie shoot - pun intended.

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Went again yesterday... Actually a very light day for other fisherman/boaters despite the beautiful weather. I would much rather take a day off mid week than to try and deal with the Fri-Sun boat traffic. I know that's not possible for everyone.

Anyway - did very well again. EF is back :)

Actually quite a few catfish between us as well, while fishing for crappie. But crappie were good. Nothing over 11' but plenty in the 9.75-10.5' range.
Lots of shad in the coves and the big fish were busting them up all around us.

I went today and there were 10 boats trying to troll around 3 boat sitting at the beach. Thought 2 of them were going to fight. Wasn't worth it. We went to another spot.