4 Hour Crappie Slam

Launched at 8:15 am this morning and packed it up at 12:15 as I thought I had 25 for a Limit,,but kept 23 was the count when I got home to clean them. Fish are slamming the PICO crankbaits as water temp was 62.5 when I hit the water. With all the action I just kept clicking my counter to much! :Rofl Biggest was just 15” and didn’t keep any under 10”. All were females except 1 male. Was fishing in 10’ to 12’ depths as speeds of 1.5 to 1.8 with the wind and waves sometimes messing with boat control. Any bright colors was good. Fire tiger tore them up. I kept the cranks about a couple feet off the bottom. Caught numerous dinks and 5 bass also. Eggs nowhere near ready. It’s crazy times when you have 2 or 3 rods going off at the same time when I run thru crappies showing up on the electronics. Right now,,,It’s time to fish!

Attachment 426293

Nice mess of fish

Thanks for the post and information. Time for a fish fry!

I don't fish anymore due to health problems but enjoy reading your fishing stories.

I used to pull Bandit 300 crank baits and enjoyed fishing that way. But the small lake that I fished got way too crowed and I could not follow the contour lines without having to swing around a kayak or two who were in my way.

I fished the open deep water in the hot summer months and got the crank baits down to around 18 ft with 200 ft of 10 lb test line out. That made it hard to move around the kayaks and other boats when I was fishing off the drop offs. The fish were hanging right above the thermocline over 40 to 60 ft of water.

Very nice, thanks for the report

Nice catch !! At least you were under on limit & not over. Thanks for report. What lake were you fishing if you don't mind me asking ?

Sent from my SM-S908U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cevans

Launched at 8:15 am this morning and packed it up at 12:15 as I thought I had 25 for a Limit,,but kept 23 was the count when I got home to clean them. Fish are slamming the PICO crankbaits as water temp was 62.5 when I hit the water. With all the action I just kept clicking my counter to much! :Rofl Biggest was just 15” and didn’t keep any under 10”. All were females except 1 male. Was fishing in 10’ to 12’ depths as speeds of 1.5 to 1.8 with the wind and waves sometimes messing with boat control. Any bright colors was good. Fire tiger tore them up. I kept the cranks about a couple feet off the bottom. Caught numerous dinks and 5 bass also. Eggs nowhere near ready. It’s crazy times when you have 2 or 3 rods going off at the same time when I run thru crappies showing up on the electronics. Right now,,,It’s time to fish!

Attachment 426293

---

Wow Chuck I was there today too. It took me a little longer than that to get my limit. I had a livescanner installed that I wanted to try out with my livescope


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cevans

Launched at 8:15 am this morning and packed it up at 12:15 as I thought I had 25 for a Limit,,but kept 23 was the count when I got home to clean them. Fish are slamming the PICO crankbaits as water temp was 62.5 when I hit the water. With all the action I just kept clicking my counter to much! :Rofl Biggest was just 15” and didn’t keep any under 10”. All were females except 1 male. Was fishing in 10’ to 12’ depths as speeds of 1.5 to 1.8 with the wind and waves sometimes messing with boat control. Any bright colors was good. Fire tiger tore them up. I kept the cranks about a couple feet off the bottom. Caught numerous dinks and 5 bass also. Eggs nowhere near ready. It’s crazy times when you have 2 or 3 rods going off at the same time when I run thru crappies showing up on the electronics. Right now,,,It’s time to fish!

Attachment 426293

---

I also caught a thirteen inch crappie that had a six inch lamprey attached to it have you ever seen one of those nasty things up there before?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lake Lemon,,,NE of Bloomington. I’m using my Mega Live alittle radical…trolling cranks…have it set in Forward View 70’ out…and can see the fish and baitballs and in using mega 360 running also,,,I try and head to where I think they are and go right over them. You can just about guess when a rod is going to get a hit by crappie. Used to do the same trolling on Lake Michigan and Erie for Salmon and Eyes when the salmon were in their heyday of the 80’s and 90’s. Only kicker is I think I just lost one side of my transducer on the mega 360 today,,so going to switch it to a different Helix unit next time I fish to test it out and make sure I lost one side of it before calling HB support to send it in for repair. I catch those larger crappie in deeper waters nowhere near a bank using cranks. If I get too close to a bank and shallower than 8’ seems like I pick up lots of small males and even smaller females as well as small bass. There is a lot of stumps in the lake,,,hint, besides other structure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sir catchalot;[URL="tel:4257181"

4257181[/URL]]I also caught a thirteen inch crappie that had a six inch lamprey attached to it have you ever seen one of those nasty things up there before?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

No,,,haven’t ever seen a lamprey in that lake so there must not be many. Past 2 yrs…I have caught one peskie yellow bass each yr…so I get rid of them. There seems to be a few schools of yellow perch but you really need to be fishing for them to catch any amounts. I know one person that used to fish for them. I catch a few every now and then on cranks. And it seems like every year,,I catch a 20 lb plus flathead cat which is a hoot on a 12’ Southern Pro Crappie rod and 10 lb braid. If bass fishing…they have a USA Bass tourney if 25 boats on certain Saturdays..and if looking at different weigh ins of different lakes..Lemon has higher weigh in weights as well as more bass caught than most other lakes so it has a good bass population. I fish it..till end of May,,,by then all the pleasure boaters, jet skiers, and sailboaters run me off.

Wow Chuck, great job. Thanks for sharing.

Lemon is one of those lakes that you can long line jigs, troll cranks, spider rig fish or throw a jig at. However, it’s a city owned 1700 acre lake that charges to launch and by Memorial Day,,the locals and pleasure craft take it over making it a challenge to fish until the late fall. Monroe is hot right now about 10 miles south. If I were fishing it, due to high water,,I would be throwing and flipping a jig in a search pattern till I find a few biggies. Cat is high..The Coon is about normal but with this rain,,all will go back up…Patoka, is so hit or miss with all the dinks,,it’s going to take a few years more to get it where Monroe is finally coming back on crappie fishing. I am measuring 1.1 inches of rain in the gauge from last nites rain so far and we are going to get more.

Good day of fishing, wife and I like Lake Lemon but not many spots to fish from bank.

Never fished Lemon might have to give it a try sometime. Not sure we have many lakes left that skiing & wake boats don't take over from memorial weekend on.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

You do not want to be on Lemon on a holiday week or weekend. Too many houses around it with boats, jet skis and kayaks. Then throw in the boaters that do try and fish it and the parking lots are full and it only has a one lane launch so you will spend alot Of time waiting to launch or trailer out. 5/14, 6/04 and 6/25 has full boat (25) USA bass tourneys..avoid those days also with a one lane launch…tourney times are 6:30to 2:30pm. And they tie up the docks and launch till about 4 pm .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cevans

You do not want to be on Lemon on a holiday week or weekend. Too many houses around it with boats, jet skis and kayaks. Then throw in the boaters that do try and fish it and the parking lots are full and it only has a one lane launch so you will spend alot Of time waiting to launch or trailer out. 5/14, 6/04 and 6/25 has full boat (25) USA bass tourneys..avoid those days also with a one lane launch…tourney times are 6:30to 2:30pm. And they tie up the docks and launch till about 4 pm .

---

Chuck have you ever pulled cranks at Monroe for crappie?


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grizzly SC;[URL="tel:4257657"

4257657[/URL]]Chuck have you ever pulled cranks at Monroe for crappie?


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com

---

Yes cranks on Monroe and also jigs…best fish was 17.5 as you just have to cull the dinks. Main lake as well as idle zone. Right now..a square bill trolling along buck brush and flooded timber in 3-5 ft of water with little line out..can also work with rods straight out the side of the boat to the bank. Try it some time. Works in spring for sure. I’m on Lemon right now,,caught 112 but only 3 over 10” so far. Misting rain.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cevans

Yes cranks on Monroe and also jigs…best fish was 17.5 as you just have to cull the dinks. Main lake as well as idle zone. Right now..a square bill trolling along buck brush and flooded timber in 3-5 ft of water with little line out..can also work with rods straight out the side of the boat to the bank. Try it some time. Works in spring for sure. I’m on Lemon right now,,caught 112 but only 3 over 10� so far. Misting rain.

---

Thanks. If you catch a 10””” crappie with a chrome clown pico in his jaw it’s mine [emoji38]. We were there Monday, I was pushing the crank when I got the hit. Tried to land it without the net and the knot broke at the trolling weight swivel.[emoji30]


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

Today was slow as fished 7 hrs with wind out of the NE and by 2 changed to East as it dropped the water temp from 64.5 to 61.3 by 3:30 pm. Ended up with 18 over 10” to 13.5”. Quite a few dinks and a lot of 9” throwbacks. I tried chrome clow, fire tiger,,and a couple other colors but the murkie water made bone with orange, O-Jay, and Yellow Jacket the best colors for the PICO cranks. Fish seemed alittle deeper today with some banks in 10-12’ ft of water having no fish. Also,,I could see the fish scatter as The boat/trolling motor approached them with MEGA live as they seemed spooked. Shallow third of Lemon was alittle more muddied from the 1 inch of rain with more to come in the next few days.
Attachment 426567

Great pick


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Out of the 18 I cleaned yesterday,,all were females…one large female as I cleaned it,,the egg sac busted and they went all over the place as she was ready to spawn. Most others were not there yet but with all of next weeks weather forcast showing every day in the 80’s and nights in the 60’s, the spawn will be upon us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grizzly SC;[URL="tel:4257657"

4257657[/URL]]Chuck have you ever pulled cranks at Monroe for crappie?


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com

---

Sources tell me Saturday’s SlabMasters tourney, 3 rd place team was pulling cranks on Monroe.. it can be a deadly search and destroy technic.
https://www.crappie.com/crappie/blob...a-9cec5bb51e75

Attachment 426996