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Hello all,
A colleague and I are headed down to reelfoot for the first time March 24-26th.
Any advice?
We are renting a boat and staying at one of the local lodges. Spider rigging is out of the question as,
A. We don't have the equipment
B. doubt you can attach to a rental anyways
C. neither of us has spider rigged before.
From what i've read in other post we may have a difficult time? Just looking for a little advice so i don't go back to illinois empty handed.
Jared
I am in East TN and have only made that trip one time. It is a beautiful lake that you should definitely visit and spend some time in the area. Then, go a bit further to Kentucky Lake for your fishing.
Just hold on, beancounter. I'm sure one of those NW Tenn. boys will chime in and help you when they see your post. There's several of 'em up that way.:popcorn
That time of year might be tough with out a spider rig. Depending on the weather you could possibly have some success jigging trees and pads, but again that isn't easy.
My best advice would be to hire a guide for at least a 4 hour trip to get the feel for things.
In the rental boats, you'll have an outboard only. No tm, no electronics. Of course, the entire lake is full of stumps, so you won't have a difficult time finding structure :). If the winds gets up, it can get rough on Reelfoot real quick, so be careful. Bring your own life jackets (unless you want to wear those goofy orange ones) and the longest rods you've got so you can fish the trees without getting too close. Bo's Landing is a good place for minnows - they're always lively and don't die too quickly.
Do you think I would be better to push the trip back a month or so? might be safer with the weather and imagine we may have a bit better luck with spawn in full swing.
ilbeancounter
Just depends so much on the water temps. If reasonably warm, I've caught plenty in the pad stems. If colder than normal, they may be in deep water - just look for a large grouping of boats offshore and join them (at a respectable distance). No electronics needed for either of those. If they are in transisition, which is probably normal that time of year, then you'll need to do some searching. I've always rented a boat when visiting reelfoot and was always able to get good advice on where to start from the person renting me the boat. Good luck - it is a beautiful place.
I would push your trip back a month or even until May. You will have a very hard trip out in deep water not being able to spider rig. I would wait until the bream and crappie get shallow or on the trees.
I'd have to agree. Using a rental with no way of setting up to spider rig I would wait and come mid to late April and fish some pads or something like that.
Stay in gods countryQuote:
Originally Posted by ILbeancounter
There are some excellent guides at Reelfoot who will help you have a great trip. These guys are right, if you go out there without one, be careful if the wind picks up because it can get dangerous quickly. I would recommend at least calling a couple of guides and talking with them before you come down. They know the lake and will shoot you straight. I've caught fish up there on those trees throwing jigs in April and May so it can be done. Good luck!
Sirs if you are interested in a guided trip to reelfoot give me a call at 573 624 0250. Can give you a heads up on a good guide.
The crappie fishing will be good the end of march.There is a way to spider rig in one of the rentals and catch fish. Use the whole side of the boat as rod holders,you may have to put a board or something on one side of the boat to hold the butt of the rods up so the tips aren't too high.Pull a drift sock or chain:deadhorseon the opposite side of the boat. Use the wind,just go upwind and drift across the area that you want to fish.You can even bring a transom mount trolling motor with you and mount it on the same side as your tips and just troll sideways if there's not much wind. You can fish about 20 rods this way lol if you wanted to. I usually don't fish with more than four rods myself on reelfoot my self unless there is no wind and the lake is like glass. It works. :twocents