Nickajack 4-10-2013

[Alphahawk]

My nephew and I fished Nickajack today....a very productive day. We brought home two limits of really nice crappie. Had several fish at the 15 inch mark and nothing under 12 inches. All fish were caught on a Bison colored Trout Magnet. The water temp at surface was 60 degrees. Early in the morning was very little wind. At around 10:30 or so the wind increased with gusts over 20 MPH. We only needed 6 more fish and toughed it out and left by noon. The wind drove most of the boats off the water that were trolling. The fish are holding at about 4 foot depth. By next week they will be so close to the bank you shouldn't have to cast more than 8 feet. Hopefully by next week I will have new kayak and stake out in comfort and have some great days on the water. All pics are of different fish. Would have made better pics but my girl friend took my SD card out of my camera.....LOL.....bummer.


Regards

[Reel Tune]

He's back, nice. Can't wait to see more.

Jeremy

[Tightlines]

Congrats!

[Travis C.]

Nice job!

Wish I was fishing today but couldn't and looks like tomorrow's weather will keep me from it as well. Stinks because I know they are there and waiting.

[MNfisher]

Soooooo awesome!! Man those slabs are sweet! Nice fish!

[tsuggs]

glad to see ya back at it. my stomach just growled

[fisher01]

Well done, those are some great slabs!

[TroutFiend]

You look like you are having a blast out there. Nice pics and healthy looking fish. We're you floating or twitching?

[Alphahawk]

Twitching until the wind kicked up.....then under the float some.




Regards

[TroutFiend]

Alpha, when they are holding at 4' are you using an extra weight? I have not splitshotted while twitching w/o float. Or are you just allowing time for natural fall?

[Alphahawk]

Alpha, when they are holding at 4' are you using an extra weight? I have not splitshotted while twitching w/o float. Or are you just allowing time for natural fall?

I do it both ways. Many times I just let the chop of the water give it action....other times I will very slowly twitch the float back to me. I will cast past the point where I think they are holding and more often than not you will see the float disappear when you hit the zone. I will use a size B split shot at times. If it is windy you just about have to. Today I was using a jig head made from a 3mm tungsten bead with a size 10 hook......it worked great....no split shot used with that setup. When the water warms more I will use the TM 1/64 head. It works great with that slow fall when the fish suspend.



Regards

[tnpondmanager]

Beautiful crappie, Alpha. Looks like you had a great trip.

[agelesssone]

Nice bunch of slabs. I brought home some from JPP, but nothing like that mess!

[Scott715]

I told you there were more left Alpha!!

I would just twitch the float and pause for a few seconds and allow my tube jig to settle back down. Some would bite and slowly take it down. Other times it would go straight under without warning. I have to say it's the first time I used a float with a jig, but it was awesome. There were a couple of other boats in the area, but they were just fishing with minnnows. Paps and I were out catching them 2 to 1 easy with this method.

Cooked half of the 22 we caught last night and fed four of my co-workers!

[nomad60]

Nice going Alpha, and so good to see your regular posts/pics again :)

[creeksmallie]

Awesome , glad you got out!

[chaseasl]

Tasty mess of fish there

[Alphahawk]

Going to hit Nickajack again tomorrow with nephew. The eggs in the crappie show they are at least 10 to 14 days away from spawning.....and maybe longer. Since they don't all spawn at same time I figure I've got 4 more weeks of crappie fishing.


Regards

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Man Alpha!! you don't skip a beat just like Michael Jordan did when came back from retirement!! lol!! those Crappies don't stand a chance,
excuse my ignorance but how can you tell how long do these Crappies have before they spawn by looking at the eggs?? and congrats on this nice mess of slabs!!

[Alphahawk]

Man Alpha!! you don't skip a beat just like Michael Jordan did when came back from retirement!! lol!! those Crappies don't stand a chance,
excuse my ignorance but how can you tell how long do these Crappies have before they spawn by looking at the eggs?? and congrats on this nice mess of slabs!!

You can tell by the egg sack. The eggs will turn blood red before spawn. At first they are just yellow....then a few red specks....then some red lines and then the red lines get wider and more in number. From my past experience...and much reading....the spawn where I am fishing at Nickajack is a couple of weeks away.....IMHO. The water is only 60 degrees.....I have seen reports at Percy it is 64. So the spawn there should come quicker.



Regards