Kayak Trip Report, Limestone Bay/Creek - 28 NOV

I fished Limestone from daylight till about 3:30PM. Nice day on the water, kept a limit and returned 13 that were over 12 inches. Lots of little ones are still around, I hook one on a 2" jig that was 2 inches long! They've dropped the lake finally, Limestone was down about 2 and half feet from a week ago. The big pit on the northeast side of the creek that everyone fishes only had about 2 and a half feet of water in it, but it's still loaded with Crappie. I caught a handful today single pole jigging isolated cover with a white Marabou, everything else came off a jig and bobber fished about 12 inches deep. Best bait was a 1/32oz jig with a Chartreuse and Pearl Bobby Garland.

The water was 51 degrees at daylight and had warmed to 55 by the time I left with visibility of about two feet in the creek and a foot of visibility in the pits.

Sounds like you had a great day and were able to tuck in out of the wind in there. Thanks for the report DB.

Thanks for the report, I just got the roof on a shop building for my son today so maybe I can get a day to go fishing. I have been having to fish vicariously through everyone else posts .

The cold weather next week may be end of season for the Limestone skinny water. There will still be some Crappie, but the large numbers of baitfish and Crappie really start to diminish once the water gets into the mid 40's.

Thanks Ditch for all your posts. I am still figuring limestone creek out. Will there still be crappie in the deeper holes in the main creek ?I hope to return When they get the water all the way down to winter pool. This would be a good time to mark stumps and learn more about the creek channel .

Couple things, the upper end of Limestone is about as low as it gets. It may drop another 6 inches, but that's about it. Typically the Crappie move to the holes for cover, not warmer temperatures since the water is running across flats that are less than 12" deep over the night. That means they're just as likely to be under the shadow of a tree or behind a limb in 12" of water. The pits are connected by only a couple inches of water right now.

The shad move into the creeks in fall and the Crappie follow. Once the temperature drops below 50 the shad begin moving back out. Baitfish in the pits are trapped, just like the Crappie, but the first water rise they'll move out. There always Crappie, but a good day will become a handful, not a cooler. I think the cooler temperatures next week and the potential for a slight water rise will probably cause most of the baitfish and Crappie to move back into the bay and creek looking for deeper, warmer water.

The reverse process will bring the shad and Crappie back in next year, but they'll be looking for warm areas without current to spawn.

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Fresh fish for dinner again!!:biggrin

Wish I’d have taken a few of those big ones now. Lol. Just kidding I didn’t have time to clean them.


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