Saturday's Green River Lake report

Put in around 7AM @ Lone Valley ... fished a few spots, with no results. Stopped in at Emerald Isle Marina & picked up some minnows. THEN I realized why I had always brought my own minners, in the past Rofl .... theirs were Shiner minnows Doh (and they don't seem to be as hardy as the Bluntnose Minnow, that's sold in local baitshops)

Decided to head down towards Holmes Bend area, & see what the spider riggers & longliners were up to. Got into a few fish on the deep flats, then more & better fish on the shallower flats (later in the day). Probably caught 20 or so, in the 4hrs we fished there ... with 8 being keeper size. That was enough for a mess for CJ & his wife, so I was happy with the results.

Weather was better than I expected ... & the all day cloud cover kept the "rip & run" crowd out of the picture, until past midday. It also allowed us to stay there longer, without worrying about "cooking" in the heat/sunshine ;)

Ran into Chucky, just as we both were getting ready to leave for home. Had a nice chat, & got to see a couple of real nice Crappie that he had picked up. Good to meet you, Chucky !! Thumbs Up Maybe we'll cross paths again !!

Anyway ... I got out of the house, spent a productive & enjoyable day on the water with my buddy, and got to give the boat some 'water time' ... so it was, all in all, a great day.

Thanks to all who PM'd me with info ... it really helped Hands Clapping

... cp :cool:

Wow !
8 keepers is pretty bad. What's going on with these crappie this year ?
Is Green on a down turn again ?

So Pappy~~~you caught all your crappie on minnows/spider rigging? Not like you to sling a few jigs to some cover.:cool: How did the boat do?

The wife and I fished from 12-5 this afternoon. Fished deep water around Holmes. Maybe 15 fish total, but none less than 10", biggest went 14" and some change-all catch and released. HEAVY recreational traffic and some wind made for some wicked chop that made it hard to stay on the same course. I think the fishing would have been a lot better if there wasn't so much traffic in prime crappie locations.

There was no shortage of idiots at the ramp at Lone Valley today. One guy cranks his older Evinrude while in gear and his tri-hull went from the dock to the bank in just about three seconds flat-I did feel bad for him and commend him for pulling the boat out of the way of the others using the ramp. My wife tries to step onto my boat as I pull up to the courtesy dock and the five women standing on it don't so much as move out of the way for her to board until I spoke up. On the way out a dumb*** lady in a Party Barge cuts us off in the no wake zone with her toon on plane on her way to beach the thing and join the rest of her family reunion at the pavilion. THEN, this **** comes out of the parking lot to the exit in his Maxima and cuts off the truck without even looking at the ramp while my wife is pulling me and the boat off of the ramp and she had to almost lock them up to keep from hitting him. I HATE stupid people.

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Originally Posted by Biggerbear

Wow !
8 keepers is pretty bad. What's going on with these crappie this year ?
Is Green on a down turn again ?

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Bear ... I think the 8 keepers are more of a testament to my inexperience with this type of fishing, not being in "the right place" for most of the morning, and not being "rigged" (boatwise) for handling more than a couple of poles each for the two of us. Rofl So, don't take my catch rate as any indication of Green's potential.
Chucky was 2 or 3 short of a limit, and had some decent sized fish ... and he was fishing solo.

I don't think Green is on a downturn, this year .... but, the flooding from the past couple of years may not bode too well for 2013-2016. There's still plenty of big fish in Green ... it's just easier to catch these smaller fish, in greater numbers, and considering the situation (weather/traffic/season) I think a lot of people are just glad to be able to get out & catch "something" Hands Clapping

... cp :cool:

Good report and nice day on the water. Congrats.:)

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Originally Posted by Downwind

So Pappy~~~you caught all your crappie on minnows/spider rigging? Not like you to sling a few jigs to some cover.:cool: How did the boat do?

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Hey Big D ... yeah, we tried slinging some jigs to cover, and even did some longline trolling with jigs, early that morning (Lone Valley area). We just didn't find any fish that were ready to play. Plan B was inititated because of that Rofl (buying minnows & heading to the other end of the lake).

I wouldn't really call what we did "spider rigging" ... as we only had 3-4 poles out, at any given time. We even joked about our "spider" being a multiple amputee, on account of the number of "legs" (poles) being so few ... LOL !! We were basically just "drifting", and sometimes "slow trolling", with our assortment of riggings. My buddy was using jigs tipped w/minnows, & a sinker up the line about a foot (to keep the rig at 12-14ft deep, while moving). I had the same rig on one pole, and a Capps/Coleman setup on the other (double hook minnow rig). I caught most of my fish on the double rig, but did catch several on the jig/minnow ... and even caught one hungry little dude, on the jig alone .. hehe !! I did do "some" jig/Roadrunner casting while we were catching them with the minnow rigs ... but, watching two "minnow" poles, running the TM & trying to stay a good distance from the other boats in the area, while fighting the wind/waves, just wasn't productive enough to continue for any length of time.
The boat isn't rigged up for spider rigging or longline trolling, and probably won't be Doh ... I was just "getting like'em" as best I could, with the equipment I had on hand Rofl

The boat performed just fine, thanks !! I'm still getting used to it, as it's only the third time I've fished out of it (& only the second time since I bought it from Tube Man). Even at only 16ft, it's the biggest boat I've owned ... and the 90hp Merc is the biggest motor I've ever had. I've yet to put the hammer down WOT/full trim ... but, have had it at ~50mph (speedo) ... and it really seems to like cruising at around 45mph. Even though it's a 2stroke, I've yet to make a noticable dent in the gas tank ... but, haven't really put that many miles on it, either (yet !!).

I failed to mention that we got "checked" by the Water Patrol ... (first time I've been checked in over 20yrs ..hehe) and everything was A-OK !! It WAS just a little embarassing when they asked to check the livewell, and we had to show them that ours was full .... of water, only Doh Rofl But, they were really nice guys about it ... and we joked about the fact that "you have to CATCH one, before it can be checked" Thumbs Up

... cp :cool:

crappiepappy..... It was nice talking with you and CJ. Maybe your next trip down we will hook up early and put a hurtin on themThumbs Up. The fishing is pretty good on Green in the fall. Just a thougt, a cdc get together;);). By the way, great looking boat. When i came up behind you all i reconized it form your post with the picture of it.:)



Biggerbear..... Green is in good shape right now. I got on the water about 9:30 am Saturday and had 95% percent of my limit by 12:30 pm. They ranged from 10" - 15". Then the lake lice was everywhere. There was a small group fishing for crappie on a flat and if there was a small opening between the crappie fisherman they would run between you. One after another. I was three short of a limit but they had the water so churned up I said thats enough. Like pappy said, Green has had two floods in the last two years. 2010 flood was in May at the end of the spawn and this year in April before the spawn even started. I think next year will be o.k but I am worried about 2013 and on.

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Originally Posted by Biggerbear

Wow !
8 keepers is pretty bad. What's going on with these crappie this year ?
Is Green on a down turn again ?

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Originally Posted by chucky

crappiepappy..... It was nice talking with you and CJ. Maybe your next trip down we will hook up early and put a hurtin on themThumbs Up. The fishing is pretty good on Green in the fall. Just a thougt, a cdc get together;);). By the way, great looking boat. When i came up behind you all i reconized it form your post with the picture of it.:)

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You know, that may be something to consider (Fall Slabfest @ GRL) Thumbs Up

And, I'll be sure & give you a heads up, whenever I'm headed down that way again. I'm real familiar with the Robinson Creek/Lone Valley area & Spring spawn fishing ... but, not so much with the Holmes Bend area, or Summer/Fall fishing @ GRL.

... cp :cool:

Where were the water patrol guys when the lake lice were running wild?

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Originally Posted by Downwind

Where were the water patrol guys when the lake lice were running wild?

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There wasn't much going on, when they were checking the boats around us. Most boaters took a wide berth around the pack fishing the flats, even though we were right in the middle of the lake. Didn't see any skiers in the area, just a couple of boats pulling kids on tubes & one or two jetskis ... and they stayed well away from the pack. Most of the "lake lice" infestation seemed to be between the dam & Butler Creek ... and we did see the WP go that way, a couple of times. A lot of the waves we encountered, while fishing the flats, were the results of boats passing by & around us ... and even that didn't get started "heavy" until early afternoon. I think the cloud cover & threat of rain may have kept a lot of the "rip & run" crowd away, for most of the morning ... then they decided to make the most of the rest of the afternoon.
All in all, I was surprised that there weren't more of them in the area we were in. But, then ... with the dozen or so boats trolling around out in the middle of that part of the lake, they probably realized they'd be restricted as to how much area they could run in and decided to stay away.

... cp :cool: