Crappie catching heaven

[Spoonminnow]

There aren't too many outings that I can remember similar to today. 96 fish mostly caught in 8-9' on a variety of plastics shapes.
I hadn't been to this lake since last year and figured I'd fish the same spots that gave up a bunch of fish in the fall. Not possible today!

First off the seasonal weeds were all over the place with only a few open lanes to cast to. I figured that I may as well try the opposite southern part of the lake near the dam. When I got there, open water 9-12' deep showed fish on the sonar. Once I started catching fish, I anchored and kept on catching.

I hadn't used a 1/16 oz jig in a while and figured 1/24 oz a bit too light to work deeper water. Every lure I cast caught fish - many different in action. Here are afew:



The rain was light and the air warm with a 12-15 mph wind. The hits were HARD!
Many times a miss turned into a hooked fish on the second cast and at times the fish missed, followed the lure to the boat and got hooked. Crappies averaged between 10 -11", one bass was over 1 3/4 lb. and a few nice sunnies added to the fight.



I have never caught fish in water deeper than 4' and was shocked how easy it was, but only because a large number of fish were in the deeper south end vs the shallower weedy north end. Here's a shot of the sonar:

The red at the bottom is soil.

[SuperDave336]

Good report and pics. Thanks for sharing

[Rojo]

Yeah, great post. Casting for panfish when the action is hot is a Blast! You threw all shapes, sizes, and colors with success. Fun!

[Spoonminnow]

Now I wonder if yesterday was a one of a kind. Another lake I fish is much larger and the structure is different, but I do see fish suspended in 10'. The pre-spawn/spawn bite is happening in the shallows (2-4'), but that won't last. The 6" of rain in the last 10 days didn't affect the lake fished yesterday but definitely another lake the day before. This is a shot of the launch parking lot covered in 1.5' of water:

The wetlands are flooded which made for some good catches:


Note the wacky rigged hybrid photos that caught all species. The other was a modified Sassy Shad:

The reason for only 36 fish was the wind - a constant 14-20 mph which wouldn't allow my 10 lb anchor to hold position, causing me to leave early. Casting accuracy and a high wind don't mix.

[Jamesdean]

Great Pic's for fur sure...Thanks for the ride along

[Spoonminnow]

Today on a different lake 102 fish caught including this bass:


Crappie, yellow perch, sunfish (largest number), a few pickerel and small and the above bass.
Unlike yesterday, fish were in 3' or less and the jighead had to be less than 1/16 oz. Lure size was generally 2".

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Great post and pics! Thanks for sharing

[Spoonminnow]

I went back to the lake in the first post and though it wasn't a numbers day (only 52 fish caught) - but quality crapppie 10"-12" was consistent. Plus, I caught fish on lures I hadn't used in a while and in 11-12' of water exceeding my comfort depth of 9' or less. Jig head weight for all soft plastics was 1/16 oz to get the lure to mid-depth and work it slowly back to the boat.

Two lures that I confirmed were still fish catchers was Mann's Shadow minnow imitation and my claw hybrid both rigged on a 1/16 oz jig. Crappie slammed both of them!


Of course, today started out pretty bad. The rope attached to my trailer and to the boat when launching came loose and there goes the boat! Lucky for me it drifted back toward the dock where I could reach it.

Then my spinning reel was difficult to wind in line because the handle would get stuck. Never happened before. Finally got it working.

Next, the camera's shutter had to be popped open manually to take photos after I dropped the camera and the power-on button came off. (Those little suckers are hard to reinsert!)

My mp3 music player kept playing the same small group of songs over and over. No idea why considering there are over 100 songs stored.

Then out of nowhere, the wind picked up to over 20mph with thunder in the background. At least the rain was light and the raincoat I brought to stay warm came in handy. (Really, what good are weather forecasts that don't forecast?!
But even with the short storm raging, I still caught many crappie in open water.

Those big mommas made me forget all the mishaps while fighting them on a light action rod which is impressive to say the least!


The clouds parted and the rest of the day was so relaxing I felt like taking a nap:


The fish still hit in many locations - 52 in total.

Did I mention how the day ended? My raincoat was in the boat and on my way home I saw it fly out onto the road. What a pain having to walk 50 yds. up a hill to get it back!
I don't like fishing public lakes on weekends where more anglers see me catching fish. Best they think the lake has no fish than seeing me hold up lunkers to photograph.

[Rojo]

Having lakes nearby to fish is a wonderful thing. Our saltwater fishery is fantastic, some of the best marsh fishing in the US. For a decent lake to fish not a 300 acre state lake, it is a 3 hour drive one way. You're getting some nice action in my book.

[Spoonminnow]

There are many waters that I've fished over the years that are only 30 mi. away or closer. Now I don't care to travel so much but instead learn the few lakes I fish, better. Plus I need somewhere to try my soft plastic creations!