Headed out on lower Chickamauga Saturday afternoon with Ed McCoy for a crappie scouting trip. I had a plan. But it was Saturday so lots of folks had the same plan as me, and they were on the water first. #earlybirdsgetthecrappie :banghead
Me and Ed struggled, except for one drum hole we found and wasted quite a few minutes battling big drum on ultralight tackle.
We finally resorted to the tried and true pre-spawn troll (long-lining) and put a handful of nice crappie in the boat, plus one casting under a float. It was tough for us overall, but seven lucky crappie won a free trip to Ed's house. We also threw back a few shorts.
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Most importantly, it was great to see some fish already showing up in the traditional pre-spawn locales. Hopefully it should just get better and better for the next two months. And as we all know... some days are "on" and some days are "off."
We crossed paths with Tenncrappie and his partner, Ed. I am in line for a planer board lesson from Tenncrappie very soon. I bought a couple and look forward to trying them out, especially when the crappie get shallow.
Wednesday (1/28) they were a bit more "on" for me. I caught a limit of crappie using a variety of methods.
Details - First stop was a bust. Second stop, there were fish. I could see them on the electronics. Just had a hard time figuring out how to make 'em bite. First tried casting jigs deep. No takers. Went shallow, jig 3 feet under float. Caught two (1 keeper) and missed a couple. But that wasn't working out real well. About 9 am I pulled out the trolling rods. 100 yards into the first pass and I had added five solid keepers to the livewell and a few shorts. I thought it was game on.
But I must have busted the hot fish in a hurry because after that I had to grind it out. But it really wasn't a grind because I was hammering big yellow bass. I suspect I caught 25 or more, and almost all were good eaters, but I was only keeping crappie. But the yellow bass sure kept things interesting.
By about 12:30 or so I was up to eleven solid keepers. I put up the trolling rods and headed for a river channel bluff. Took me a few minutes to get them zoned in, but in short order I put the 15th solid crappie in the livewell (and caught two bonus blue cats about 4 lbs. each). I left 'em biting and was wishing I hadn't trolled so long (although the yellow bass were fun).
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I'd kept two bluegill for catfish bait. I anchored up on one deep hole. Caught one blue about 6 or 7 pounds and called it a day. That means life is good and gettin' better every day!
My prime dates are beginning to book up. Call me to get your name on the list. :biggrin
