Burnt Out at Burnt Mills (again)

New here, been reading for a while. Appreciate everyone’s friendliness and openness here compared to other places on the web. This is my first season crappie fishing but have been fishing my whole life and primarily saltwater fish. My buddy Joe and I have been fishing the Suffolk lakes pretty hard, as well as some other areas in Hampton Roads area. Usually do “ok” but nothing crazy. Typically 10-25 fish a trip depending on how long we stay out.

We hit Burnt Mills again this morning 4-23-22, and came away with only one 11” crappie to show for it. Water temps were about 65 degrees. We tried several creeks and coves and fished hard with mainly jigs and bobber, but also tried long lining as well as a white rooster tail, sinking rapala. Caught several pickerel, green carp, but only the one crappie. Not our first time getting our butts kicked there. We have been far more successful at WBR, even though I’ve read many previous posts that said it’s harder to catch crappie there than at Burnt Mills. We thought for sure we would have found the spawning fish by now…we have been fishing for crappie since water was still in the 50s.

Are we early, late, or what? Thinking these big cold fronts have them messed up. Not looking for anyones coordinates or anything but just wondering if anyone else is having any luck in this area. If so, are they deep, shallow, or in between?

Thanks for any insight. And we will post reports here anytime we go out.

Jay




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Here in East Tennessee the spawn is happening most places. It is a different stages depending on the water temps. I would think they should be getting ready to spawn in Virginia

Sometimes they just wont bite, sorry. But the spawn should be about wrapping up. That last full moon did it i think. Maybe bigger bodies of water may be delayed??? 2cents

Attachment 425512
This was late march on the chick lake. Also here the dogwoods are starting to show green and the flowers are fading. Good luck

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Originally Posted by chasing_slabs

New here, been reading for a while. Appreciate everyone’s friendliness and openness here compared to other places on the web. This is my first season crappie fishing but have been fishing my whole life and primarily saltwater fish. My buddy Joe and I have been fishing the Suffolk lakes pretty hard, as well as some other areas in Hampton Roads area. Usually do “ok” but nothing crazy. Typically 10-25 fish a trip depending on how long we stay out.

We hit Burnt Mills again this morning 4-23-22, and came away with only one 11” crappie to show for it. Water temps were about 65 degrees. We tried several creeks and coves and fished hard with mainly jigs and bobber, but also tried long lining as well as a white rooster tail, sinking rapala. Caught several pickerel, green carp, but only the one crappie. Not our first time getting our butts kicked there. We have been far more successful at WBR, even though I’ve read many previous posts that said it’s harder to catch crappie there than at Burnt Mills. We thought for sure we would have found the spawning fish by now…we have been fishing for crappie since water was still in the 50s.

Are we early, late, or what? Thinking these big cold fronts have them messed up. Not looking for anyones coordinates or anything but just wondering if anyone else is having any luck in this area. If so, are they deep, shallow, or in between?

Thanks for any insight. And we will post reports here anytime we go out.

Jay




Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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Thanks for a good post and welcome aboard.

I used to fish every single weekend but now spend most of my weekend time on the golf course but I dug through my fishing stats to get you some data on how I have done at Burnt Mills. You are just 10 years too late. :) Back in 2012 I caught 206 on March 24, (very rare for me to go over 200) then, 105 on April 6. Now they were all under 12" with none of them over 1lb. Now fast forward to more recently. My only fishing trip so far this year was at Burnt Mills on Feb. 19 where I caught 6 crappie. April 6 and May 14 in 2021 I caught 4 crappie each day. (just digging up numbers around this time of year) April 5, 2020 I caught 6. 2019-April 6 I caught 3 and had better luck on May 4 when I caught 30. 2018 only one trip near this time of year on March 31 when I caught 1. 2017 April 14 I caught 3.

Now in 2010 after they opened the lake back up (it was closed for 2-3 years for spillway work) I caught 6 citation crappie. Since then I have only caught 3 more. My biggest there was 15.75" and 2lb 8oz.

Having said that, I have had good luck on sunny days with pearl colored jigs. Some luck along the shore this time of year but it's real hit and miss. I tend to enjoy fishing the deeper water and use my electronics to find structure. I have had many days there when I had to work really hard just to catch a few crappie.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TapOut64

I used to fish every single weekend but now spend most of my weekend time on the golf course but I dug through my fishing stats to get you some data on how I have done at Burnt Mills. You are just 10 years too late. :) Back in 2012 I caught 206 on March 24, (very rare for me to go over 200) then, 105 on April 6. Now they were all under 12" with none of them over 1lb. Now fast forward to more recently. My only fishing trip so far this year was at Burnt Mills on Feb. 19 where I caught 6 crappie. April 6 and May 14 in 2021 I caught 4 crappie each day. (just digging up numbers around this time of year) April 5, 2020 I caught 6. 2019-April 6 I caught 3 and had better luck on May 4 when I caught 30. 2018 only one trip near this time of year on March 31 when I caught 1. 2017 April 14 I caught 3.

Now in 2010 after they opened the lake back up (it was closed for 2-3 years for spillway work) I caught 6 citation crappie. Since then I have only caught 3 more. My biggest there was 15.75" and 2lb 8oz.

Having said that, I have had good luck on sunny days with pearl colored jigs. Some luck along the shore this time of year but it's real hit and miss. I tend to enjoy fishing the deeper water and use my electronics to find structure. I have had many days there when I had to work really hard just to catch a few crappie.

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Appreciate the lengthy response and stats! I recently went back and read all your posts on Burnt Mills and saw that you used to wear them out. I guess the reason we are struggling with catching them is because neither of us know how or where to fish for them in deep water. If they aren’t shallow we can’t seem to find them even using electronic (down scan\side scan). My buddy is ready to quit chasing them until they come back into the shallows, but I’m not giving up until I learn how to find them in deeper water too.

Fitting username for me…definitely chasing and not catching at this point !


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I went to this site and printed out all sections of the Norfolk owned lakes and taped them together to study and come up with ideas as to where to fish.

Fishing Maps | City of Norfolk, Virginia - Official Website

It also helps having the Navionics SD card in my fish finder which shows the contour lines when I am on the lake.

Amazon.com

Currently unavailable and I would guess that it is because I have an older version that I bought 10 years ago?

$60 on e-bay

Amazon.com

Thanks. I’ve been using the Navionics app on my phone. Now to just figure out where to look.



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Welcome, thanks for the great post.