After fighting the wind it seems like forever I finally had a morning and most of the afternoon without much wind on Hartwell. The cold rain we had the night before had the water temps down from the other lakes I have been on but this being the first trip of the year to Hartwell I wasn't sure what the temps had been being. I scouted a new part of the lake last summer that I had never fished so that is where I decided to go. Leaving the dock the water was very clear and 52 degrees so wasn't sure what I would find. Went to the creek run I wanted to fish. Started fishing some laydowns with a hair jig and cork but not seeing anything after an hour I pulled the longline rods out and began longlining in 30' depth with 1/16 oz jigs. The water was still clear at this point but I could see that I was going to hit some stained water soon. Long story short I pulled for two hours without a crappie in the boat and only two 14'' bass to count for my time. I had worked my way to the back of the creek and was pulling in 15' depths, hard stained water and the temps had climbed to 57 and the reason I stayed in the area I was marking a lot of bait and also seeing what I thought was fish holding on the bottom. Finally at 1:30 I caught my first crappie and she was loaded down with eggs. Wasn't long and the bite picked up, never fast but enough to keep me happy. Now knowing the crappie were moving to the shallow water as the day heated the water I pulled jigs until 4:30 catching some good fish and throwing back as many fish as went in the livewell.
The first picture is of my "fish finder turned on and working!
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For everyone that has been fighting the wind, here is a picture of what a lake looks like without wind!!!
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A few fish from the day and the livewell shot of a good limit,
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