Woods Crappie 8-3-2013

[aero320]

Went to Woods on Saturday morning and brought home limit of keeper crappie.

Stopped by the Walmart at Manchester and they did have Bandit 300s at $5.56 each. Bought four lures just in case.

Stopped at the bait store by the bridge and picked up three dozen minnow. Was fishing a brush pile at 6:00am at about 15 feet deep. By 6:45 am, I had caught 12 crappie (one keeper), a nice channel cat, and had a three or four pound largemouth spit the jig out right at the boat. I was using a 1/32oz. white Crappie Magnet tipped with a minnow. Above that was a 1/4oz. Finesse sinker, with a Trout Magnet (Bison) about one foot above the sinker. Caught doubles a couple of times.

Was back at the boat ramp by 7:00am to register for the duck blind drawing, then back on the water.

Next, I tried trolling Bandits at 1.8 MPH using the trolling motor instead of the big motor and it worked great. I was pulling four rods each equipped with eight pound line. Simply made a cast behind the boat and placed rods in holders. As the morning progressed, the crappie size improved and I was able to easily catch the limit of keepers. Most were between 10" and 11" with one fish that would be considered a slab. I am sure counting the small crappie and white bass that were caught, the fish total would have exceeded 100.

Did not get drawn for a duck hunting blind, but that is another thread.

So many fish, so little time.

[agelesssone]

Trolling is my preferred method of fishing for crappie this time of year.

Bandit 200's and 300's at 1.6-1.8 MPH. I have the IPilot with cruise control. Once I set the auto pilot function and cruise control, I am free to put out lines, pull in fish, or sit back and relax.

The cruise function keeps me going the same speed regardless of the wind direction. It automatically adjusts the speed to keep the boat at the desired speed.

[aero320]

Abel, I am using an 80 lb. thrust Terrova with iPilot. Using the anchor function to keep boat over brush when tight lining.

[tkwalker]

A320, Merv ... What are your favorite colors ?? <'TK>< :)

[agelesssone]

If I could only have two colors with me, they would be "baby bass" and "mad cow". Bone white would be third.

[rsimms]

While folks know that long-line trolling is my preferred Winter/Spring technique, I've never trolled in Summer, just because I'm too busy fishing for "other stuff."

But threads like this sure make it tempting... especially since I now have the 80 lb. Terrova I-Pilot as well. I don't know how I ever fished without it. ;)

One concern of mine is hanging up lures and losing them. It seems to me that trolling lures at $5.56 each, on 8 lb. test, could get costly??

Is that an issue... or if not, why not?

[aero320]

I did lose one lure trolling on Saturday. I should have stopped and gone back for it. Could have got it loose with a plug knocker. Another alternative is to use 20 pound Power Pro with a 20 Fluorocarbon leader. The lure will reach about the same depth as the 8 pound mono. I wanted to use the same setup for slow trolling jigs, otherwise would have used the Power Pro with line counter reels.

The Terrova with iPilot is unbelievable. I went over to Tims yesterday to troll for hybrids but my main reason was to test the trolling motor method rather than use the 225 Optimax. There was pleasure boat traffic as well as a breeze and the trolling motor performed flawlessly. My boat is heavy, so once it starts moving, it is not too susceptible to breezes or other boats. Finally caught one small hybrid on a Tennessee rig trolled with three Sassy Shads. Did not find many fish in the islands and dam area.

Going back to Woods to catch some fish!

[aero320]

TK:

I used Bandit 300s that were red, brown, and green. All seemed to work. The only lure color that did not produce was the white pearl.

[creekcrappie]

Tennessee shad, and sexy shad work well to!

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Aero, I was the blind draw at Woods Saturday, did not get draw either but a good buddy of mine did, he picked blind 4 on the island facing the road/bridge, I swear I have never seen soo many bearded men at one place, if I did not know this was Woods I could easily say I was on a taliban stronghold!! Lol!! duck dinasty anyone??!!:D let me know if you need an extra man on your boat on any trips to Tims for hybrids, rockfish crappies or whatever you want to fish for, I live in Shelbyville so I'm not too far!!, I would like to pick your brain on some techniques!! ty

[aero320]

Transplanted, I looked around the crowd at the duck blind drawing and decided most of today's duck hunters were much younger than me. I have not duck hunted in about 20 years but still have some decoys and a shotgun. The best duck hunting that I ever experienced was in north central Oklahoma. Lots of ducks and not many hunters. I will be happy to take you fishing, most of the time I fish alone. Will probably try Woods next.

[white95v6]

man I gotta get out on woods. I live right next to it for the last 3.5yrs and have not been on it.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Transplanted, I looked around the crowd at the duck blind drawing and decided most of today's duck hunters were much younger than me. I have not duck hunted in about 20 years but still have some decoys and a shotgun. The best duck hunting that I ever experienced was in north central Oklahoma. Lots of ducks and not many hunters. I will be happy to take you fishing, most of the time I fish alone. Will probably try Woods next.

I appreciate the invite!! I hear you, I'm 40 years old and seems like most hunters at Woods Saturday were half my age, you are right the duck hunting crowd is getting younger which is good only for the continuation of the sport, they are still very disrespectful they shoot your swing ducks, sky bust them, and just don't care for your property but thats part of hunting on public land/waters period, maybe we can duck hunt some time as well, I have some decoys and do enjoy duck hunting a lot, you are the third person who says this to me about Oklahoma, lots of ducks and very few hunters, I like that equation!!