I ran in to several shell crackers about 4 yrs agin in Sledd Crreek. I have never been able to catch them there since. Does anyone know and willing to share where there may be some beds in the Smith Bay, Duncan, Sugar Bay area?
Thanks!
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I ran in to several shell crackers about 4 yrs agin in Sledd Crreek. I have never been able to catch them there since. Does anyone know and willing to share where there may be some beds in the Smith Bay, Duncan, Sugar Bay area?
Thanks!
Shellcracker guys are much more secretive than crappie folks ever thought about being. Look in major coves that have sandy bottoms with creeks running into the main bay. Shellcrackers will be deeper than bluegills most of the time even though I have caught some good ones fishing buck bushes with crickets in very shallow water. Most of the time the shellcrackers will be where your boat would normally be when you are fishing a bluegill bed.
Hope that helps. That's all I'm telling. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!
I accidentally got into the shellcrackers a few years ago. I was fishing night crawlers for anything that would bite. When I started to run low on the crawlers I pinced about 3/4' off and fished with that. They ate the pieces better than they did the whole worm. I would use these pieces around an old, slick log in water with a rock bottom. I eventually decided the piece of nightcrawler resembled the meat these fish ate out of the small shells they cracked. This pattern held up all afternnon, I would catch 2 or 3 from one old slick log(not brush) and go find another one and do the same. I'm mainly a crappie fisherman but that was a day I will always remember. It was in May and I was fishing LBL. 4'-10' deep,no floater, small splitshot.
split shot, #8 hook, leech.
Go to yahoo and type in shellcracker.I cant remember which one but an article that explain's in detail about cracker's.It's one of the first 6 that come's up though.
They like the bait moving slow and on or near the bottom.
Last year we decided we wanted to target shellcrackers, we read everything we could find online, we picked several lakes listed on the KDFW website that were good shellcracker lakes and we went to fishin'. What we learned and what worked for us was drift fishing back off the banks just like mrdux said. About where your boat would be if you were fishing the bluegill beds is where you want your bait. We use 4lb test line with the long cricket hooks with a splitshot 6-8 in above the hook, with red worms for the bait, this is what we found worked best for us. We just drift off the banks with the wind or trolling motor assisting, bouncing the bait off the bottom or maintaining the bait very near to the bottom. We were amazed at our success as we had never caught shellcrackers except by accident before. Needless to say, we are hooked on shellcrackers just as bad as crappie now. I've never fished for them down your way, although I would love to give it a try someday. Good luck and good fishin'.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...ctures2364.jpg
What a PIG of a shellcracker you got there minnerdipper!!
Minner,Quote:
Originally Posted by MinnerDipper2
Where you bouncing the bottom directly under the boat or casting out and working bait back to the boat (like a bass fisherman fishes a plastic worm)?
Just when you think you've covered all the bases someone nails you with a very good question, and I'm glad you asked that question crappiecrazy.;)Since we haven't been shellcrackerin since October, I'll just have to crank up the ole memory machine and see what pops out. Rev,rev,rev.....zoom,zoom,zoom......POOF! :eek: Well, what da ya know, we actually were casting to the edge of weedlines, and this is important, while we were at a decent drift either by wind or trolling motor, we were slowly working our bait back to the boat almost letting it drift along, bouncing off the bottom. So, it is almost like bassing with a plastic worm except different, maybe a little bit. Sometimes you catch bluegill at weeds edge or out a little further, and it seems that we caught our shellcrackers closer to the boat. Now whether they were following the bait out or attacking it out at the boat, who knows? All this talk about shellcrackerin has got me plumb lathered up and rarin to go. Wooohooooo!!!!!:DQuote:
Where you bouncing the bottom directly under the boat or casting out and working bait back to the boat (like a bass fisherman fishes a plastic worm)?
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...ctures2185.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...ctures2262.jpg
Thanks Minner,Quote:
Originally Posted by MinnerDipper2
I am going to start (maybe tommorrow) giving the "cracker" a try. If your ever down around Lake Malone, give me a shout and we will try the "crackers". Malone has a good SC population.
CC
I read this post thursday and went to ky lake friday morning,, decided quickly that crappie were going to be tough so decided to do some bluegill fishing,,we were using a artificial cricket ,black and chartrouse,on a 1/16 oz black jig head,, split shot 12" up ,, my wife had her bobber set at 3ft, I set mine at 5-6ft,, fished a pea gravel bank right next to our cabin,,
she was catching lots of very large bluegill 20 ft from the bank,, 4-5 ft of water,I fished the other side of the boat in 7-8ft and I got several nice red ears,,,,
you were right the red ears are out farther from the same bank as bluegill but deeper water and closer to the bottom,,
I will say that ky lake this year has the biggest bluegill Ive ever seen,
Fished w/ a buddy yesterday for about 4 hours and caught most all of these around 4' deep on jigs tipped w/ wax worms on Kentucky Lake. Find rocky bottoms in the middle of the bays on the LBL side in the middle of patches of vegetation.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...e/DSCN1704.jpg
Man alive, Casey! I thought I was doin good on this other end of the Bluegrass.
http://crappie.com/crappie/showthread.php?t=65994
Nice, very nice you guys, it's good to see what others are gettin'. Wasn't able to fish this past weekend but hope to hit it sat.
GREAT looking fish guys !! Hey Casey, my cousin and I are trying to make our first trip to KY lake in about two weeks. Do you think the blue gills and crackers will still be hot? Would love to get in to a mess of those !!!!
Hey Martin its me Whit, Lake Jericho use to be very good with the crackers but it has been a few years since I have been. Good luck to you home skillet
Quote:
Originally Posted by martin28v
Shellcracker will be done w/ the spawn back out deeper and fish on bottom for these, but you should have no problem catching plenty of gills shallow. Some should be on the bed and others will be around the docks. PM me and I'll send you a link to the bait I caught the above fish on.
Hey whats up there Whitiiicaree !!! How far is Jerico? Maybee we could run down there one day after work or on a weekend and see what we get in to. Hope you had the farm on Big Brown last Sat. Thanks Casey. I'll PM you when I get done here. What about a place to pitch a tent down there ?? We were planning on tent camping, probably around Johnathon Creek ? Any good camp sites, preferably where we can pull the old boat up on the bank or dock over night.. Thanks for the help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by martin28v
I'd suggest Wildcat Creek Campground on Blood River if you like to get away from the pack.....larger campsites and I like the area a little better for fishing.
Wildcat Creek Rec. Area & Campground 28 Wildcat Beach Road - Murray, KY 270-436-5628
jericho is about 45 minutes from here, you take 71n to the Sligo/New Castle exit. I would love to go sometime, just let me know.
My 8 year old son and I are headed to Kentucky tomorrow for shellcrackers and bluegills. We are staying in Johnathan Creek(reservations been made for a while). We are only going to be there for a couple of days so any pointers on where to start or preferred baits. I usually fish for crappie or bass when we come to Kentucky.
Use very small black jigs tipped w/ wax worms 3' to 4' deep under a small float.Quote:
Originally Posted by Creeker
Caseydrew and everyone else who added post to this thread, Thanks for the information. We will be heading out in a few hours. I hope they are still biting.