Was A Good Day! 1/25/22

When I launched at 8AM I was expecting a TERRIBLE day when I saw the water temp at 45*. Saw a bunch of fish and dropped lines.....NOTHING! They wouldnt bite. Kept right on trolling moving out of the creek. After awhile I finally hit a spot and caught a few so I kept circling and wound up catching sll my fish within a 300 yard stretch in that one spot. I dont think I ever had two on at a time more than 2 or 3 times. But atleast I was catching.

After awhile I decided enough was enough so I pulled my lines in and got ready to go to the house. Total fish pulled in the boat was 50 (one more bit after removing the clickers)...

Attachment 417245

Threw back alot of 10" fish I could have kept but didnt need em. The big girls are starting to show up too and that's why I LOVE January and Febuary fishing...

Attachment 417246

I would guess that 3/4 of the ones I cleaned were males. As with every year that Ive been crappie fishing it seems the water warms a bit so the fish will bite and then another cold snap rolls through. I guess that's why the spawn aint until mid/late March. Anyway...enough talk. Here's the livewell shot...

Attachment 417247

That’s a great day’s catch. My problem was I couldn’t find them to see if they were biting. Them ones I found were aggressive.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Glad you'll were pounding the water looking for them. We found fish but they were tight lipped. Fished only a couple of hours on the late bite this evening and ended up with 8 good eaters. It's only going to get better! :highfive

Nice catch!

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Very nice cold water crappie!

That’s an excellent day by any standard!

Your report makes me want to fish instead of work in the yard! If I get the work done when it's cold, I'll be free when it's warm..... at least that's what I'm telling myself! :banghead

Yes Sir!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCkenner

Your report makes me want to fish instead of work in the yard! If I get the work done when it's cold, I'll be free when it's warm..... at least that's what I'm telling myself! :banghead

---

Ive thought about trying to find me something on the lake. Already turned down a couple of places. I decided if I ever do buy a place all I want is a small trailer...maybe a 10 X 30 - 2 bedroon trailer with a front screened porch and nothing but oaks overhead with NO grass in the yard. I dont wanna do yardwork when I go to the lake....just fish and hunt.:) All too many times all I hear is lawn mowers, leaf blowers, trimmers.....just people working all weekend long when they go to their lake houses.

Appreciate the good report gabowman. We started out yesterday about 8 am also. The fish we were on 2 weeks ago had moved. Had to do some searching. The colder water seemed to have scattered the fish out deeper. The bite was slow, but the quality of fish was good. We got into a few 1.7 to 1.4 pound fish. Only caught 18 and kept 15 good ones. Cleaned them today and most all of them were full of eggs.

Nice catch!! You mind posting your setup? Boat speed, jig size etc. thx PM is fine too.

Sounds like a good and steady day of putting fishing in the boat. Nice mess of some fine eating

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KHNC

Nice catch!! You mind posting your setup? Boat speed, jig size etc. thx PM is fine too.

---

Ahhh...no current pictures. But I'll try to explain. I have a walleye boat so I sit down in it, unlike the deck on the back on a bass boat. I have a T-bar on each side of the motor holding 4 rod holders which I use 5' thru 8' rods on each side. I also have 3 more rod holders on each side of the back of the boat attached to a rail and I use a 10', 12', and a 14' rod on. I'm fishing 7 rods per side and they are all set up with the rodtips about 1' off the water. My boat speed can be anywhere from .8 mph up to 1.2 mph...depending on what the fish want or where theyre at in the water column. I only fish two sizes of jigheads...1/16ths and 1/32nds. I will also use a couple different sizes of split shots when needed to get my jigs right over the fishes heads. And all I use is curly tail 2" grubs and Charlie Brewer sliders. Now, to me anyway, the most important thing is to watch your electronics and trust what theyre telling you. If the fish are shallow and your jigs are under them then you aint catching. Same for if theyre deep and your fishing shallow...well, you catch my drift. If you aint seeing fish or bait on your sonar then dont fish there. Put lines out AFTER you find fish. Lastly, if you are seeing fish and bait on the sonar but they wont bite then move. Go somewhere else where they are biting. You gotta try to find biting fish or you'll go home with an empty livewell. Hope this helps.

One more thing...if you havent seen this...

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/sout...ing-questions/

Here is my setup. It's a Stratos walleye boat I am sure very simular to the one gabowman has. It's comfortable and a good way to troll with 12 to 14 poles with jigs.

Congrats on the catch Butch. I made my third trip to Oconee yesterday and have only caught 1 crappie.
I’m catching plenty of striper,hybrids and white bass but no crappie.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gabowman

Ahhh...no current pictures. But I'll try to explain. I have a walleye boat so I sit down in it, unlike the deck on the back on a bass boat. I have a T-bar on each side of the motor holding 4 rod holders which I use 5' thru 8' rods on each side. I also have 3 more rod holders on each side of the back of the boat attached to a rail and I use a 10', 12', and a 14' rod on. I'm fishing 7 rods per side and they are all set up with the rodtips about 1' off the water. My boat speed can be anywhere from .8 mph up to 1.2 mph...depending on what the fish want or where theyre at in the water column. I only fish two sizes of jigheads...1/16ths and 1/32nds. I will also use a couple different sizes of split shots when needed to get my jigs right over the fishes heads. And all I use is curly tail 2" grubs and Charlie Brewer sliders. Now, to me anyway, the most important thing is to watch your electronics and trust what theyre telling you. If the fish are shallow and your jigs are under them then you aint catching. Same for if theyre deep and your fishing shallow...well, you catch my drift. If you aint seeing fish or bait on your sonar then dont fish there. Put lines out AFTER you find fish. Lastly, if you are seeing fish and bait on the sonar but they wont bite then move. Go somewhere else where they are biting. You gotta try to find biting fish or you'll go home with an empty livewell. Hope this helps.

One more thing...if you havent seen this...

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/sout...ing-questions/

---

Thanks! If you recall, i actually met you out on the water at the Hill a couple years ago. So ive seen your boat rig. I just was referring to your speed and jig size ( or minnows) for this catch in particular. Good luck , hope you keep catching!

That's right...I remember. I was pulling a single 1/16th, some with a split shot on them and some without. The depth finder was marking alot of fish at 15' deep to the bottom but I was targeting the few fish I marked that were 8'-10' deep. I ran mostly at .8-.9 mph. I dont tip with minnows.

Good catch.