Guys,
Need some advice. I have a sister-in-law in Jonesboro who wants to crappie fish. Don't know that water thereabouts. Any suggestions?
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Guys,
Need some advice. I have a sister-in-law in Jonesboro who wants to crappie fish. Don't know that water thereabouts. Any suggestions?
The closest lakes I know of to Jonesboro are Craighead Forest, Poinsett, and Hogue. I haven't fished Hogue recently, but none of these I would consider premier crappie lakes. There is some bank fishing at all of these places if she doesn't use a boat. If she has a real nice boat with top of the line electronics, she can probably find someone to guide her.
RCC is right. Out of the three he listed, I think Hogue would be best.
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What happened to the great crappie fishing on Lake Frierson (sp?). There used to be some nice crappie in that lake when I lived in Jonesboro.
They draw Lake Frierson way down each winter. If the water levels were more consistent...
I lived right by Hogue for 3 years it actually has some good crappie in it. If you have access to boat there is an old creek channel that runs through the lake about 250 yds past the pier cut back to south.
yea.... sardis...butla...enid...or central ar. she might as well move or take up saugeye fishin
Where's the Saugeye fishin. Them thangs are good!!!!
We only sell the BEST....Xpress Hyper Lift and Excel Aluminum boats. 870-635-0202
The Saugeye are in Lake Frierson. They caught a state record out of there last year! I don't know much about them but I hear a few guys are catching them on crappie jigs...
They are some kinda good eatin. Just like a sauger or walleye. I thing they were cross bred by those two species.
We only sell the BEST....Xpress Hyper Lift and Excel Aluminum boats. 870-635-0202
Lake hogue has saugeye too. I have caught several out of it. Not any lately though.
We are currently stocking saugeye in Lake Frierson. From what I was told, the crappie population in the lake became stunted. This was one of the reasons that they started stocking saugeye in the lake. Also, we don’t draw down Lake Frierson in the winter. The only two lakes that get annual winter drawdowns are Lake Charles and Lake Poinsett.
Can you go us some info on how come the crappie become stunted here in this lake? And I know nothing about saugeye. So why would you stock saugeye to a lake that seem to be hurting in the first place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojorig
Mojorig -- Thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear that you guys don't draw down Lake Frierson. I used to do a lot of hunting around that lake since I had family that had property that joined it. It has, however, been a long time since I did any hunting out there. Back then the water level always seemed much lower in the winter than it was any other time of year. I apologize for any misrepresentation on my part.
As far as the Saugeye go, I've heard that the best way to fish for them is to approach it just like you would crappie. Is this true?
Biggest crappie I've ever caught came out if frierson four years ago. Easily 3 lbs. been a couple times since and ain't caught enough to wad a shotgun. I wish it were better its less than five minutes from the house.
Gindog,
Excellent question but difficult to answer without getting to technical. I hope this explanation works.
I looked in the annual reports for Lake Frierson because this was before my time in NE Ark. In 2007, the crappie population was sampled. That year, they sampled 2,340 crappie. The ages ranged from 0 to 4 years old. The majority (97.5%) of these fish were either age 0+ or 1+. There were no fish collected over 10 inches. Growth was extremely slow. Age 2 fish only averaged 6 inches long and Age 4 only averaged 7 inches long. This is a sure indication that the population is stunted. That doesn’t mean there aren’t bigger ones in the population. The results indicated that spawning success (success of fish hatching) was good. However, they had a hard time surviving to adulthood. Also when they did survive, they were small and slow growing. This could be due to the turbidity of the water or food availability for the smaller fish in the lake.
In 2009, we shelved stocking largemouth bass in the lake because very few of them were surviving to adulthood.
Saugeye have been used to control gizzard shad and crappie populations in Ohio and Oklahoma. This is some information from the Crappie Management Plan: “Boxrucker (1987) reported the population of crappie in Thunderbird Reservoir, Oklahoma improved after the introduction of saugeye. It appeared the improvement of crappie population structure was the result of a density dependent growth response resulting from predation on crappie by adult saugeye. Horton and Gilliland (1990) found that saugeye in Thunderbird Reservoir began feeding on crappie after reaching 350-mm (14 inches) and that crappie comprised more than 60% of the diet of saugeye greater than 525-mm (21 inches). Saugeye became significant predators of crappie after reaching 457-mm (18 inches). This information, along with concerns regarding overharvest of “needed predators” led to the implementation of an 18-inch minimum limit for Thunderbird Reservoir saugeye.” I have attached the Horton and Gilland paper http://www.seafwa.org/resource/dynam...TON-98-104.pdf
Tony,
No problem with asking. I had to look up why it was stopped anyways. So it helped me out as well. By the way, it was stopped in 2008. As for fishing for saugeye, I have heard you can jig for them or troll. That is about all I have heard from anglers.
As always, I hope this helped.
That's an awesome post. Would it not be better for the lake to drain it and start fresh instead of leaving the bad genetics in there?
Very good post!
Saugeye is a hybrid mixing Sauger with a Walleye. When I was a kid in Pittsburgh, we use to fish the Youghiogheny River which runs through southwestern Pennsylvania and Maryland. It meets the Monongahela and eventually joins the Ohio at the Point in downtown Pittsburgh, right next to the old Three Rivers Stadium.
Sauger are small. They tend to live more in creeks and small lakes. Walleye are more of a large water species, although you can catch them in creeks during the spawn. I've been in Arkansas for 20 years, and don't get home to fish, but I haven't heard anyting about Saugers in a long time. Not sure they're still there.
Any of these species eats really good. Crappie is hard to beat, but the saugers, walleyes, and saugeye are outstanding.
They all are bottom dwellers. Drag a stand-up jig head with a minnow or worm across the bottom outside of the spawn. During the spawn, a minnow-shaped crankbait, a worm harness, or minnow snelled 12-18" above a weight will work.
Work them hard early and late or on a cloudy day with some wind. The "eye" part of the name is there because they have big eyes that face up, and they don't take well to light.
Good info, Burghman!
What Burghman said on fishing technique. Bounce on bottom along the dam with long shank 1/4 jig and earth worm. Dont gob it up. Just hook and let it hang. There is a tree line that runs parallel with the dam. Zig Zag between that and the dam. Dont be discouraged about the water being muddy. It is always muddy. It is a great park to have a picnic and bank fish.
It's less than 5 minutes from the house and some of the best big bass fishing around..... That may be where the crappies are going? 6-10lb bass are not rare at frierson!
We did our annual electrofishing sample at Lake Frierson on Thursday (4/25). We were just sampling largemouth bass but on occasion we run across other sport fish like crappie and in the case of Lake Frierson, Saugeye. We sample Lake Frierson during the day due to the turbidity of the water and all the shoreline brush. On the second run of the morning, we sampled two nice crappie. The biggest was 16.5 inches and the other was in the 13 inch range. I missed another one in the 15 inch range and one in the 13 inch range. These all came from the dam in the rocks. They were spawning in the rocks. During the next couple of runs we collected several more in the 13 inch range and miss several more ranging from 13 to 15 inches. We only saw a couple of fish less than 10 inches.
In an earlier post in this thread, I include data from the 2007 sampling. You can see during that sampling that the population consisted mostly of small, slow growing fish and no fish were collected over 10 inches. We are starting the effects of the saugeye on this population. We are seeing a transition from lots of small, slow growing fish to fewer larger crappie.
I just wanted to pass this information along to the anglers in this area. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you are going to be able to go catch limits of really large crappie, right now. But I am saying that the opportunity is there to catch some really nice crappie if you can figure them out there. I know Frierson can be really difficult due to the turbid water.
First run of the morning
Attachment 123819
Fish from a later run
Attachment 123820
May have to give Frierson a try. Thanks for the info Mojo.
Love it!
We fish Hogue most of the lakes mentioned above. Catch some nice ones but many small ones. My grandfather went yesterday. He kept 6 crappie all 10 inches and up. 2 were over 15 he said. He also kept 9 large bream. All fish were caught slowly trolling the middle areas of the lake just bouncing jigs off the bottom or just above the bottom.
I never do worth a crap at The other lakes mentioned. But I know a couple folks who do well at Poinsette but they are fisherman. I just waste time.
I was there yesterday. Didn't get there til noon. the fish didn't start biting good till around 5 for me. Missed a lot more than I caught. Seems like they bite better when the wind is blowing. Talked to a few older men out there. One may have been your grandpa. I usually fish Hogue because its the only place i have any luck around here.Quote:
Originally Posted by htr2133
theysaid Lake Hogue is my favorite area lake, mainly because I can almost always catch something there! We've been there every Saturday for the last several weeks. The bite has been slow but seems to pick up in the afternoon. All the fish that we have caught have been in 4-5 fow tight-lining jigs off the bottom. Last week they were hitting a black and chartreuse rage tail. We've caught as many big bream as we have crappie.
I've been on Hogue nearly every weekend for the past month or so too. The past few trips I started getting there around noon and staying til dark. Because, like Tony said it seems like the bite is better later in the day. I have caught several good bream also. Yesterday they seemed to like blue/ white Jokers better than the other colors i had. Sure wish I had a better percentage on bites and caught fish.
Mojo
Do y'all post reports of these annual samples anywhere? Like a lot of guys I fish several species and would like to see these reports if they're available.
Thanks
Slabyanker, we will have to hook up over there sometime...
Last Monday at Hogue I caught a little bit of everything, crappie, bass, redear, and bluegill. I wish the weather would stay right and stop the roller coaster.
I've been thinking about going this afternoon. Went yesterday, and it was just like it has been lately. Catch most of the fish after around 5pm til dark. Not sure if I will have time yet. I'll be in a camo 15/46 xpress with a 25hp mercury, but there are some boats like mine there. Onthe weekends I'll have a 9 year old boy with me. Usually by myself if i go during the week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony McCall
Once the water starts getting hot my crappie fishing at Hogue is over. I haven't been able to catch hardly any in the summertime. Usually run some noodles at night for catfish.
Today would be a great day. I doubt I'll make it over there though, too much going on.
When I'm there I'm in a green 17x54 Tracker Grizzly with 50hp Merc. I always have my two sons along and sometimes my dad or my hunting buddy.
Mojo, did you guys hit any of the Saugeye in your sample, and if so how big were they?
We only collected a couple of saugeye and they were small. They are out there but we are going to have to figure out another way to sample them.
How were the bass? And are these studies published anywhere?
The bass in Lake Frierson looked similar to past years. The population has low number of fish but the quality is excellent. They also looked very healthy.
All of the sampling data we collected in lakes and river is available in Annual Reports. All the districts write individual annual reports for each lake or river they sample each year. We typically write these in January of the following year. So we will write 2013's reports in January of 2014. You can contact your local biologists and they give you copies of these reports.