OH crappie

[hotwielen65]

Seems like its been a year since I've been able to get on the water fishing for some slabs. (Alphahawk I truely do envey you!) Started out hitting some structure tightlineing jigs without even a tap on the line. I pulled out my notes from last year and compared the water temp, moon phase and water color, and found a simular note for what we have now. With water temps around 82 degrees, semi clear water and overcast, my notes lead me to go shoot some docks, not what I was expecting. I went to a dock I fished at in my notes and bingo! I caught probably 50 to 75 crappie all in the 9" to 9 1/2" from under that one dock. I moved to a couple more docks, they had to have a lift or pontoon boat in them and in roughly 6 to 10 feet of water, at the end of the day I had half a dozen keepers, but probably caught over 100 crappie, not a very good ratio but hey I caught some fish. I was shooting a 32oz red head with Bobby Garland Mo Glo green tube. As soon as it hit the water I started retrieving, most fish were on before I clicked the bail, they were definitely looking to ambush a unsuspecting stray shad. I tried counting down to see if the bigger fish were under the small ones and didn't have a bite. I'm so looking forward to October getting here!

Good luck to all!

Ray

[Travis C.]

Great report and that's exactly why notes come in handy.

I have been getting into a lot of crappie myself slow trolling Crappie Magnets in pink/white. Trying to work out a way to better my hook up ratio though.

Where I am at they are definitely looking for the pinky finger size minnows but have been more related to the channel drops since there are no docks at this place.

[Transplanted Sportsman]

Good for you!! man sound like you got into fish pretty good despite the keepers/shorts ratio, still a good workout and lots of fun!, i got skunked for first time targeting Crappie at Normandy Sunday morning, i tried the standing timber in about 40 fow and tried anywhere between 6 to 20 ft with just a couple of bites On minows and jigs, then i tried the blowdowns or any structure i could find shallow but to no avail, the other fisherman i spoke with had similar results, any ideas on where i may be able to find them this time of the year???, there no docks at Normandy worth mentioning, any imput from anybody is greatly appreciatted. TS

[Alphahawk]

Originally Posted by hotwielen65

Seems like its been a year since I've been able to get on the water fishing for some slabs. (Alphahawk I truely do envey you!) Started out hitting some structure tightlineing jigs without even a tap on the line. I pulled out my notes from last year and compared the water temp, moon phase and water color, and found a simular note for what we have now. With water temps around 82 degrees, semi clear water and overcast, my notes lead me to go shoot some docks, not what I was expecting. I went to a dock I fished at in my notes and bingo! I caught probably 50 to 75 crappie all in the 9" to 9 1/2" from under that one dock. I moved to a couple more docks, they had to have a lift or pontoon boat in them and in roughly 6 to 10 feet of water, at the end of the day I had half a dozen keepers, but probably caught over 100 crappie, not a very good ratio but hey I caught some fish. I was shooting a 32oz red head with Bobby Garland Mo Glo green tube. As soon as it hit the water I started retrieving, most fish were on before I clicked the bail, they were definitely looking to ambush a unsuspecting stray shad. I tried counting down to see if the bigger fish were under the small ones and didn't have a bite. I'm so looking forward to October getting here!

Good luck to all!

Ray

Way to go Ray. I was thinking today that it was like a Fall day...and that means Crappie time!


Regards

[tsuggs]

I'll take catchin crappie over fishin fer crappie any day! Even if they are shorties.Think I'm gonna troll cranks this weekend hopin the cooler temps make the crappie more active.

[agelesssone]

Trollin cranks over known brushpiles has been very productive for me the last two times I've gone out.

[hotwielen65]

I might try a spot near Bleadsoe this evening, Its an old pond and has some structure on the drop off, I was showing fish there the other day at the 12 to 16 mark. How far back do you troll the cranks? I was planning to use 200 bandits. Is there a formula for so many feet of line and a give speed that crank runs at a given depth? I even thought about trolling the Garland Mo Glo tubes I was shooting the other day with a 1/8 oz jig. I've not done much trolling and this year the water got so hot so quick I believe it shut the crappie down completely there for a while. I did see where fatherof4 caught some trolling. I'll let you know how I do if I get out later.

Ray

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by hotwielen65

Is there a formula for so many feet of line and a give speed that crank runs at a given depth?

Ray

Most trolling depths are set on crankbaits at 100ft of line out and on 10lb test.

Standard retreive its 4-8ft for the 200 Series but letting out more line and trolling you can get to 12ft on 10lb test line/100ft out, it pretty much bottoms out a 15ft with 200ft of line out.

The 100 Series with 100ft out will run about 10-11ft and bottom out at 12ft




I went today and they were hard to come by trolling the jig but the water where I was had lots of stain to it.