Playing around at Cedar Creek ...
Sat 5/19/07 .... Partner Paul and I spent the day at Cedar Creek Lake, doing a little Crappie fishing. We probably caught around 40 or 50 Crappie, none of which would have passed the 7" length range .... let alone pass the 9" size limit :p We didn't care, since we weren't really expecting to catch keeper sized fish, anyway. We were just enjoying the day, playing with the dinks :D
Some interesting things observed :
The Male Black Crappie were very black in coloration, as though still in spawning mode. We caught no Crappie that looked to have any belly bulge (egg laden females), even though many of them were not so darkly colored.
We caught them from only a couple of select spots, 6-8ft of water, and around submerged logs. Don't know if they were going thru a false spawn, finishing up the spawn, guarding nests, or just in their normal habitat :confused:
We saw no sign of any Water Patrol Officials ... and observed people swimming & fishing at the "Beach", even though signs are posted that the Beach is closed. We also observed a number of bank anglers, who were taking a few sublegal sized Crappie right along with the other small Bluegill being caught. I started to "warn" them, that they were in violation .... but, conceded to the fact that, since the size limit is being removed (next year) anyway .... they probably weren't impacting the Crappie population enough to really matter. There have been numerous sightings of people taking bucketfuls of undersized Crappie, for the past few years, and still the Crappie are not getting to legal size in any numbers. Nor are they getting "scarce", either. I don't know if the removal of the size limit will really impact the Crappie, or not. That may take a couple of years to determine.
Partner Paul seemed to be "in the zone", when it came to catching Bass :p and even managed to bring in this young feller :
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...hotos00006.jpg
I tried to take a picture of one of the Crappie, still on the line, in the clear water of Cedar Creek Lake .... but, this one was camera shy, and thrashed the water at the most inopportune moment :rolleyes: :
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...hotos00007.jpg
..... cp :cool:
T-ville Hybrids/Whites ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by badbrad
I saw you mention trolling for hybrids at Taylorsville. When I can't catch crappie, which happens quite a lot, we troll Barren for Hybrid. I don't have downriggers, but we usually troll a large crankbait with the rear hook removed. I tie about a 5' leader and then put a size 12 "Pet" spoon on. I'm amazed at the size hybrid you can catch on such a little bait. My son got one last year 7lbs 12oz. I know they get much bigger than that, but it was a lot of fun for him to reel in.
If I get on them good down here this year, you'll have to make a trip down to Barren to join me.
What's your best technique for them.
Generally, I'm trolling a large Hot-n-Tot trailing a 12-18in leader off the front hooks, with a 1/16oz marabou jig attached. I use the larger Hot-n-Tot simply because it runs more true at the speed my partners boat will idle. The smaller "tots" will work, but tend to "roll" with any speed above a "puttering along" idle :p (can't tell you in mph, don't have gps or any speed gauges) I tie the leader on the front hook eye, because using the rear hook eye tends to pull the tail end of the bait "down" ... causing the bait to not dive or track correctly. The larger "tot" doesn't get bit very often, and even the larger Hybrids & Whites seem to like the jig better, anyway. Now, the occasional Bass or Channel Cat, they're as likely to hit the plug as they are the jig :D
Other than trolling, which is done mostly when boat traffic is heavy or the fish are not feeding on the surface .... then casting to "the jumps" is my other technique of choice. Normally, this is done using a small Silver Buddy in the old "White" paint coloration. This bait can also be trolled, with good results, if the fish are running in the top 8ft of water depth. I've used the "plunker & fly" setup, for surfacing fish ... but, results are generally less than with a blade bait like the Silver Buddy. The Shad Rap is also a good trolling/casting bait for Hybrids/Whites ... if they're big enough to attack a bait of that size. Unfortunately, T-ville's Hybrids are not as big as they should/could have been. It would seem that, once they got to keeper size, people had figured out that they could be easily caught by using Chicken Livers :eek: ... and I think the population of larger fish was decimated, before they could establish themselves. Also, there was a remnant population of White Bass, that was in the Salt River ... before the lake was impounded. You rarely, if ever, caught one during the early years of the lake ... unless you fished way up the Salt's headwaters. Then, a few years back, an explosion of White Bass occurred ... right around the time that the Hybrids were being removed in numbers. Nowadays, you catch them both in the same general area, if not from the same school.
Taylorsville Hybrid Stripers used to have a 15" size limit & 5fish creel ... but, since the White Bass population explosion, and the decline of the size of the Hybrids .... they've changed the regs to the "combined" ruling (White Bass/Yellow Bass/Hybrid Stripers) - no size limit, 15fish creel, no more than 5 of them may be 15" or longer. It hasn't seemed to help, though, as we've never caught any of that size, for many years. We don't keep them, anyway, so it's not a big deal to us personally ... we just fish for them for the fun of it, when the opportunity presents itself, or just to round out the day with some slammin hits or rod bending runs :D
We've also encountered some hefty catfish, the occasional Bass, and some decent keeper Crappie ... while trolling the Tot/jig rig. But, like I said ... they all seem to prefer the jig. Solid Chartreuse marabou 1/16oz jigs are the favorite ... whether it be a 4" fish or one of "some size" :p
Even with ski boats, water lice, and anglers ripping up and down the lake ... we still seem to manage to find them willing to grab a jig dragged behind a "tot" ... right out in the middle of all the commotion. Maybe the traffic keeps the Shad schools from staying on the surface, forcing the fish to forage on them in the 8-12ft depth range :confused: :D
I've heard that Barren is a very good lake for Hybrids ... keep me informed.
.... cp :cool:
