Help with Crappie

[chgambler]

So I have been trying to get into crappie fishing here lately and I am finding it be harder than expected. The problem is that I do not have a boat so I am limited to bank fishing. I do see posts on here from Alphahawk who seems to do well bank fishing for crappie but have not had much luck myself.

From what I have been reading fall is supposed to be a good time to catch some good size crappie but I have not had much success at all. What kind should I be looking at when trying to find a good spot to fish for them? Should I look for ledges/dropoffs or try and find some brush piles close the shore somewhere? I mainly fish JPP but do go to the caney every now and then.

Any insight on how to up my chances of catching these delicious fish form the bank would be greatly appreciated.

[Alphahawk]

So I have been trying to get into crappie fishing here lately and I am finding it be harder than expected. The problem is that I do not have a boat so I am limited to bank fishing. I do see posts on here from Alphahawk who seems to do well bank fishing for crappie but have not had much luck myself.

From what I have been reading fall is supposed to be a good time to catch some good size crappie but I have not had much success at all. What kind should I be looking at when trying to find a good spot to fish for them? Should I look for ledges/dropoffs or try and find some brush piles close the shore somewhere? I mainly fish JPP but do go to the caney every now and then.

Any insight on how to up my chances of catching these delicious fish form the bank would be greatly appreciated.

Will get back with you and give you info on how I fish for crappie and places you might find them. Has been long day and am on my way to bed.....am getting up early to go crappie fishing. You can catch some good crappie on the Caney. I am sure more will have some good info for you.



Regards

[Alphahawk]

So I have been trying to get into crappie fishing here lately and I am finding it be harder than expected. The problem is that I do not have a boat so I am limited to bank fishing. I do see posts on here from Alphahawk who seems to do well bank fishing for crappie but have not had much luck myself.

From what I have been reading fall is supposed to be a good time to catch some good size crappie but I have not had much success at all. What kind should I be looking at when trying to find a good spot to fish for them? Should I look for ledges/dropoffs or try and find some brush piles close the shore somewhere? I mainly fish JPP but do go to the caney every now and then.

Any insight on how to up my chances of catching these delicious fish form the bank would be greatly appreciated.

I have caught really good Crappie from Percy and also on the Caney....from the bank. "The Pond" at the Caney holds good Crappie. Also some of the deep holes at the Caney are really good. At Percy...or any other body of water....look for cover in or adjacent to deep water. You can use google maps to help you find bridges that cross the water. Many times these will hold Crappie around the bridge footings. Many times a place that is deep....is adjacent to a flat, and has a little current can be good also. As you already mentioned cover such as trees....ledges and so on will hold Crappie. Over at Percy, at the dam, Crappie will hold lots of times up next to all that rip rap that has been dumped where the bank and the dam meet up on the lake side. Hope this helps you out.


Regards

[Travis C.]

http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/op/JPP/rec/maps/JPP-Fish-Attractor.pdf

Here is a list of fish attractors on Percy. You may find some that will be close enough or can be accessed by foot with a little effort. They should hold crappie at different times of the year.

You can also catch crappie on the Cumberland from the bank in slack water pockets and around man made structures along the bank.

[Alphahawk]

http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/op/JPP/rec/maps/JPP-Fish-Attractor.pdf

Here is a list of fish attractors on Percy. You may find some that will be close enough or can be accessed by foot with a little effort. They should hold crappie at different times of the year.

You can also catch crappie on the Cumberland from the bank in slack water pockets and around man made structures along the bank.

Good input Travis...after reading your post thought about when they are letting water out below Percy...in the slack water there are some really good Crappie.

Regards

[txnative]

Good input Travis...after reading your post thought about when they are letting water out below Percy...in the slack water there are some really good Crappie.

Regards

The crappie are there now. Took 3 different people 30-45 minutes to limit out, with yellow and white bass in the mix. They fished at different times, but all in the same exact spot. I was after fish with stripes, but switched to crappie. I caught them on crappie tubes and a trout magnet twitched under a float, small fin s fish on jigheads, bitsy minnows, and a small bps twitch bait.


Chris

[chgambler]

Thanks for the information guys I will have to give those all a try next time I get out there. If I could even get a half a limit at this point it would be great.

Thanks again.

[jaycee]

A limit of 30 fish in 30-45 minutes in JPP culling the short fish WOW some fast action.

[txnative]

It was neat to watch. The minnow would be in the water for about 15 seconds before the float vanished. There was a nice show of efficiency, too. Since the casts were short, the fish were landed in seconds, measured, tossed in a bucket, and the hook was rebaited and back in the water...whole process ran maybe 15 seconds.

While it was efficient, it seemed more like production line work than enjoying fishing.


Chris

[Adough]

What is the limit on Crappie?

[Pookie]

What is the limit on Crappie?

30 per licensed angler, per day.

Minimum of 10" long.

http://www.eregulations.com/tennessee/fishing/reservoir-regulations-region-2/

[Alphahawk]

It was neat to watch. The minnow would be in the water for about 15 seconds before the float vanished. There was a nice show of efficiency, too. Since the casts were short, the fish were landed in seconds, measured, tossed in a bucket, and the hook was rebaited and back in the water...whole process ran maybe 15 seconds.

While it was efficient, it seemed more like production line work than enjoying fishing.


Chris

Chris......I have had that happen for me on more than one occasion. I have never looked at that as work.....LOL. I do enjoy having to figure out what fish want.....how to make them bite....but I have to admit I love it when I can find fish so ready to be caught.




Regards

[txnative]

You needed to see the people fishing to get it, they weren't smiling or talking. They looked bored the whole time. I've gotten into really hot bites before, and I think a grin stays on my face the whole time. If they would have looked like they were having fun, it would not have seemed so work-like.


Chris

[nomad60]

Well, no smile on my face today then LOL Just kidding, I still had a good time. I put in at the new marina and trolled around the entire lagoon, using hair jigs and trout magnets under floats. I tried varying depths and also tight lining next to the docks and boat slips. Caught one decent bluegill and that was it. Near where those 3 water fountains are, I saw a lot of baitfish swimming around and from time to time they would splash but it didn't look like anything was chasing them. Tried the hair jig and trout magnet close to them but nothing. I threw a rattletrap into the mix and along the edge of them but nothing. I did end up snagging a couple of shad though, and caught 2 drum on Senkos close to the rip rap. I was waiting for my buddy to show up so I went out in the main river and fished near the shore adjacent to the marina (saw no bait fish). Again, tried hair jigs and trout nagents under bobbers and varied depths - nothing.
Once my buddy showed up, we ran up river to the areas I fished last week and we looked for stumps and downed trees and tried the hair jigs and trout magnets...nothing. It sure is a pain fishing that 2-pound line in a good wind! That stuff is like thread.
Finally, we put away the panfish rigs and fished for bass the rest of the day along the rocks and bluffs. The water was super clear today, the cleanest I've seen it so far. We caught lots of dinks but also a few decent LM and some spots on flukes, watermelon-colored bitsy bug jigs and 1/4 oz sexy shad redeye shad rattle traps.
It may take me a few years but eventually I'll figure that river out...I have nothing but time, God willing :)
BTW, a guy that was bank fishing near the marina told me it was still too early for the crappie along there, he said they wouldn't show up till sometime in December...not sure if that's true or not but I sure had a hard time finding any today. But to be honest, there may have been thousands around me and I just didn't give them what they wanted, or how they wanted it. One of these days!

[Alphahawk]

Well, no smile on my face today then LOL Just kidding, I still had a good time. I put in at the new marina and trolled around the entire lagoon, using hair jigs and trout magnets under floats. I tried varying depths and also tight lining next to the docks and boat slips. Caught one decent bluegill and that was it. Near where those 3 water fountains are, I saw a lot of baitfish swimming around and from time to time they would splash but it didn't look like anything was chasing them. Tried the hair jig and trout magnet close to them but nothing. I threw a rattletrap into the mix and along the edge of them but nothing. I did end up snagging a couple of shad though, and caught 2 drum on Senkos close to the rip rap. I was waiting for my buddy to show up so I went out in the main river and fished near the shore adjacent to the marina (saw no bait fish). Again, tried hair jigs and trout nagents under bobbers and varied depths - nothing.
Once my buddy showed up, we ran up river to the areas I fished last week and we looked for stumps and downed trees and tried the hair jigs and trout magnets...nothing. It sure is a pain fishing that 2-pound line in a good wind! That stuff is like thread.
Finally, we put away the panfish rigs and fished for bass the rest of the day along the rocks and bluffs. The water was super clear today, the cleanest I've seen it so far. We caught lots of dinks but also a few decent LM and some spots on flukes, watermelon-colored bitsy bug jigs and 1/4 oz sexy shad redeye shad rattle traps.
It may take me a few years but eventually I'll figure that river out...I have nothing but time, God willing :)
BTW, a guy that was bank fishing near the marina told me it was still too early for the crappie along there, he said they wouldn't show up till sometime in December...not sure if that's true or not but I sure had a hard time finding any today. But to be honest, there may have been thousands around me and I just didn't give them what they wanted, or how they wanted it. One of these days!

I dont know what water temps are up there but I would think crappie would be stirring there. They can be hard to find...and even when you find them they can turn off and 3 hours later turn back on. You may have been fishing in an area and the fish would be in their off cycle and you would have moved on from that spot when they did turn on. We were talking today at Nickajack about how the crappie are there but just not biting. A lot of people think the fish have moved on when they stop biting at a location but more often than not they are still there.......just not interested. I have fished for them and caught 4 fish on 4 casts when first arriving at a spot and not caught another fish for 6 hours out of same spot but when they turn back on you catch one every cast. They are just a very funny fish at times. Do you have sonar on your boat? If you do that can help you out a lot.


Regards

[nomad60]

The water temps were around 58 today. And yes, I do have sonar on the bow(Lowrance HDS5) but I'm still in the process of learning how to use that plus I have the el cheapo stock one in the console that came with the boat. I was watching the one on the bow all day today and didn't see much of anything that looked like fish. But no problem; to me, getting out there is what it's all about.

This morning, I saw my first ever bald eagle, didn't even know we had them in these parts. I was hoping it would land in a tree so I could take some pics but it flew over and kept going. Pretty neat sight.

We may head out to Bumpus Mills tomorrow and if we do, we'll stop and pick up some live minnows on the way. Like I said, I have nothing but time :)

[titansfan2104]

Someone needs to help me catch crappy!! Well I really need to learn how to find them on my electronics and have faith in what I'm seeing !!

[nomad60]

Hmmm...Crappie 101. Sounds like a great class. Professor Alphahawk? ;)

[Pookie]

The water temps were around 58 today. And yes, I do have sonar on the bow(Lowrance HDS5) but I'm still in the process of learning how to use that plus I have the el cheapo stock one in the console that came with the boat. I was watching the one on the bow all day today and didn't see much of anything that looked like fish. But no problem; to me, getting out there is what it's all about.

This morning, I saw my first ever bald eagle, didn't even know we had them in these parts. I was hoping it would land in a tree so I could take some pics but it flew over and kept going. Pretty neat sight.

We may head out to Bumpus Mills tomorrow and if we do, we'll stop and pick up some live minnows on the way. Like I said, I have nothing but time :)

You need a minimum of an HDS 7 at the console, but the HDS 8 would be better. Without structure scan, you are wasting your time and money buying the HDS units. This guy: http://www.kentuckylake.com/fishing/reports/kicknbass/kicknbass.shtml
can teach you how to make that HDS unit sing a song. He gets 300.00 for the session, but it is well worth it if you have a structure scan unit.

[backlash]

also remember that any jig is good as long as it it chartruse. i prefer the feather jigs. tie them on your line hanging horizontal.