Quick Report

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:45am-noon (best fishing 9am-11am)

30 crappie 10-12.25"
Mainly 1/16oz tube; some bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
6-8' deep in shade

Nice Going Crataegus. Didn't Take You Long To Load The Boat.

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:30am-10:00 (best fishing 8am-9:30am)

27 crappie 10-12"
1/16oz chartreuse tube w/ minnow; bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line (jig); #6 fireline crystal (bobber/minnow)
5-9' deep in shade

Today: no minnow=no fish

It was more fun to watch the 3yr old Hispanic boy come down to the shore with an empty plastic bread bag than it was to catch the fish. He had the biggest smile on his face each time I put a fish into his bag. He would then run over to his family with his prize.

I'm off tomorrow. I'll fish the afternoon shift:)

glad to hear it.

Good job. Sounds like you have a real "honeyhole" down there in Wolfpack land. Keep up the good work and enjoy the fillets. Nice of you to share the catch with the little one and his family too.

bank fishing or boat?

Todobien...

I have been fishing from a boat.

Monday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

1:30pm-5:30pm (best fishing 3pm-4:30am)

25 crappie 10-12.25" (6@12"+)
1/16oz chart.black tube w/o minnow; bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line (jig); #6 fireline crystal (bobber/minnow)
7-10' deep

Today: no minnow=few but larger fish

It was nice to have the entire lake to myself. It rained most of the time I was there, so I guess there fish didn't feel any drier than usual while dangling from the end of my line.

Way to go Crataegus. Sounds like some pretty good days of fishing there. They have been doing pretty well out "there" of late considering it's summer. I'm sure I'll run into you outther sometime. I love that lake come spring and fall/winter time.

PG

Is There a lot of pleasure boat traffic on that lake? Im wondering if it would be suitable for our canoe. I try not to put that thing in where we might get swamped.

Place to buy minnows nearby?

Any suggestions on where in lake to try?

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:40am-10:40am (best fishing 6:40-7:30)

11 crappie 10.75-14.25" (14.25"=1.78lbs)
bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
7-10' deep

Today: no minnow=no fish

I couldn't buy a bite on a jig (even tipped w/ a minnow)--so all 11 keepers were caught on one bobber pole today. However, it was nice to feel the pull of a 14 plus again.

I may have seen you over there. I didnt take the canoe with me yesterday, just went over to check it out and walked around a little. Saw someone on a boat out towards the dam fishing. Do they sell bait there? If not where can you get minnows nearby?

Fishcrazy,

They don't sell minnows there, but there are minnows for sale at a gas station just up the hill from the park.

Monday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:45am-9:45am (best fishing 7:30-8:00)

5 crappie 10.5-14.25" (14.25"=1.84lbs)
bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
7-10' deep

Today: no minnow=no fish

I got a couple hits on jig/minnow, but couldn't land them...so again today, all the action was confined to my bobber pole. Although I only pulled in 5 keepers today, I improved on my biggest and average size slightly. The 14.25from today weighed almost an ounce more than a fish of the same length caught yesterday.

Nice fish!

I wonder what you could tell me about the lake depth and where the deeper parts of the lake are. I would assume the fish are relating to dropoffs or structure. Planning to try it sometimes but dont have fish finder so any general pointers on the bottom depth or general areas would be appreciated.

FC:

I've found lots of 20'+, but as far as the depth finder goes, you may not need it. All the fish I've caught were around visible structure or lined up with landmarks. Once you find fish holding 7'-10' down over 7'-x' of water, you'll probably be posting better results than me. Once I get a better fishfinder, I'll be on the hunt for the hidden spots. When you find a couple spots, well trade up and double our catch! Honestly, I'd love to expand my lake selection...Jordan, Harris, etc. But with the price of gas, I'll just have to be a Raleigh Lakes puddle pirate for now.

If I do any better than you it will be hanging on the wall! lol Thanks for the info. Im sure Im gonna give the Raleigh lakes a shot soon.

Crat,

Between You, Mr Jack, and myself (I'm sure there are others too that I don't know) it's a wonder the bathtub as I call it is still producing quality fish size wise. So long as they are being caught I'll still be chasing them. I get out to Jordan too and do well numbers wise out there just nothing much over a 1lb yet. I'm also still learning Jordan..Lots more water to cover out there so It's gonna take me a while. Congrats again on the nice cathes..Save me some :)


PG

PG24:

The lake supports an incredible population of baitfish. I've seen them swimming around in clouds. The increadibly large, fat bass may also indicate that there is enough food to support big crappie. Actually, every lake I've fished known for its giant bass seems to host crappie of similar proportion lurking beneath the wake of all the bass boats.

As far as Jordan goes...I look foward to fishing there again. I had good luck there this spring (abundant 10-13's), but nothing to put on a photograph or wall. I fished the narrow "belt" of what would be normal pool when the lake was up into the trees in March. The fish were packed into a couple quiet, well channeled bays protected from wave action.

For the very reason you mentioned, I try not to tell everyone which bathtub in Raleigh I jump into. I also rarely keep fish; and because fewer fish are injured on a jig than on a #02 aberdeen hook, I take a heightened interest in how many I can catch on the jig. I must confess, however, that I have released six 2+ lbers into Holly Springs' Bass Lake, and relinquished dozens of nice fish to those shore fishing for their dinner.

See you on the water!

Jeremy

Thursday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

5:15pm-7:00pm (fishing was consistantly slow)

5 crappie 9.75-15" (15"=1.84lbs)
bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
7-10' deep

It felt great to get back into the 15" range again. Unfortunately, today's big fish weighed the same as the 14.25 from monday (1lb 13.5oz). He was a bit skinny. The fish was released after I measured, photographed, and weighed it. A picture of the fish is posted in the "big fish Pics" thread.

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

5:15pm-8:15pm (fishing was consistantly slow)

3 crappie 10-11.5"
Bobber/minnow
Chart jig/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
3-10' deep

Not much biting, but I felt pretty good about my homemade minnow trolling rig. It rarely tangled, and I caught one of the keeper size fish on it.

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:15pm-7:55pm (best fiashing at 7:50)

5 crappie 10-16" (16"=2.33lbs)
Bobber/minnow
custom minnow rig
#6 Vanish Transition Line
6-10' deep

Got the big one at the end of the day. There is now a 2.33 crappie swimming in Bass Lake. My homemade minnow/trolling rig was outfishing anything else I could throw at them. I'll post a pic of it soon.

Thursday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

6:15pm-7:55pm (fishing consistantly slow)

2 crappie 10-12"
custom minnow rig
#6 Vanish Transition Line
6-10' deep

The passing coldfront may have played a part in the slow fishing--although it was certainly welcome.

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

5:15pm-8:00pm (best fishing 6:00-7:00pm)

10 crappie 10-12"
custom minnow rig
bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
4-10' deep

The fishing seemed a bit better today; and my first attempt at spider rigging (albeit only with two poles) paid dividends. I have installed two "Bee Ready" 4 pole-adjustable platforms. I am quite impressed by the amount of water covered. Like last Thursday, the homemade minnow rig outfished anything else I put in the water. I'm still streamlining it though--primarily making internodal adjustments to reduce its tendency to tangle, optimizing the packing and unpaking element, and experimenting with breakpoints to control the portion lost to snags. I guess most importantly, however, is that I keep it simple!

On another note, I towed in a disabled boat for the secong straight outing. What are the odds?

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

5:25pm-8:00pm (best fishing 6:30-7:00pm; 7:45-8:00pm)

9 crappie 10-13" (13"=1 lb 6.5 oz)
custom minnow rig
#6 Vanish Transition Line
4-8' deep


The overcast conditions were conducive to lots of fish. More fish were biting today, but the ratio was on the lean side (9 'keepers'/30+ fish). However, it was obvious that the nicer fish kept the smaller fish out of one very cozy spot. Also, the fish were averaging about 6' deep today--generally about four feet shallower than I have caught them since June. I'm guessing that the cool weather was responsible.

Saturday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

4:45pm-7:45pm (best fishing 4:45-6:00pm)

8 crappie 10-13.75" (13.25"=1 lb 3.75 oz; 13.75"=1 lb 7.5 oz)
custom minnow rig
bobber/minnow
#6 Vanish Transition Line
4-8' deep
Water Temp: 85F-87F


I spent the morning installing my new Lowrance GPS/Sonar unit--and consequently rewiring the boat. It works; I just have to throw a Navionics chip in it. The bites were extremely light today, but the average fish was much larger than Wednesday. I caught a total of 11 fish--8 were 10"+ (10"; 11.25"; 11.5"; 12"; 12.5", 13.25"; 13.75"). There was no crappie "tick" resonating through my 10' ProAnglerTackle.com rod today--I just felt a little more or a little less than the 3/16oz sinker my wrist was used to suspending. As could be predicted upon their lack of striking zeal, they were biting quite short. To get a better hookset, I eased the pole toward the strike as I would do trolling for Walleye, then set the hook.

I may mix in a few trips to Jordan soon now that I have my boat ready.


__________________
I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could

Thanks for the Report!

Sunday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

4:00pm-7:45pm (best fishing 5:30pm-7:15pm)

39 crappie 10.5-16.0" (16"=1 lb 7.50 oz; 15.25"=2 lb 5.25 oz; 15"=2 lb 4 oz)
custom minnow rig
bobber/minnow
1/16 oz chart/gold sprkle tube jig
#6 Vanish Transition Line
5-8' deep in 7-10'
Water Temp: 83F-85F


What a day. I started at a tried-and-true spot and caught an 11.5" and a 13.25" on the homemade minnow rig. Then nothing. Next regular spot--nothing. Next regular spot--nothing. With the new Lowrance GPS/Sonar, I decided it was high time to do some real scouting. I found a brushpile on a channel break. Less two hooks; plus no fish. I pulled the bouy and moved to a large flat which produced a few ok fish this spring. The depth was similar to my other productive summer spots and my interest was augmented by some springtime tails of large fish being caught from closer to shore. Not too long into my structure search, I found a hump that rose from the 10' flat to peak at 7'. It was fairly gradual, but seemed to peak a bit. I threw a bouy and waypointed the spot. Let's just say the fish were stacked on this thing. I couldn't believe how many arches I saw on the display screen--nor how much the arches were bending my poles. I chose to christen my 12' Outlaw Rod on the spot. The virgin pole (with a 1/16oz jig/minnow) only caught 2 crappie, but the second one was just shy of 2.5lbs. Twice my homemade minnow rig caught two-at-once (11.5" + 12.5" & 11" + 12"). The fish literally wore the complex rig out, but fortunately the bobber was just as effective, scoring back-to-back 15" fish at one point. I caught a total of 40 crappie today. 39 of them were 10.5" or bigger.
As usual, I let most of them go, but gave a couple away. It was so exciting when sonar did its job--and will be even better when the GPS puts me right back to the spot. I'll have a couple big fish pics to post as soon as I can get them downloaded.

This was not so "quick report"

Way to go Jeremy.. Hope to see you out there soon now that I'm back from vacation

PG24

PG24:

What kind of boat will I be looking for?

21 ft Odyssey Pontoon Green and White. Hard to miss it out there I'd say since not many pontoons put in on the lake. My partner and I will e out there tomm evening looks like sometime around 4:00 and fish till close.

PG24

Tuesday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

5:30pm-8:00pm (best fishing 6:40pm-7:30pm)

15(est) crappie 10"-15.5" (15.5"= 2 lbs 4.25 oz)

***custom minnow rig
bobber/minnow
1/16 oz chart/gold sprkle tube jig

#6 Vanish Transition Line
5-8' deep in 7-10'
Water Temp: 85F-87F

***big fish of the day caught on this rig


Well, they weren't as hungry this evening, but it was really great to fish next to PG24. What a great guy (and fisherman). He and I fished the same midlake hump I was spouting off about yesterday. As I said before, the bites were fewer, but definately came in bunches, despite there being a constant supply of arches on the screen. I hope someday to comprehend what causes fish to shift their taste so rapidly from one bait to another. Again, the homemade rig easily caught the majority of fish (including the 2.3lb'er--but for a while, a jig w/o minnow was the only bait they would touch--and enticed a 13.5"er. Why? The big bites came near day's end for about a half an hour--then quit. Otherwise, I didn't fish well today. It took me nearly half an hour to navigate to my waypoint. Once, I hooked my own bouy; and thrice, I spliced lines that are best left solitary. Oh well, results are what counts. I just made a few wrong turns and burned some time en route to an enjoyable, successful day of fishing.

PG24 said he may take a 'personal day' so he can try the spot tomorrow morning--not a bad idea!

Wow Those Are Some Pretty Fish. Nice Going.

That's a lot of fish. Enjoyed the pics.

Fig'd I'd post a quick reply to report the results from said 'personal day' :). Fished from 6:30AM-11:30AM on same mid-lake hump. The bite was wasn't neccessarily "on" the previous eve 8/19 but at least some nice fish were caught. Crataegus is a great guy and had a blast fishing next to him (8/19). He's a gentleman as well as a smart fisherman. You've a got a seat on my boat anytime my friend. Hope to do it again soon. Back to todays report. Only caught 1 keeper albeit a pretty good one. I didn't weight it but it was easily 1 to 1.5lbs. We did manage to land a handful of perch, 3 cats and an eel. Also caught approx 15 crappie well under 10 in. All fish were safely released to be caught again another day once they grow up. Bad Day fishing beats a great day at work. Till next time

Tight Lines,
PG24

PG24:

I'll be back Friday evening. Two 'Great Days at Work' to maneuver through first. In addition to fishing the hump, I'll be searching for some new structure a bit further from the dam. Glad you found the spot; thank you for the report.

crataegus

Friday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:

4:30pm-7:55pm (best fishing 4:30-5:30pm)

22 crappie 10"-16" (16"= 2 lbs 7.25oz)

***custom minnow rig
bobber/minnow
1/16 oz chart(glow) tube jig w/ or w/out a minnow

#6 Vanish Transition Line
5-9' deep in 7-10'
Water Temp: 83F-85F

***big fish of the day caught on this bait

I and a coworker had a great time this evening. George caught the big fish of the day (2.45 lbs), and I caught the next two biggest at 14" each. Again, they were stacked on the midlake hump. The fish averaged over a pound today--including the 3 or 4 dinks. Wind forced me to anchor. Once again, the homemade minnow rig outfished anything else I threw in--but the bobber pole and a jig pole staged a valiant team effort to offset the homespun success.

The camera was left in Holly Springs. Oops. I'll remember it tomorrow when I bring a couple more friends fishing.

great report.....lets get together and patent that ***custom minnow rig.