Kayak Trip Report, Forest Ingram Lake, part 3

I returned to Forest Ingram today fishing from daylight till around 2PM. Hard day and hot! I kept 24 and returned twice that many smaller fish. The fish moved from where they were last week and when I found them, they weren't eating. I tried about every color and combination I had with me. The best bait ended up being a 1/32oz White Marabou but only with a Crappie Nibble on the hook. Visibility of about 18 inches, 86 degrees at daylight warming to 88 by 2PM. My truck said it was 100 degrees outside on my way home. Looks like the baitfish have scattered into smaller balls and so have the Crappie.

Attachment 490756

Congrats on a good tuff hot day!

Congrats on the day. Sounds challenging and tough but you got it done. Good job.

Wtg! Too hot for me.Did destroy a bunch screwdrivers and took some naps.Kudos.

Sent from my SM-S215DL using Crappie.com mobile app

Silly me, thought I'd paddle to the same 100-yard x 100-yard area from last weekend, fill a cooler and get home early. Get there and no baitfish or Crappie in my area from last week. I had to start the slow search all over. I finally found a few, but it was halfway across the lake and hours later. I can't complain, at least I found a few. Easy to go home with nothing when it's 100 degrees!

lol, that sounds like my luck. Glad you found them and weren’t skunked. Good job

FYI, I usually don't fish anything deeper than 6 feet, 10 at the extreme. Forest Ingram has forced me to get smarter. While some things are constant, find the bait fish and you'll find the Crappie, clear deep water makes spider rigging or single pole on laydowns difficult. Even in a kayak the fish will see me and the kayak even 10 feet deep like I'm in 6 inches of water. I'm using my electronics to find the baitfish and equally important how deep the baitfish and Crappie are. Using 4-pound test line I'm using jig heads that are 1/20oz, 1/32oz and even 1/64oz with 1" Bobby Garland slider jigs that have a paddle tail to count down, then try to retrieve the jig at or just above the baitfish and Crappie with a painfully slow return. The bite is often only a gentle tick on the line and without me lifting the rod tip to set the hook Crappie will open their mouth and drop the jig again. Yesterday they wouldn't hit anything until I added a Crappie Nibble to the hook. Even then I missed more than I put in the boat, but that little addition of scent and taste was just enough.

I know that many board members fish this way often, but it's new to me. I thought I'd pass on to others the tiny bit I've learned.

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Fish Pics!

Good job!

Way to figure it out ditch!!

Had they moved into the deep parts?


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The fish moved across the lake but were still suspended about 10 foot deep. The thermocline has set up about 12 foot across the lake, so there's no fish deeper.

Here's what I think happened. Rain a couple weeks ago dumped water into the lake from the main creek. While I'm sure the water was warm, it was probably cooler than the rest of the lake and also muddied up the water a little bit also in that area. I think that brought in the shad due to the slightly cooler temps, water color and nutrients. Once that water equalized with the rest of the lake the shad were on the move again.

I'll have to wait until there's another good rain to see if the same thing happens. If so, I may have a repeatably pattern to look out for on some of the smaller lakes in the area. :twocents