Very short crappie trip to Watts Bar 7/10/20

My brother in law, Leon, lives in Cumberland County and so we decided to meet in the middle and fish for crappie at Watts Bar with the understanding that we quit at 9 am because of the heat. We did that.

He met me around a quarter to 7 and off we went to our first spot. There was a very good movement period between 5-8 am and we hit it in the middle. We landed 6 total keepers and a couple of short crappie and all came on Monkey Milk Minnow Mind’Rs glued to 3/32 oz round ball, Litewire hooks. Most of the bites between 7:15-7:30. Only one keeper and one short after 8.

So our decision to quit at 9 was a good one. I did catch my first TARP sized White crappie in the month of July. It was 14” even. Surface temp was 87 degrees and with temps expected to reach 94-97 degrees all of next week, I may not fish at all. I’m not a glutton for punishment. Only one pic today.

BTW, I wanted to add a little bit to the report and talk about an idea that hit me a couple of days ago concerning the 8 lb Nanofil line. I thought that if I put a small barrel swivel on the braid and a 10 test Fluorocarbon leader on that and tied my jigs with a loop knot, that my presentation would be perfect. I caught all 6 keepers and Leon was using 4 lb test mono, so I conclude that it didn’t hurt and might help me get more bites. I didn’t lose a jig even though I hung up several times this morning.

Attachment 380101

Nice! With the current water temps, the fish are already cooked!

Great job on the TARP. I'm glad your new set-up is working the way you wanted. I'm going to take my daughter in the morning for a couple of hours. She has been asking to go for a while to catch a few. I hope she has some luck.

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Originally Posted by JayW

Great job on the TARP. I'm glad your new set-up is working the way you wanted. I'm going to take my daughter in the morning for a couple of hours. She has been asking to go for a while to catch a few. I hope she has some luck.

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Jay, I meant to call you yesterday when you got home and just forgot, but, I had the new tip on my rod before you reached 58 probably. I experimented with the tip that was too big to get a feel for how to do it, then putting the correct tip on was a piece of cake. Grin.

I guess the spare parts I brought by did the trick? I hope it holds up to all of your crappie catching.

That's a TRASH-CAN-LID WHITE right there!! :cheers2

Your presentation is VERY similar to my winter time deep water vertical jigging for toothy-critters setup. Have no idea why I didn't think of trying that on slabs :bash

Good report, DK

Hate to hear that you did not lose a jig.....

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Originally Posted by drumking

I thought that if I put a small barrel swivel on the braid and a 10 test Fluorocarbon leader on that and tied my jigs with a loop knot, that my presentation would be perfect.

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...what size swivel did you go with, DK?
FOUND HOBBS :cheers2

Nice White TARP, got my July one this past week also. They cut a shine when they come up from the deep water and want to go back down! I did something similar to what you did with the Nanofil line when I used it for Gills. A small barrel swivel then 4lb mono or floro leader to my hook. It worked well, just wished Nanofil would sink better for the deep water fishing.

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Originally Posted by StantheMan2567

Nice White TARP, got my July one this past week also. They cut a shine when they come up from the deep water and want to go back down! I did something similar to what you did with the Nanofil line when I used it for Gills. A small barrel swivel then 4lb mono or floro leader to my hook. It worked well, just wished Nanofil would sink better for the deep water fishing.

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Thus the 3/32 oz jigs and the slow barely lift/drop presentation. The fish can’t stand it. Grin.

Beautiful White!