Slow Down on the Red

Fished the Red again today. The bite was much slower, and the crappie were holding near the bottom in about 8 feet of water. I had to let the minnow or jig sit still for 20 or 30 seconds to get the fish to bite. There was a south wind about 10 kts, and that blew in some murky water, and made it harder to see submerged stumps. It also made boat control a bit harder. I have learned that is more stealthy to fish into the wind, or at least back and forth across wind while working down wind. Ended up with 25-30, Fished about 7 hours with about half that time fishing new territory.Attachment 353552Attachment 353553

Nice reward for puttin' in the time!
And you learned about a new part of the fishin' waters.

Nice fish. That's the way to stick with it. I can't take the heat after about 10 30 am.

Take that slow day any day


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I went back today to explore some old and some new areas. One old area was good. One old area gave up a fish on the first stump and nothing else! One new area gave up nothing, and one area I fished yesterday gave up a few. The fish were mostly 2-3 feet off the bottom in 6-10 fow. The still were slow to bite. Mostly minnows today. Leftovers from yesterday. No aerator. just kept putting ice in the Engle. Which reminds me, I saw an eagle and a turtle sharing dinnerAttachment 353684

Attachment 353685

Escout,

I passed by you twice on Sunday afternoon bumping my way thru the stump fields and was trying my luck pulling some crank baits on the Red oxbows and struck out.
My brother ( jchag1718) is the the crank bait expert from Bunkie.

Congrats on catching a nice mess of fishing with that hard South wind and I don't see may Scout bay boats around here.

I was in the aluminum Hanko boat with Yamaha outboard. Next time, may have to go back to single pole jigging and try my luck.

If it clears up a bit, try around the mouths of the holes in the rocks. You might lose a crankbait to a giant gou, but you will (at least I did last year) get a lot of bites. I two legged spider-rigged with minnows and trolled a few cranks last year with some luck. The rocks just south of old Clark's entrance and up and down one set held some fish. Actually most of them did, but they weren't very predictable about where they hung out. If you single pole, try 6-10 fow on stumps along a drop off. I used pink and chartreuse, but I'm not sure that's important. My friend usually uses a different color and catches them. He's the one that taught me the importance of fishing the correct depth. Of course, they are crappie, so they do something different every day. Keeps us on our toes!! Come over and say hi next time.

Good luck!

Another thing that has worked really well for me, is the drop shot rig. Very much like the Mr Crappie minnow rig, but with one hook. About 1/4 to 3/8 ounce weight. Put the hook on the line and slide it up about 3 feet, then make a double line with the hook in the bottom of the "U", tie a palomar knot(figure 8 knot) and put the hook through the loop. Tighten the loop so you have a 2-4" dropper with the hook free to slide up and down and swivel up and down.(Gives the shiner more action) Then tie weight to end so that hook is 2 1/2 feet above the weight. Too much weight and every stick feels like a bite. Not enough and it won't sink vertically and you may not feel the bite. The great thing is, when you get hung up, don't set the hook, just gently jig it up and down and the weight will pull the hook free most of the time. Really great rig for teaching kids to fish. Works good for bream, just hook and weight are much closer. I've been using 8# Vicious, and it holds up pretty well. I haven't tried it with a jig, but I need to. Especially when the fish like to look at it a while before biting. It seems to me they like it to be pretty still for a 10-30 second period sometimes, and it's hard to hold the jigging pole that still sometimes. Oh, and to move to another place, put the hook in the keeper, wrap the line around the rod butt a few times, than around the base of the reel once, or the reel handle, and it stays neat and not tangled.

Escout,

Thanks for the advice and I'll have to try some of your methods and areas and will stop by next time I see you. You probably know a better way than me to get into Caspiana than bouncing thru the stump jungle. There use to be a channel marked, but looks like that has changed since all the high water.

I also tried the oxbow by Bishop Point launch with no luck. Nice chatting with you.

No, I'm crashing through the stumps just like you. I tried two different ways, and both were fairly stumpy. I've got some old waypoints , but the sand has filled that in. I tried back in Bobo, but only caught one on the first drop and then nothing. I think there are a lot of fish in that stump jungle, there is a good bit of fairly deep water. There is a creek that crosses it, and that's where the worst stumps are. I'm going to try to fish it sometime. Going to Ferriday this weekend, so give me a report if you go on the river.

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Originally Posted by silver deck

My brother ( jchag1718) is the the crank bait expert from Bunkie.

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:Rofl :Rofl

Nice fish!

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Very nice, congrats!