Old Hickory crappie 4-1-09

[rudy]

Fished from 1:30 - 7:30 had to look for them water temp in some places was almost 60° but mostly the mid 50°'s. Caught them in 15ft on drop shot with minnows at 14ft just outside the Shutes Branch Dock. Caught several but only kept 5... hey 10 fillets is 10 fillets. What a way to keep the money in your pocket buy catching dinner instead of buying it... and having fun. Don't the little yellow stripe bass just drive you crazy, they sure jerk their head and pull pretty good though.

[Black Crow]

Nice catch, Rudy!

Haven't heard from you in a while bud. Good to see you're still catchin on Ole Hick.

[rudy]

still here and often read the different post... and have found that catching crappie when not in the spawn is tough work... just finding them is the hard part... if i can find them i can catch them. i have tried to find them deep in 25ft + and never have any luck. i have never caught more than 10 or 11 in one day so if i was to catch a 30 fish limit in one day, i would probably loose my mind.

[Crappie Jalopy]

I'm with you Rudy. I don't know what I'd do if I caught more than about 10 in one day. I have a lot of trouble finding and catching them consistently pre-spawn, but I'm doing better this year than last year. Thanks to all of you who share info. I try to do my part, but I usually don't have too much info to share.

[90titans89]

Nice catch rudy. You ever go under the bridge at Shutes and fish the docks? Few of em used to have some nice brush and held a few crappie. I am with you on the limits. Would be nice to clean 30 just to say I did.

[rudy]

titan i have never went under that bridge but have caught a few crappie around the bridge structure itself, is the fishing good back on the other side?. This is my 3rd year fishing Old Hickory and I have found that all the reading and studying different articles from the web and magazines on understanding crappie and their behavior and how water temp really dictates the pattern of these fish.... does not actually work on Old Hickory. I have read that 50° is the target temp to start the post-spawn and the crappie will migrate to the mouths of the creeks.... the water has been in the 50's for almost 2 weeks or more and I search for them next to channels and drops and on trees in 20ft to 10ft at the mouths of these creeks and guess what.... no crappie. I do believe that the temp might need to be closer to a constant 55° or better even in the channel to really get these crappie moving. I am with you guys the thought of 30 keeper crappie just blows my mind. And some of the pics posted on this site of huge limits of crappie make me believe that these guys know exactly where to look and when to look there.... experience is everything.

[Smoky]

Good mess Rudy! Get the pan hot!

[hogdawg]

rudy,
the docks on the right by the riprap have some good brush around them and hold crappie when is is close to spawn. farther in the creek it gets real shallow and have not had much luck. the fish attractor over by the public fishing dock is pretty good though.

[rudy]

Thanks Hogdawg... yeah that whole area is pretty good during the post-spawn so far this year but at times can be grand central station with all the boat traffic. When the crappie start really bedding last year I caught most of my crappie on the north side in the small inlet creeks, but will still try to land a couple in the dock are if I can before I zoom north.