Reelfoot Trip

[oteymc]

I am trying to plan a fall trip to Reelfoot for me, my brother, my five year old, and his four year old. We've never been on the lake. Is October the best time to do this? Also, I have an older fiberglass bass boat - old enough that I'm not worried if i scratch it. Will I be ok to use it on the lake, or should we plan to rent a aluminum boat there? Do most people just fish the stumps with slip bobbers and jigs? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[talltimber]

Your boat should be fine, just idle around. There will be some more guys that have more up to date info for you, but I would think that October would be about as good a time to go as any. Water should be cooling off. I have pitched bobbers/minners along the bank, and stumps out in the lake, but haven't done very good at it. I've had my best luck over there spider rigging jigs/minners.

[Splitshot82]

If the water is low enough that a lot of stumps are exposed you might try vertical jigging or pitching to the stumps. Other than that you're best bet would probably be spider rigging.

[kingkrappie]

you'll be fine, just keep an eye on the board, nobody pitches floats but tourists and people with float sponsors!! but you can catch fish with floats too, probably be easier for the kids also

[oteymc]

you'll be fine, just keep an eye on the board, nobody pitches floats but tourists and people with float sponsors!! but you can catch fish with floats too, probably be easier for the kids also

I just thought that is what they did there. We cast and reel jigs for crappie, never use floats - but I've never spider rigged - I understand the concept and have read a little about it here.

October is a good time to be there though, right?

[Splitshot82]

I just thought that is what they did there. We cast and reel jigs for crappie, never use floats - but I've never spider rigged - I understand the concept and have read a little about it here.

October is a good time to be there though, right?

October is plenty good. Nobody can give you an absolute guarantee you'll wear em out, but I'll be out there trying too

Reelfoot is basically a flooded cypress forest. There's a ton of structure everywhere so unless the water drops enough to expose the stumps, you'd be casting blindly into a snag filled environment. It's just not very efficient unless you can see the structure you're targeting, and the water may not get that low this year. The extent of my "casting" would really just be pitching a minnow or jig (with a float to control depth) a short distance to a visible stump. You'll be fine and you should catch some fish.

[slabberdave]

I use to fish the ditches around the pads vertically with jig and wax worm. about anywhere from Kerby pocket to the airport

[kingkrappie]

yessir October is generally a great time at the lake, hopefully we'll be vertically jigging stumps, long pole dippin' structure, but if the water's not down spider riggin would be the ticket, there are a ton of good guides if you wanted to get guided the first day and then you'd have a much better chance, either way i'm sure you'll catch some fish and have fun.

Reelfoot84 on here is a good guide and would be a good choice if you go that route.

[crappie4me2]

X2 on what Kingkrappie said,Reelfoot84 can put them in the boat!

[Grandpa2one]

My son and I are going down the October 2-6 and will be staying at Blue Bank Resort..... I seldom use a float, mostly jig around stumps and weed beds/structure on most lakes.