3 Days on The Rez (Ross Barnett)

We spent a few days this week on The Rez Crappie fishing everyday. Several early birds were out on the Ledges above the 43 Bridge but they didn't stay long. It looked to me like the same boat, the only boat I saw catch a Crappie last trip, well they were out Crappie fishing in very dedicated spots. They moved very little, don't know if they caught anything but they were gone well before I quit each day. Plastic bodied jigs did little, I have a very, very, old aspirin head 1/32oz jighead mold (maybe the first Do-it ever made) well my hand tied micro jigs on that Mold's profile & weight caught a surprising number of Crappie. I has a single Saltwater Flash down the back, light grey Calftail upper body with a splash of white Calftail over the hook. #6 Matzou Sickle. It fished very well, hooks so far in I need pliers on most and when it slowed I tipped it with a small shiner to catch a few more before switching to shiners. The recruitment speeds of the trees holding fish was very slow, if you found a tree with Crappie patience fishing only one bait out at a time put 16-19 in my cooler each day. Slow fishing was a understatement as I was wishing I had the 12 volt fan Slab & Buckeye was talking about. When the wind died it was so hot I was putting my Crappie.com fishing shirt in the ice water of the drink cooler to wet it down before putting it back on. The Fan is Happening!

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Had some nice big Black Crappie in the deeper depths all the White Crappie was caught first shallower.

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Typical start to the day, mostly White Crappie till things heated up. I had plenty of action and threw back as many shorts as fish I kept. My Shiners held up well too with me acclimating the bait's water temperature and using Bait Buddies along with two Quiet Bubbler air pumps and large air stones. If you water starts to stink on the bait bucket it's time for a partial water change.

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Had my Champion wet by Daylight each day. Later today I will post a picture of the jig if I have another.

Great post John! I am glad to see you got out to catch a few and enjoy the creators natural wonders.

Awesome job and some good groceries. Nice pics too.

It was a great trip. I installed the Emergency Boarding Ladder (Write-up to follow), fixed a few things on the camper, learned a new way to hook Shiners that put the hook deep in the big Slab's mouth. Before changing the way I was hooking my live bait I was Lip hooking everything. I hate to post it up here but will share with my Rez fishing brothers by PM. Two of the Blacks in my box may need my Redfish cleaning gear to fillet, they are Monsters and caught on the tiniest Jig I tie. Oh I also went through all the rods, spare reels, lines (put some backup Varivas spools in the camper), & returned the Re-Arm Kit I bought to fit my PFD to BPS that was for a different Mustang. We ate a pile of BBQ from 471 Smokehouse, Chopped Brisket (still waiting on the implant to heal) - Smoked Sausage - Pulled Pork - Mac & Cheese - and best of all to me a mountain of Fried Okra and it was ON TIME Too!

Thanks for the report and pics!!!

Great Pic's and report. Greatly appreciate the ride along.

sounds like a typical dead of summer type venue for sure , by late morning it is time to go ....
nice report bro ...

That's a dandy black crappie. Would like to see your hand tie, those little baits are deadly with all the fry out right now. Been seeing a lot of little bass fry under 2" when I'm out. Crappie eat little bass all the time. See them spit out bass fry while I'm reeling them in.

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Originally Posted by JUNGLEJIMJIGS

That's a dandy black crappie. Would like to see your hand tie, those little baits are deadly with all the fry out right now. Been seeing a lot of little bass fry under 2" when I'm out. Crappie eat little bass all the time. See them spit out bass fry while I'm reeling them in.

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Bud I just went thru the 3 boxes of hand-ties here and do not have any of the Aspirin head jigs in them. I bought some pre-poured but those jigheads are not the same profile as my old mold. They just look to be flat on the sides. As soon as we get back up there I will get you a picture. This is the problem with multiple boats spread out, I can't remember what day of the week it is much less what tackle is in what boat. Why I have always bought close-outs but even those are gone now. When tackle got scarce retailer buyers got a lot smarter on how "Deep" to buy anything.

The 2 big Black Crappie were caught on the same tree along with a bunch of other white Crappie. Well when I went to clean them both has the most copper colored tannin flesh I have ever seen. Never on Ross Barnett have I seen Crappie with tannin discoloration like that. Think they traveled a long way from backwaters?