1st Crappie fishing expedition

Howdy,


This morning I fished for Crappie on the old drawbridge over Caddo lake (Mooringsport, La.). I had a 6 lb. test line and various brightly colored tube jigs, including a "Crappie Magnet" and a 1/32 oz. hook/weight. Casting beside the big pilings yielded not a single nibble. Nothing.

I fished for Bream at this exact spot about a handful of times in the mid-'90s with encouraging results, but was set up for Bream. I cannot recall bait, presentation, etc. I do remember reeling in Bream and when not reeling 'em in, at least getting nibbles. This was early in the morning, late Summer, btw.
I welcome all advice and pointers. Oh, and in case I failed to make it clear, I do not have a boat.

Hey buddy fish slow and try different depths by counting to yourself as jig sinks usually 1 second equals 1 foot.....or you can let it sink all the way and start a foot from the bottom,then work your way up....till you get a bite or till you find em...

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Originally Posted by bamacrappieking

Hey buddy fish slow and try different depths by counting to yourself as jig sinks usually 1 second equals 1 foot.....or you can let it sink all the way and start a foot from the bottom,then work your way up....till you get a bite or till you find em...

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That's what I did. The salesman at Bass Pro advized me to do that. It was 11:30 in the morning when I arrived so, perhaps I was too early ...or too late. There were several anglers on the old drawbridge and they didn't seem to be having any luck either, but I was there for just 30 minutes, moving from piling to piling after 2 casts and using your method. I'll try the pier at lake Bistineau tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

Those crappie are sometimes really hard to catch my friend...I went under a causeway from 5.30 to 10.00 this morning and caught only 1 crappie...no one else I saw around me caught any while I was there.....In the same spot but later in the year last year i caught 29...lol crappie fishing can sometimes be very frustrating and sometimes it's the best fun fishing you could have...best eating too

Keep at it eggman and one day it will click.

Oldest trick in the book is....if what you are doing is not working, do something different...don't be afraid to experiment...and, watch what others are doing...if you get a boat, follow the other boats.....look for birds feeding....the fish will be there...

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Originally Posted by eggman

That's what I did. The salesman at Bass Pro advized me to do that. It was 11:30 in the morning when I arrived so, perhaps I was too early ...or too late. There were several anglers on the old drawbridge and they didn't seem to be having any luck either, but I was there for just 30 minutes, moving from piling to piling after 2 casts and using your method. I'll try the pier at lake Bistineau tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

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East of you at Lake D’Arbonne the fish were biting from daylight to about 11:00. By 11:00 nothing, so maybe you were a little late today.

I feel your pain! Thursday I caught 10 in about 90 min or less and then no bites for about two hours. All of the sudden twala they started biting again. I'm to new at all of this to understand it but I did nothing different.

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Originally Posted by shurt

I feel your pain! Thursday I caught 10 in about 90 min or less and then no bites for about two hours. All of the sudden twala they started biting again. I'm to new at all of this to understand it but I did nothing different.

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Fish move around constantly....if it appears that they stopped biting, they probably just moved away from your location...bite starts again, they moved back to your location...so what happened is a normal occurance...

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Originally Posted by eggman

Howdy,


This morning I fished for Crappie on the old drawbridge over Caddo lake (Mooringsport, La.). I had a 6 lb. test line and various brightly colored tube jigs, including a "Crappie Magnet" and a 1/32 oz. hook/weight. Casting beside the big pilings yielded not a single nibble. Nothing.

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I've fished that location before from a boat, and the water is about 20+ feet deep under that bridge. In Jan this year I was fishing the bottom and pulling up 4 to 8 lb catfish and gou since I wasn't finding crappie right then either. Just wanted you to know in case you continue to fish from that bridge because 6 lb test might not pull up some of the fish in that area that you could catch. It looked like it's 20-30 feet over the water when I was under it, but maybe that was just my perspective.

On the east side of that bridge, just in front of the house on the hill is a big open area of deep water and that has been a good location in the past for fishing once they go deep, but again, a boat would be necessary since it's private property and you can't bank fish there. Also, from what I've heard, it hasn't been consistently good. Some of the people I know will fish areas on a 'rotation', saying "Mooringsport is hot now"....then later on "Johnson's Ranch is hot"....like they're not consistently in a general area over a long term.