Williamsport 3-15-2013
 

After PT it was just too nice to sit in the house. Headed out to Willamsport Lakes to try and catch anything....wasn't expecting to catch anything.....wind was killing me and my light line. Got into the Gills...crappie...and all the buck bass I wanted. No pics.....am staying as light in my bucket I sit on as my walking is not that stable yet. The Gills were all about 5 inches...but very chunky. Crappie were 10 inches but thin as a newspaper. It was nice though to feel something on the end of the line. Both Shellcracker and Blue Cat already have moss. They are catching a lot of trophy bass out at both lakes. I witnessed several people fishing from the bank with minnows on the bottom and catching a lot of fish. The problem....at least to me.....is a lot of 18 and 19 inch were caught gut hooked. These fish will not survive even though they are releasing those under 20 inches. One man got a ticket for having an 18 inch largemouth on the stringer. I saw two fish caught that were in the 5 to 6 pound range....looked like females as bellies were huge. A lot of these fish are being taken home to be consumed. I talked to the lady at the concession stand about all these fish being taken out. She told me some that fish out there have expressed concern but it is a legal fish so what can you do. I am no fisheries biologist but seems to me with so many big trophies being taken out of such a small body of water it will not be a trophy lake much longer. I am aware that it is a persons right to do with his fish as he pleases......but what is happening out there is out of hand. Just my 2 cents. So for those of you who bass fish I would say it is worth your time to hit Williamsport for a trophy bass.....get in on the action before they are gone.


Regards

Sad to hear it. Were you in your Coosa or do you have a new ride? I hate fighting the wind at Williamsport, but it's really productive on a good day.

No I was just on the bank...not quite ready to get in and out of kayak...but very soon. I do have a new one being rigged out up at HOOK 1. It is a Ride 115 with the elevated seat...and just about everything on it for fishing you could want....but not too much. I still have the Coosa though. The wind is why i went with a Ride 115. Compared to the Coosa in the wind the difference is night and day. Should pick it up in a week or so. Looking forward to getting on some beds of 8 inch Gills at Williamsport and use my Parking Pole and just sit there and catch about 100 of those things...LOL


Regards

And I am up north fighting rain and snow. Guess I will have to get over there with the yak when we get back. I hate it up here. I do need some items yet. A paddle leash and a rod leash. A way to lash the paddle to the yak and a stake out pole.

Alpha,

What are some good patterns for crappie/gills out of a kayak or canoe out there? I'm looking at strapping the old boat to the roof here in a week or two and get out on the water. It would be nice to not have to fight the motor boats out on JPP and OH.

Are crappie catchable in decent numbers out there? Size?

Thanks for the info

You should be able to catch 100 to 150 crappie a day but even though most of them will be legal size....they are not too thick. Although I am hoping that since last year we can find many of them that have gotten to 11 inches and have some shoulders. For the next month or two they will be all over both lakes...but a good place is around the dams just off to the left of both boat ramps on both lakes. The crappie will hang on rock ledge drop offs...they are not deep but just enough drop off to hold crappie. The bigger Gills will be up in the coves....the water is still a little cold to find them up that shallow but with this warm weather it could change quick. As you probably know I fish the Trout Magnet...but any small jig and light line will put you on the fish. I was using a 5mm tungsten jig head with a Trout Magnet body on it yesterday and was just twitching it almost on the bottom...trying to keep it off bottom because of the moss.....and I was fighting the wind. It was just a lot of fun. When that water warms up and you want to catch a bunch of Gills in the 7...and sometimes 8 inch range you can have a ball out there. But last year I had problems in early spring keeping the crappie off my line. Now a lot of people harvest those fish but to me they would not make good filets...if you clean them whole I guess you could get some good eating. When I tell you there are 10,000 crappie in both lakes that is no exaggeration. I probably need to keep a limit each time I go just to try and do my part to thin out the population. I am hoping TWRA soon comes to the conclusion that they need to be thinned out and up the limit on them to 30 fish. I may have mentioned before that 95% of the crappie in there are Black Nose and they have the potential to get big...if the food is there. Hope that helps you out. I will be fishing there maybe more than usual in the next few weeks because of my new knee so will report often...if I catch fish. After I pick up my new yak will probably put it in out there for test ride on a not so windy day.

Regards

If you go to the Williamsport concessionaire page on facebook you can see what size crappie are in there.


Regards