Crappie fishing in May 2025

I have been fishing with either Phil Gawthrop or Gary Fomby this month. I fished 9 trips and we have been very successful in locating deep post spawn crappie. We fished various structures from bluffs, deep points, delta structure drop offs etc and have had our limit or double limits most of the time.

I have been limiting our trips to 3 hours as I have been recovering from a major surgery in late April. I’m doing good now and almost back to normal.

We have been fishing early in the morning before daylight and off the water by 8 or 9 AM if we get a 6:30 start. Our best morning with Phil, we had a double limit of keeper crappie by 7:40 that included 2 Tarp size crappie. Phil had a 14,5” and I had 14” black crappie.

We have developed some new deep water techniques (new to me) that has really paid off by catching more big crappie than usual. We are using 3/32 oz jig heads and Bobby Garland 2” Slab Slayers and our best 3 colors have been Lights Out, Junebug, and Green Lantern. Dead sticking the jig in 25+ feet of water seems to be where the big fish hang out after it gets daylight. They are in 6-9 feet of water while it is dark. I will post a few pics from various trips.

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Those are some amazing catches sir. Im glad you guys were able to get out there and kill em! I have never seen those bobby garlands before but I know what my next bait haul will look like! Thank you for sharing!!

Very nice!!! Glad you're doing better. Continue to heal up and catch those slabs. Go fishing when you can, it's good fer ya!!!

Even rude, I will take pics of those slab slayers and post them in a few minutes if I can remember to do it. I have a couple of things that I’m doing now.

Here are the pics of BG 2” Slab Slayers for Evenrude.
If Bobby Garland made all their Baby Shad colors in the Slab Slayer molds, I would never buy the Baby Shads. That is how sold I am on this profile. They do make it in several colors, but not all. For us, they out fish the Baby Shad’s.

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Good to see you back at it, DK !! I was wondering where you'd been hiding. :confused:

Thanks for the report & pics !!

Great to see you back on the forum sir. my wife and I were commenting on you posting again fishing with your friends this year just last week. Great post and catches. Thanks for sharing and best wishes on your continued recovery and improvement.

If I was a fish I'd bite that green lantern!

Dk the only thing missing in these pictures is me! I am so thankful for your recovery and this post!

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Originally Posted by CUonthelake

Dk the only thing missing in these pictures is me! I am so thankful for your recovery and this post!

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And where have YOU been, Ms Candi ?? Miss seeing your pics/reports, too !!

NICE. I have a mental block about the slab slayers but looks like I need to be more patient and stick with em a little longer. My head is my own worst enemy.

I do like those colors for stained/dirty water though :ThumbsUp

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Originally Posted by Evanrude

If I was a fish I'd bite that green lantern!

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Crappie hit all 3 colors with gusto. Junebug is a great color when the sun is shining. The flake in it just sparkles. I fished with the Green Lantern last week and it out fished the other colors. When I put it on my jig, I caught 8 fish in a row before not getting a bite on 9th cast. Grin.

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Originally Posted by M GO BLUE

NICE. I have a mental block about the slab slayers but looks like I need to be more patient and stick with em a little longer. My head is my own worst enemy.

I do like those colors for stained/dirty water though :ThumbsUp

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Chickamauga is a very clear lake and these colors shine in clear or stained water.

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Originally Posted by CUonthelake

Dk the only thing missing in these pictures is me! I am so thankful for your recovery and this post!

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Candi, you know that you are always welcome in my boat. In summer, as we have discussed, I don’t fish later in the day when you are available. Perhaps in the fall when the weather cools we can get together.

Prayers for continued healing and strength. Awesome pics as usual.