Small river crappie fishing.
 

Morning guys, Anyone ever get out and try to catch crappie in any of the smaller rivers. Here in Murfreesboro we have a few that I like to fish but have never really tried to catch crappie out of them, I did catch one by accident probably 15 years ago. I am talking rivers that may be no deeper than 10'. I was thinking about going for a few hours Sunday and trying to stay close to home and use the kayak. I guess what I am asking is do you think something like what I am talking about would hold a population of fish, and would they be found just like lake fish?

The upper Stones River is loaded with crappie with good put in spots. Check out Mona and above the Walter Hill, Dam, East Fork Rec Area. All good places.

Roy

thanks, I know of fishing those areas, I do that in my bass boat. I am thinking places here in murfreesboro like the river off of warrior drive and hwy 99.

The crappie do stack up in those waters but usually not until later in the year as it warms up. I think it's still too cold to find them way up there. I have, however, read several reports lately about people finding crappie in JPP in shallower water recently so it seems that although the temps are still cold, the longer days are helping Biology kick in and the prespawn is in beginning stages.

I have a 50/50 shot of being able to get out Saturday, the 50% depends on having to work or not, and plan to spend a bit of time looking for Crappie. You're welcome to join, bring the yak! I'll probably do Smith Springs. There are lots of sunken trees out there.

Jimmy, I am looking at fishing for a couple hours Sunday at a little river/lake system about 2 miles from my house. My wife is on staff at our church and I usually have a few hours to kill Sunday after first service until my wife gets home. It's called sterling farmer lake but it's mostly a river off of hwy 99 and warrior drive in Murfreesboro. I was out two weeks ago on another stretch of that river and the water temp was 56. I could always bass fish but I think I might have a few areas I can catch crappie at so I thought it was worth a shot. Next weekend weather permitting my grandfather and I will be out on priest crappie fishing.

That part of Stones River across from Riverdale HS is separated from JPP by a series of old mill dams. There are crappie in the area you described. access is sometimes a problem because the river is surrounded by private property. One area accessible is below the Hwy 99 bridge. Good Luck.

Thank you sir, I fished the area growing up for bass and always did pretty well. I have caught one crappie in that stretch by accident. I would think you could have a population of crappie in the area. I am going to give it a shot, I have a few areas in mind that the crappie may be one.

Unless connected to a larger river or reservoir, I have never caught enough crappie of size (10" size limit) to be worth the effort on smaller streams.

Here is the stretch of river, it may not have a large enough population of crappie to fish without waisting my time. Red arrows are dams.

I fish there all the time. Now it is difficult to get to since young kids mudded it out.

I have not been since last summer. My dad and I had a pretty good day fishing for bass last year. I have a 4X4 F 150 so I hope I can make it down there. If not a my kayak does not weigh much so I could carry it or drag it.

Sunken trees out of smith springs? Surprises me. I know of the one spot right out of the ramp to the right but other than that haven't seen that much around there?

I knew about that one too but if you go across to the other bank there are several spots with trees down below. Especially in those 3 or 4 small coves, they're dropped right in the middle. Most are a good distance from the bank but believe me they're there. I found them on my graph and dropped plastic worms during the Summer looking for bass. Sometimes I'd pick one up and other times I'd feel the worm rubbing against the tree so I know what it was down there.

I fish a section of the Stones River in Murfreesboro where I catch some of the largest crappie I have caught. I think that crappie in a small river like that also fight harder and can grow to a larger size, but that is my opinion. I caught one last February that went 16.5". There are several crappie in the section between the dam on Middle Tennessee Blvd. and 84 lumber area you just gotta locate em. That's not the exact section that I fish but can't give out much more info than that. Jigs that are orange/chart work well.

[QUOTE=wsm2c;47257]I fish a section of the Stones River in Murfreesboro where I catch some of the largest crappie I have caught. I think that crappie in a small river like that also fight harder and can grow to a larger size, but that is my opinion. I caught one last February that went 16.5". There are several crappie in the section between the dam on Middle Tennessee Blvd. and 84 lumber area you just gotta locate em. That's not the exact section that I fish but can't give out much more info than that. Jigs that are orange/chart work well.

I have no idea what dam you are talking about on middle Tennessee. I used to fish the stretch from the greenway off medical to 84 lumber all the time, there are some big bass in that stretch.