Summer fishing lakes with hydrilla and mill foil

In my attempt to become a year round crappie fisherman I find myself back at square one. I started fishing for crappie last September and really never got on any crappie until winter. I want to change that this year. I was catching fish still in a spring pattern last week and did pretty good until Saturday. I was catching them on structure in 7-9 FOW. We did marginally ok Saturday morning but around 9:00 am the bite died. This was the same spot that we caught crappie until noon The day before.

I decided to move out deeper and scan the creek channel for structure. I found plenty of it in water ranging from 12-22 feet deep but didn’t find any crappie, or none that I could catch. When we moved out deeper we went back to longlining and I’m fairly certain that I got my jigs deep enough to catch the fish that were suspended around bait fish. Most fish were showing up around 18 feet deep in 20-22 FOW. I pulled across a point that was 16 feet deep and all our rigs were bumping bottom so I feel that I had my jigs running just above their heads.

It was was brutally hot Saturday and I know I can’t base an entire summers fishing off of one bad trip.

Id just like to hear from others who fish lakes full of vegetation and see what tactics you use to catch summer crappie. I have a suspicion that many crappie just bury up in the “grass” during the summer and if that’s so they’re going to be hard to catch power pushing jigs or cranks. But then again maybe I just don’t know what I’m talking about and just don’t know how to catch them.

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated.

I will sound very much like a broken record, but here goes. As a rule, I don’t troll. I have no problem with those who do, it just doesn’t fit my O.C.D. I like the trolling part just fine, it’s the setting up and tearing down that gets to me. Not to mention the inadvertent bass, stripe, or catfish that likes my offering, and then proceeds to tangle everything! I’m kind of run n gun, and prefer to just lay my rod down, raise the trolling motor, and go. I say all of this to set up my favorite summer tactic. Dock shooting! If you’ve got docks in deeper water, try shooting them on a sunny day when the fish are seeking shelter. To me, it’s fun AND productive!

I just fish early or late this time of year
I had the fish shut down just like you described a couple days ago .
Dock shooting like mentioned above is worth a shot if you have any good ones around ( provided the owners don’t care )



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I really enjoy dock shooting and I'm not great at catching them that way so I need to practice but the good docks to shoot on Guntersville are very spread out and are limited in numbers. They get hit HARD and often. There are only a double handful of docks in deep water or close to deep water that aren't choked out with grass. Or let me say it this way, there aren't a bunch of fishable docks that I know about yet. I know of 15-20 that are deep water access, that are fishable. Since Guntersville doesn't vary in depth much, most docks are built right on the water, with very little access to get a jig under them and 90% of docks are in 3-5 FOW.

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

I really enjoy dock shooting and I'm not great at catching them that way so I need to practice but the good docks to shoot on Guntersville are very spread out and are limited in numbers. They get hit HARD and often. There are only a double handful of docks in deep water or close to deep water that aren't choked out with grass. Or let me say it this way, there aren't a bunch of fishable docks that I know about yet. I know of 15-20 that are deep water access, that are fishable. Since Guntersville doesn't vary in depth much, most docks are built right on the water, with very little access to get a jig under them and 90% of docks are in 3-5 FOW.

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How about marinas? They are often my go to. Needless to say, I know nothing about Guntersville.

That's one of the few places that I know to try. There are some big marinas here with some really big boats in them. Surely they don't mind little ol me bouncing a jig off their cabin cruiser. LOL

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

That's one of the few places that I know to try. There are some big marinas here with some really big boats in them. Surely they don't mind little ol me bouncing a jig off their cabin cruiser. LOL

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Forget the cabin cruisers ... seek out pontoons that look like they haven't been out of their slip in a long time. Don't matter if they're in a open or covered slip, as long as they're sitting in the water (& not up on a lift). You'd be surprised at how many fish hang around right under the surface of the water under a pontoon.

Also be aware that "some" marinas don't allow fishing around them, or their moored boats. And they may not even have signs posted to that effect.

Thanks, I'll try to work some pontoons. There are a couple different marinas where there are lots of pontoons.

I had a thought while reading this. If you think the fish have buried up in the weeds, go in after them. You might try a brushguard jig head and a decent sized body because you will have to punch through the funk to get to what's under it. Not a wire weedless as they don't deflect enough trash, whereas the brushguard has done a very good job of this for me in the past. Just my thought.

Got an idea for ya since your on the lower end with all those deep creek Chanel’s I’ll put you into some cranking supplies unless someone can help me improve on a summer tactic that I catch more than 10-12 keepers all day on a 90° day I’m done come June ! Lake lice + hot weather + all the loose grass = a good recliner and a good Ac and a lot lower blood pressure! :fingerdance

C'mon now 'Prowler, them fish don't swim through your living room. Go early and quit early, and the freezer will keep lookin real good.

Years ago my wife and I use to go to the lake for the day(more than we do now.) We just went swimming and boating,went to boat races ,party cove sometimes etc. We would go all summer. Most every evening we would fish the last hour or two. I would concentrate on places the grass grew to about 8 to 12 ft deep ,on main lake humps,points,ledge drop's from flats into deep water. Sometimes the fish will hang on that edge,but when the water warms a little more than they like they will move out a little deeper and suspend. BUT...in the evening the shad start to feed and the crappie will wake up and start to chase them. They use the grass edges and bottom contours to push them in to to make them easier to catch. Bass and white bass do the same thing. But they can catch them in open water easier...crappie need a little bit of an advantage so they will almost always try to herd them into something to make them break up and turn. These suspended fish you find in summer can be so hard to catch sometimes because they are not actively feeding much of the day. But you find those spots they use to push those fish up at feeding time and then try to be there.Right time,right place,right lure.

Generally...once that water warms to 80 or so you won't find them buried in the shallower grass like you can other times of the year. Unless the lake is just overall shallow . And possibly if the lake oxygen levels drop low in the deeper water for some reason. But they come in to chase those shad.

I'm no expert on long lineing but It's hard to get them to bite that deep. If they are deeper that 12 feet I have to change tactics.

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Originally Posted by Slabprowler

Got an idea for ya since your on the lower end with all those deep creek Chanel’s I’ll put you into some cranking supplies unless someone can help me improve on a summer tactic that I catch more than 10-12 keepers all day on a 90° day I’m done come June ! Lake lice + hot weather + all the loose grass = a good recliner and a good Ac and a lot lower blood pressure! :fingerdance

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We do have a lot more deep water down this way. There's just not any structure much around those channels til you get up to the Sauty creeks. I guess since you got that new tube, we could take turns pulling each other around on it. We both gonna have to get 4 blade props if we do that. :Rofl