When the lake starts dropping in your opinion does it affect the way crappie bite?
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When the lake starts dropping in your opinion does it affect the way crappie bite?
Yes it does. I have found or at least the places that i fish, when the lake starts falling they keep backing out to safer areas. Stay tight to cover, structure , ledges what ever they can
find to feel safe. You can still catchem but you have to work alittle slower. They are also more scattered as well. It gets back to normal when the lake gets stable. Good luck
I think that here on Ky Lake it is not so much how they bite in fall'n water, but where they bite. It also depends on what time of year it occurs. This time of year when the water temps start to creep down the fish start following the bait fish into the bays & will continue that pattern until water temps dictate they move back out. Falling water will move the fish out over deeper water but they will stay at about the same depth that they had become comfortable in before the water started to fall. In other words if they were 8' deep in 10' of water they may move out & suspend 8' deep over 16' of water. Our problem as crappie fishermen is sometimes we become too structure/cover oriented. We never mark open water on our GPS, it's drops or brush we key on. Many times during periods of falling water they will back off the brush & suspend over deeper water close to the brush but not on/in it. Have you ever been fish'n a brush pile with a couple of poles and break a jig off. you leave 1 jig in the water & start to re-tie & catch a fish on that jig while your drifting off over deeper water? Sure you have. Crappie do not stayed glued to cover. They move around. We catch more fish on cover because that's where we fish. I believe for every fish that is in the cover there are 10 moving from 1 spot to another. Try backing off that brush pile on that drop off & check the waters over the creek channel. You might be surprised what you find.
Wiskers is right about that. How have you been? Have you been catching them all?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiskers
I was tired last night and should have asked what type of lake Grizzly is fishing. For the last 1 1/2 years been fishing these smaller river lakes like Green, Taylor, Cave and nolin. Most of these lakes when the lake is stable you catch fish in open water all day long. I have more open water waypoints than brush and ledges combined. But when the water starts falling they like that cover in these lakes. I also should have said to never fish in the brush or atleast i try not to. I have found the more you get hung in it and disturb it the less fish you catch. I like fishing the sides and above the areas.
Cave run is where I'm fishing and thanks for the info from both of you. It's good info to know.
You may want to give Ekyslabber a shout. That is his home lake and knows it very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzly2k1
Fished a couple of times last week. Haven't zeroed in on a consistent pattern yet but get'n closer. I been do'n ok but my wife has been in the hospital since Mon. I am wore out. Try'n to stay up there with her & take care of things at home too. Got up at 5 this morning & drove 3hrs to Savannah, Tn to buy a new camper for her. Then went straight back to the hospital. Hope they let her come home tomorrow so she can enjoy her vacation next week in her new camper. Keep your fingers crossed.Quote:
Originally Posted by chucky
Terry, best wishes to your wife! BBD told me about it today.
Since I started dragging crankbaits for crappie, I have become MUCH more open water oriented. I'm not talking open water that is 60 feet deep. I'm talking about the fish that are suspended OFF the breaks on the main lake or secondary breaks. I wasn't smart enough to pick up on this at first. After I caught some of my best fish while making sweeping turns out AWAY from breaks but still in the vicinity, I took note. That goes for the depth also. I like to run deep runners but often catch some good fish on a crank that is no more than 5 feet down in 30 feet of water. The last thing I want to do is pull 10 Bandits thru one of Wiskers brushpiles.
I hope everthing is ok for you all. Those hopital stays are no fun. I have been finding this out myself over the last couple of months. If she didn't now about you getting the camper it will be a nice surprise for her Thumbs Up. If she did, tell her to take it easy in her new palace. I know you will figure them slabs out. Take care and god bless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiskers
This is a great post with some pretty good info.
I find the same thing happens with cold fronts, fish are still in same depth they just suspend out over deeper water.
Wiskers, I hope the wife is doing better.
Man I went to cave run and fished today and darn near got skunked caught 16 dinks and 4 keepers. I fished brush pile where I kept 30 a week ago, I fished open water darn near the whole area where I had been fishing. I think this cold front rolling in killed them. Air temp dropping quick.
Probably didn't help.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzly2k1
[QUOTE=Wiskers;1646656][COLOR="#B22222"][SIZE=4][FONT=Arial]Fished a couple of times last week. Haven't zeroed in on a consistent pattern yet but get'n closer.
Whiskers,
I am planning a trip down sometime in the next few weeks, likely going to the northern end of KY around Ken Oak resort.
When does the crappie bite normally pick up in the fall ? End of Sep or mid Oct ?
I know Nov is usually good, but would like to come earlier
Thanks,
Whiskers, sorry above, forgot to ask how your wife is.
Did she get to come home?
Thanks for ask'n. Got to bring her home tonite. Do'n much better. Fish'n starts get'n good in late Oct. on into Nov. normally but this water is cool'n fast. I think we're gonna have an early fall bite. Come to think of it... I'll be on the boat for almost all of Oct. so they'll be bite'n good all month! :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by colayn
Havent crappie fished cave run much in the fall usually hunting or sauger fishing but Id think they would prob pull offshore and suspend like bass etc when its on a fast drop and the lake hasnt turned over yet, after turnover guess they could be anywhere from 1 to 60 ft. I always wondered what conseqences a drawdown would have on the fish since a lot of fall fish get shallow again on stable lakes, but with water dropping daily on most of ky's reservoirs would they be reluctant to get in as skinny water. Sounds like good excuse for field test ha.
I'm going down Thursday and staying thru Saturday Hopefully I can figue out where they are at. Right now it is a slow drop bout 1 to 1/4" a day. I know they wasn't in 15 to 25' with brush I fished that for hours and only 20 total with 4 keepers. I'm gonna try bays off the channel and open water the first day and go from there. I'll try to locate bait fish and c what happens. If you get to fish any the next few day let us know what happens.
Thought about going next week with my father so might check it out. You been fishing the main lake or up the river (north fork or main licking) Grizzly? I saw where it is maybe one tenth below summer pool so it should still be stable and on a kind of predictable pattern right now. With such a slow drawdown i don't think the fish will be severely effected like in the spring when you have bad flooding and they pull half a foot a day. The bite should be pretty good so let us know how you do and what the water and lake looks like. Good luck if ya go. I wanna get on the Ohio and do a sauger/crappie combo trip so if anyones been there recently Id be curious what the river is like (water level/color/temps) and if bait is in the backwater/creeks yet.
BTW-Downwind if you are reading this have you made it up yet, if so how'd ya do??
here a couple black crappie from week or so ago on main lake of cave run, fish are unusually fat this year, must be lots of shad or spring flooding
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/...h_DSCN2531.jpg
I did make it to the Cave last week for a day. Ended up camping at Zilpo. Fished up towards Licking River and also out on the flats straight out from Zilpo ramp. Didn't do any good up the river and only picked small ones out from the ramp in about 24 fow. Will have to make another trip to Cave Run. Gonna take some time to figure the lake out. You all are right about the submerged timber. I thought Taylorsville was bad!