Slower bite

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05-23-2012, 03:25 PM
NIMROD

Slower bite

Bite has slowed at Nimrod, that figures with the Holiday upon us. I really had to work to catch a limit of 10 to 12'' fish , but did catch one 15'' Crappie , a Channel cat and a Bass. . Also released a bunch of Crappie under 10''. I had missed 2 days Crappie fishing and heard it was slow but it was real slow. Tired and hot, saw an older gentleman fishing off the dock. He said all he caught was some Bluegill. Said he was camped in an older Airstream and was from Benton. I believe his name was Gross. Sure seemed tickled when I gave him my cooler of fish. Seems like every old timer wants to tell about his trips here back in the 60's and 70's.:biggrin
05-23-2012, 04:46 PM
Buckrub

I caught three limits of 'dinks'/throwbacks on Wed. there. Caught one Hoss....and almost 2 limits of keepers among us. But yeah, it's slowed down some.

FWIW for you....we had our best luck at the deep end of downed GREEN trees......although once we did well in a huge downed dead tree. Still, we were throwing back 2 and keeping one, till we ran out of minnows. Not sure how jig guys did, we had to sit like Indians and WAIT for them to hit the minnow. Mostly they'd shiver that cork and leave. Many times the minnows eyes were gone but never had a clue we had a bite. They were there, they would smell the bait, but not eat it.

Getting hot. Last few years, that is when we did the best, when water temp was close to 100. They'd only start if it got hot, never in early morning. Go figure. But I'm getting way too old for that kind of heat. Me and my bad ticker can't deal with it very often. If it keeps getting hot, it'll be 100 in early June. Not worth it. I had bad heat cramps last year over there by myself.....that was awful, don't want that again.

And it was good in the 70's, but it was best in the 4 years right before the drawdown, at least for me.

Good luck.
05-23-2012, 06:06 PM
arkansasbowhunter

I used to fish nimrod. The last time on the lake was about 8 years ago. It is a good drive for me but I miss fishing it. Maybe one of these days I will make a trip back down memory lane there. I am sure the lake has changed a bunch since I have been there.
05-23-2012, 06:16 PM
Heber_Springs_Slab_Seeker

Nimrod, how many crappie do you think you've removed from that lake this year?
05-23-2012, 06:29 PM
arkansasbowhunter

Loaded question lol
05-23-2012, 08:21 PM
river slabs are better

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heber_Springs_Slab_Seeker

Nimrod, how many crappie do you think you've removed from that lake this year?

not enough. small crappie to me =overpopulation
05-23-2012, 08:42 PM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckrub

I caught three limits of 'dinks'/throwbacks on Wed. there. Caught one Hoss....and almost 2 limits of keepers among us. But yeah, it's slowed down some.

FWIW for you....we had our best luck at the deep end of downed GREEN trees......although once we did well in a huge downed dead tree. Still, we were throwing back 2 and keeping one, till we ran out of minnows. Not sure how jig guys did, we had to sit like Indians and WAIT for them to hit the minnow. Mostly they'd shiver that cork and leave. Many times the minnows eyes were gone but never had a clue we had a bite. They were there, they would smell the bait, but not eat it.

Getting hot. Last few years, that is when we did the best, when water temp was close to 100. They'd only start if it got hot, never in early morning. Go figure. But I'm getting way too old for that kind of heat. Me and my bad ticker can't deal with it very often. If it keeps getting hot, it'll be 100 in early June. Not worth it. I had bad heat cramps last year over there by myself.....that was awful, don't want that again.

And it was good in the 70's, but it was best in the 4 years right before the drawdown, at least for me.

Good luck.

All I fish is jigs and it was slow. Them Bream pick out your minnows eyes alot. Fishing has been better since the drawdown in my opinion.
05-23-2012, 08:45 PM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heber_Springs_Slab_Seeker

Nimrod, how many crappie do you think you've removed from that lake this year?

Nimrod Lake alone and not counting anyone fishing with me it is way past 1100. I released way more than I kept everyday. Reason I know is I write limits on my Crappie.com calender when I sit down at the computer.
05-23-2012, 08:46 PM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter

I used to fish nimrod. The last time on the lake was about 8 years ago. It is a good drive for me but I miss fishing it. Maybe one of these days I will make a trip back down memory lane there. I am sure the lake has changed a bunch since I have been there.

Don't forget Crappie camp in Sept.
05-23-2012, 08:48 PM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by river slabs are better

not enough. small crappie to me =overpopulation

I have a self imposed minimum of 10'' on Crappie. Sometimes it will be higher since we can only keep 20. I try to keep bigger fish except on slow days it's tought to find many 12'' and bigger.
05-23-2012, 09:02 PM
Heber_Springs_Slab_Seeker

Quote:

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Nimrod Lake alone and not counting anyone fishing with me it is way past 1100. I released way more than I kept everyday. Reason I know is I write limits on my Crappie.com calender when I sit down at the computer.

Daaaang that's a lot of fish baby!
05-23-2012, 09:11 PM
dblevens

1100? Heck, that ain't nothing. I remeber back in the 70's, we'd catch that many in a weekend.
05-23-2012, 09:31 PM
arkansasbowhunter

Will do nimrod, gonna try and make it
05-24-2012, 09:44 AM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by dblevens

1100? Heck, that ain't nothing. I remeber back in the 70's, we'd catch that many in a weekend.

I don't spider rig and fish a jig pole. I always release way more than I keep. But I doubt seriously you caught that many in a weekend. I've fish here over 40 years and seen alot of fish caught on the lake. Back in my younger days we caught alot trolling minnows too! Here that is 55 limits.
05-24-2012, 10:08 AM
dblevens

I's just poking @ you Nimrod. Couldn't even hold a crappie rod till the early '80s.
05-24-2012, 09:22 PM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by dblevens

I's just poking @ you Nimrod. Couldn't even hold a crappie rod till the early '80s.

I thought you were still wet behind the ears. lol lol We did catch lots of fish trolling minnows on cane poles back in the day. We just called it trolling back then , never heard the term spider rigging. Once there was my dad, a buddy and I fishing 18 poles in a 14' flatbottom boat. Game warden checked us, his remark was it looked like a damn porcupine. lol He could not get close enough to check us till we moved a few cane poles.
05-24-2012, 09:27 PM
Slab Junkie

Quote:

Originally Posted by NIMROD

I thought you were still wet behind the ears. lol lol We did catch lots of fish trolling minnows on cane poles back in the day. We just called it trolling back then , never heard the term spider rigging. Once there was my dad, a buddy and I fishing 18 poles in a 14' flatbottom boat. Game warden checked us, his remark was it looked like a damn porcupine. lol He could not get close enough to check us till we moved a few cane poles.

You guys missed the boat. You could have coined the term "porcupining", made some specific fishing gear for the technique and became millionaires.
05-25-2012, 05:04 AM
NIMROD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slab Junkie

You guys missed the boat. You could have coined the term "porcupining", made some specific fishing gear for the technique and became millionaires.

Guess we could have sold them handcut bamboo poles with a cork bobber , 1/2 oz lead and a crappie hook. That was hiteck as it got. We used a sculling paddle in the early days without a trolling motor. It was lots of years all I had was a boat , paddle , life vest, cane poles and a minnow bucket. Caught lots of fish dragging minnows within sight of the landing. Now look what we spend to catch a few .Rofl:crazy:
05-25-2012, 05:37 AM
dblevens

The one time I actually went spider rigging, thats exactly how I did it. Only I put two hooks per pole with a 1/2 oz sinker on it. Caught lots of fish, but I felt kindda funny going down the road with a dozen canepoles hanging out the back window.
05-25-2012, 06:30 AM
arkansasbowhunter

Been there before just a boat and paddle and no life jacket.
05-25-2012, 01:55 PM
NIMROD

Bite was better today, but bad windy. I culled out a good limit for tomarrows fish fry. They were still 8 to 10' deep hitting tube jigs purple metal flake / chartruse and gold metal flake / white on 1/8 unpainted leadheads. Caught a Channel Cat about 3 or 4 lbs that broke my jig pole. Hooked another that I never could turn. Nothing better in fishing than feeling that thump!
05-25-2012, 02:43 PM
dblevens

Amen.
05-25-2012, 08:56 PM
slabbandit

Sounds good! Going in the morning! Those cats are sure starting to get active.