I have halfway figured out how to wear 'em out during the spawn, but where do they go after the spawn??? Do they go deep like in winter or are they about mid depth?? I can't seem to find em anymore.
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I have halfway figured out how to wear 'em out during the spawn, but where do they go after the spawn??? Do they go deep like in winter or are they about mid depth?? I can't seem to find em anymore.
I know that they'll be around points and a little deeper cover for a short time, but I'm pretty well done after they move to deeper water. I'm hoping to hook up with one of these guys that knows how it's done in the summer and learn a thing or two.....!!
I know what you mean about summer, I usually stick to bass and catfish in the summer. I will have to try around some points and see if I can find em again.
What I mainly see this time of year is start fishing off shore Cover off the bank, big brush piles, log laydowns, drop offs, creek channels closest to the bank, tree lines above or below the surface and clusters of cypress trees. The main thing is that fish will use the first key places they come to, off the bank to feed up after a long tiring spawn and try to get fatten up before hot water drives them deeper or suspended in the thermocline. SO right now i would try to find the first main cover off the bank from anywhere to 5-20 feet deep depending on the average depth of the lake your fishing. Here's an example I fished Clear Lake this past weekend. I started out fishing the banks with no luck. I started to notice numerous large log laydowns off the bank anywhere from 10 yards off the bank to 100 yards off the bank, these laydowns were in an average of 10 foot deep of water. These were the first key points of cover off the bank that fish were holding on to feed. The first one I pulled up to, gave up two nice fish and from there on I just went from one lay down to the next catching fish. When summer hits it deeper still and knowing where the thermocline is very important the fish will be most often suspended in it, over cover. This is why I feel spider rigging, tightlining and pulling cranks is such a great method to use this time of year. Fish the productive hours of just the morning and evening and consider night fishing this time of year also cos this will be when they move to shallowest water to feed. Good Luck hope you catch a few.
WOW!!! That is great advice and easy to understand. I guess that's why you are the crappie pro!!!:D Thanks alot!
Two things have helped me learn about fishing anytime other than the spawn. Hanging around with Darryl Morris and Jerry Blake, and learning to troll. You will learn more from Darryl and Jerry than I can put into words here. I started trolling last year about mid Summer with Bandit 300's. It is a great way to find more structure, and learn the lake. This year, I started pulling jigs and am learning a new (to me) lake. While trolling, I mark brush I see with my graphs to go back and try tight lining.
Got to warn you though. Learning different methods of fishing sure can get expensive.
DP
CrappiePro is right I fish lk Enterprise before and after the spawn in "sunken" cover at least 10 ft of water Iam catching fish right now over that cover fishing 2-4 ft deep.erly and late. ONE INTERESTING THING Ive noticed AFTER the spawn on this lake and Chcot they seem to want the jig DEAD STILL !!!
my Daddy could hold one dead still for 30 minutes it seemed like! :D.....maybe that's why he caught the most fish? lol...Quote:
Originally Posted by electrik chicken
It's easy to find structure this way because said Bandit will be hung up in said structure. It just costs about 5 bucks a pop to find each brush top. You ain't lived till you get 4 or 5 bandits hung up at the same time on a windy day:DQuote:
Originally Posted by DRPEPPER
oh joy...lol...I cuss bad enough with one hung up....:DQuote:
Originally Posted by RCC
Exactly what I found out yesterday. I caught 22 yesterday after fishing two hours and nothing. I finally found a couple brush piles in 10 fow on a drop off. I backed off in the deeper water and cast past the brush and when I was over the brush I would retrive sooo slow then THUMP. This works good after the sun gets high and bright, but early AM or cloudy days they seemed scattered in 10 to 12 FOW.Quote:
Originally Posted by electrik chicken
When it gets summertime hot, I actually go back to the winter pattern fishing deep brush in 20--30 fow or look for suspended fish deep. Trouble is, I hate the heat too. BTW, I am catching much smaller fish now that the spawn is mostly over.
RCC When I read this post I laughed for at least 5 minutes, maybe 6 minutes but I know water was coming out of my eyes when i got done. Man thats funny stuff:DQuote:
Originally Posted by RCC
That reminds me of something that happened to a friend at Horseshoe. He had just gotten on the water and was getting poles out to do a little trollin. He was getting the 5th rod out(had the bait in the water) when he drifted through a school of those big hybrids over there. Keep in mind he had just bought that 5th rod on the way to the lake. Anywho, before he can get the last rod in the holder 3 rods go down hard. He starts scrambling to get rods out of the holders. SNAP!!! goes one BnM and SNAP!!! goes the second BnM. As he is trying to get the third under some sort of control, clank clank PLOP there went the new rod over the side of the boat.
In less than 10 minutes he had lost a brand new rod over the side and had 2 BnM's snapped about mid rod and no fish in the boat. He put the boat back on the trailer and went to the house.
It was funny....after I read it I realized......I've lived!
use the search feature to look up "crappie by degrees" it will give you a good starting point for any time of the year.
Thanks for all the advice guys. I went to the Ouchita River yesterday and found some pretty decent fish. One was a sure fire SLAB!! I owe it all to yall and my very sensitive jig pole.:D I fished about 5-6 foot deep around cypress knees and a little bit of 2 pole trolling in the middle between the trees.
Oh and RCC that was too funny. I was like CP laughed until I had tears. My wife thought I was going crazy!!!:D:D
guys I like to fish around 6-8ft deep around the drop on a creek . The more structure under you the better. I will fish spider rig with all my jigs tipped with crappie minnows. And Very slow. When the shad start schooling I use my big jigs and start trolling alittle faster. Good luck fishing,catch and keep what you want to eat and release the rest for everybody else.
You know, I have just about decided its about time that I break down and get some rod holders or Hi Teks as yall call 'em since that seems to be what alot of yall are using. Being limited to only 2 poles isn't overly successful and it wears the arms out quickly. If I do get them I hope I don't wind up like Rcc or soswine's friend but knowing my luck it will probably happen. Not trying to make fun of you guys, those were really great stories.:D
Multiple pole thing works good. Everyone that's done it will vouch that the hang up stories are all true because it happens to everyone. When I first started with 4 poles, I was as busy as a 3 legged dog scratching fleas. Now it's pretty easy to spider rig with 8. When my wife goes, I will put her up in front in the hot seat with 8 and fish 4 out the back myself. It get's pretty funny watching her when several of those poles take off at the same time. The most cranks I have run at 1 time is 7, pushing 2 and pulling 5. This hasn't worked out for us so we mainly stick with pulling 4 or 5. Right now we're single pole fishing and will break out the cranks before too long. Hope you find the fish soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by deerducksdogs
By the way Hi-Tek is a brand of rod holder. I've never used those but everyone that has likes them. I personally use the drift masters on the front and some home brew holders on the back that are similar to tite-lok holders.
I meant to you mark the brush with your GPS:p. You might want to practice with $2bit$ jigs first; and set your drag light.Quote:
Originally Posted by RCC
A couple of weeks ago, my wife was with me in uncharted water on Greer's. I had four poles out. I had been retying for about an hour already when they started going down 1 at a time. I was already a little aggrevated and counting them as they went down just seemed natural. She got a kick out of it. And was proud that i remembered this was fun and left the wordy dirds at the ramp.
"1...2...3...4 Oh that last one is a fish!":eek:
Try having 3 hung up and a 15" crappie on the 4th while the boat is still moving.
DP
Yes, they are a brand of rod holders. Calshy is user name of the guy that makes them.Quote:
Originally Posted by deerducksdogs
Hi-Tek Stuff
Quote:
Originally Posted by DRPEPPER
I do mark with my GPS... after I get hung up.:D I bet you did the same where you had the hang ups, and a fish. For a 15incher, I would have been man-overboard to make sure I didn't lose that one.
BTW I use fas-snaps and pre-tied rigs so I can go from total disaster to back in business in just a few minutes. I also pull crankbaits with the same setup.
I tried that with the jigs. I lose the snaps and all. It is handy with the bandits. I put a little more effort in trying to get them back.Quote:
Originally Posted by RCC
Anybody ever played that wedding dress game?? There is a pretty hot looking cartoon bride that loses her dress to the left of my screen as I am trying to concentrate on fishing discussions.
DP