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Well I have been disappointed lately at Taylorsville.
It's been extremely slow. Water temps in the mid 50's.
Color and level looks great but they just won't bite.
The few I caught have been nice size ones but I have had to
work really hard for them.
I use jigs and minnows and haven't seen much difference.
Anyone else doing any better?:confused:
I haven't done anygood either :( . Not since that week of rain we had back in mid October. Looking at the water temps and oxygen levels, it looks like the lake has turned over :mad: . But ill keep trying,maybe ill catch part of the FALL FEEDING FRENZY:rolleyes:
i have had the same results, real slow, that lake seems to be different than any other lake i fish, i never can seem to get a consistent pattern on the crappie, it is frustrating.
that Taylorsville lake isn't the easiest lake to pattern. It's had its problems, over the years, but it's much more productive in size, now ... than it's ever been. I've fished it since it opened, and fished it for Bass thru the first several years ... simply because the Crappie were small and paper thin :eek:
Once the Crappie started getting big enough to keep, my main method was tightlining minnows around standing cedars ... those standing in 12-20ft of water (shallower during Spring spawn). Eventually I moved on to casting/swimming jigs for them, and had about the same success rate/trip. I started targeting blowdowns, mostly, and some select standing tree areas.
I've caught Taylorsville Crappie on many different things ... but, Roadrunners and tube jigs have been my main producers. Roadrunners over top of submerged wood, and tube jigs in/around/thru wood cover (standing/submerged/fallen).
I've caught them on a variety of color combos ... with "elec blue/char" and "green/char" being the most productive tube colors --- solid Chartreuse marabou being the most productive Roadrunner color. Though, it's hard to say if these colors are "better" than any others, or if it's just that I initially caught fish on them and rarely strayed (for long) ;)
Most of my fishing at T-ville, over the years, has been in Spring and Fall ... as I still Bass fish during Summer nights (though, even that has almost stopped in recent years). For whatever reason, 8ft deep seems to be the magic spot (depth) for them to be at (Spring & Fall). I seemed to always catch them around that depth ... even if fishing during pre-spawn - spawn - post spawn - Fall (post turnover) - or in water depths of 15-30ft (as long as there was wood cover that came close to, or was present at the 8ft depth level). There were times when the fish would be deeper, down to 12-15ft deep, but most of those times were in early Summer, well past the post spawn period. And most of that experience came from my minnow using days, and during the mid-morning to early afternoon time period. The early AM hours, even back then, would find most of the Crappie around the shallower wood (and shaded banks). During the actual spawn, if/when it happened, and if/when I actually got to be there during that time ... I have actually caught Crappie in only a few feet of water. But, the places I have done this at, were isolated spots ... scattered over the lake ... and they had to be almost ideal in makeup. Otherwise, most fish came at or near the magic 8ft mark ... either in 8ft of water/standing trees -- 8ft deep on branches of standing trees (even if bottom depth was greater than 8ft deep) -- 8ft deep around the trunks/branches of fallen trees.
In my past Fall trips .... I mostly used minnows/slip float, rigged at 8ft deep, and fished right down thru the branches of standing cedar trees. I'd usually only catch one or two from any one tree, so I just moved from tree to tree. There are some good trees, standing in 20-40ft of water, that I have tied up on and tightlined minnows around, and caught Crappie. But, those days were many years ago :D That was generally in mid Nov., when it was cold and windy ... and too difficult to try and cast jigs for them :p Even on these standing trees, in this deep water, the Crappie seemed to be suspending at the 8-12ft depth.
Because of the way the lake is made (flood control), heavy rains (>1in) can cause the water level to rise significantly. Spring spawns have been interrupted to downright decimated, over a majority of the last 5-8yrs. I believe this has contributed to the lower numbers, as much or more than anything else. As this chart shows, the mid April - mid May (pre-spwan to spawn) period is subject to numerous flooding events, even with only a one half to one inch rain :
http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/wc/res...ts/gif/tvl.jpg
This year has been an even greater fluke/strain on the Crappie, weatherwise, than many of the past few years. What with the early warm up, then cold spell, then a long hot Summer/Fall ... with little rain ... it has made things even more difficult to pattern.
But, give the lake a "normal" weather pattern and stable water levels ... and Crappie fishing can be pretty productive. There's still a lot of good sized Crappie, and numbers of keeper sized ones, in the lake. All they need is a couple of years of good spawns, and the lake will be productive for several years to come.
The lake has no grassbeds, and stays slightly stained for most of the time ... even so, the Black Crappie population seems to be coming on pretty strong. They've just adapted to the conditions of the lake, and utilize the same cover & areas as the White Crappie population. I've often caught both species from the same spot, and on the same baits. I haven't been there often enough over the last few years, to really say if the Black Crappie come shallow earlier and stay shallow longer (as they reportedly do at KY Lake, according to the tagging study results) ... but, if they do - that only opens up a window of opportunity, for productive fishing earlier in the year (late March to early April). Most of my previous "spawn time" trips, were in early May ... pre-spawn trips, weather/water levels permitting, were early April to early May. Again, let me emphasize that I'm referring to my experiences of many years past. I'm hoping to be able to fish Taylorsville a lot more in 2008, than I've managed to in the last few years. Things are in the works, that may make that more probable. And, if I can manage to keep my current work schedule, that would make it an even greater possibility. And I still plan on doing some more "hookups", if & when the situation presents itself.
Ya'll just keep posting your reports, and keep the rest of us informed ... and maybe together we can figure this lake out ;)
... luck2ya ... cp :cool: