The Crappie Killer - Spring 
 

June 1, 2002 Bayou D'arbonne Lake Louisiana

Four very nice Crappies weighed in at the Region 5 Crappie USA tournament on D'arbonne in Louisiana. Shannon and I had to borrow these fish to have a tourny photo as our fatties ended up in a Game Wardens cooler before we could snap a photo!

With virtually no practice on this little lake in Northern Louisiana, Shannon and I were about to attempt to qualify for the super bowl of Crappie Fishing, the Crappie USA Classic. This is truly at test of the best of the best. Over 30 pro teams were battling for 8 spots in the classic. 

As mentioned in previous reports Shannon and I got basically one day of practice on this lake three weeks ago. The wind blew 30 mph + from the North, and the air temp dropped to 44 degree's, in MAY, IN LOUISIANA! So really we were going in blind. Luckily Shannon had made a trip up to the lake a month and a half ago to look around. He marked a few promising spots with his Lowrance GPS. After arriving Friday afternoon and talking to one other pro team I made the decision to fish Stowe Creek all day on Tourny day. 

Being post spawn, and having a very distinct river channel, we chose to fish the drop where the creek met the river channel. Starting at 6:30 am we fished minnows along a 12 - 18 foot drop for about an hour and a half.  This got us 5 keepers, one nice fish about  pound. There is no size limit on this lake but the local boys were talking about "20lbs will take this one" so we knew we needed some bigger fish. 

We worked our way along the river channel, inching our way to where the creek channel met the river channel. There were 5 or 6 boats in the spot we wanted, so I took my time getting their, hoping they would leave. We boated some more small fish along the way. I was waiting for 9:00 am. There is something about 9:00 am, the fish just seem to start at that time. We knew we had to get them between 9am and 1pm if we were going to get them at all. We actually ran out of minnows before reaching the hot spot before 9:00 am. Luckily Shannon's wife had her cel phone. She got us another pound and a half of minnows. 

We worked our way up the narrow creek channel into a small clear area about 25 feet wide and 100 feet long. Now picture a lake that is 8 miles long with a sliver of a river channel snaking through the middle. There are only three big creeks feeding into this lake and over 100 tournament boats trying to find a spot to fish in each one. The lake is full, I mean FULL of standing timber. This little clear area just appeared in front of the boat, I marked some fish and told Shannon let's try it right here. Before I had the second rod down I had a 1.5 lb slab in the boat. Then Shannon got one, then me and so on for the next two hours. We got three in that little spot right at or over two pounds, beauties! We were culling nice 1lb plus fish by 11:00am. The others around us just watched us reel 'em in.

The trick seemed to be a very slight high spot in this clearing. The water all around this spot was 15 - 18 feet deep. The fish were holding just off the bottom on this hump in 10 - 12 feet of water. There was a little depression across the top of the hump and the fish were laying in it. Each time we went across it Shannon or I would bag a keeper.

We spiced up our double minnow rig with a jig body slipped onto the bare hook shank, then a minnow on the hook itself. Chartreuse seemed to be the ticket, followed closely by blue/white/chart. 

We ended our day just before 2 pm as our fish were dieing fast. We raced to the weigh in site and got the fatties to the scale fast. Our ten fish weighed 12.94 lbs, largest was 2.01lbs. Shannon and I were in 3rd place in the pro division. 

When it was all said and done we ended up in 10th place over all. We qualified 3rd for the Classic in the pro division. We got a nice check or our efforts, our classic papers and that was that.  

360 miles home after the tournament allowed me time to reflect on a great day. The weather was beautiful, hardly any wind. I guess god isn't mad at me anymore. I haven't tournament fished seriously in over 5 years. It's nice to know I can still pull one off once in a while. My partner Shannon was a cool as a cucumber through it all. Just reeling in fish after fish never losing one. He is a true master!

The top team had 16 lbs. We probably could have boated one or two more fatties improving our weight by .5 - 1 lb. But we may have lost one of our two pound fish in the process. We made a good call stopping when we did and I'm super happy with the results. 

Hope to see some of you at the Classic on Pickwick in Alabama!

May 26, 2002 Ray Roberts Lake Texas

The weather was beautiful for the Memorial Day weekend here in North Texas. We have had some terrible weather, well terrible for Texas anyway, over the last month and a half. The wind has been relentless, especially on the weekends! But mother nature finally cut us some slack. The water had a bit of a ripple on it when I pulled in to Pecan Creek Access Sunday morning. There were at least 30 trailers in the parking lot at 7:00 AM.

I was a bit worried as this was many more than I am used to seeing at any time of the year at this ramp. I motored out to my favorite brush pile in 28 feet of water hoping the fish had come out of the creeks and settled in for the summer. After 45 minutes poking around in that spot I had only one keeper. I scratched my head and went to fish some near bye creek channels. 30 minutes produced one more keeper. I figured I would try something in between. Big brush pile in 20 feet of water sounds like the perfect spot. From 8:30 until about 11:30 I fished all the brush piles I knew from 18 feet out to about 22 feet. All were in the main channel where the surface temp is still only 71.7 degrees. The bite really didn't start until around 9:00 am. But it was a good bite! I boated over 50 Crappies in less than 3 hours. I had about a dozen through backs. All the rest were keepers. I kept 10 fish to fry up for the Coca Cola 600 ( Jimmie Johnson, stay in your pit box Rookie! Yes I had him in the pool) at my buddy Walt's house. The ten weighed right at 11.5 lbs. Biggest fish was 1lb 5 oz. Most came on minnows fished vertically over the brush at 12 - 16 feet. Some of these fish still had small egg sacks. I guess they never went up for some reason? A few of the fish showed very visible signs of spawning, red fins etc... All in all this was probably the best day I have had on Roberts this year. Clear jigs worked well today. The clear with red/blue/silver flakes worked the best over all. Salt and Pepper (clear with black specs) caught the largest fish of the day. They are back on the brush piles! As I said on the index page. I'm almost afraid to give this report. Remember the 10" size limit and 25 max per person. If you can find a brush pile you should be able to limit out in no time.

May 19, 2002 Ray Roberts Lake Texas

I had to fish in the evening to avoid the wind last week. I concentrated on my favorite part of the lake, up near Pecan Creek. Don't ask me why, I just seem to catch more big fish up there than anywhere else on the lake. Water temp is still 70 - 74 in most places on the main lake. The White Bass are everywhere. Catching these fish is great fun, especially for the kids. Get some white jigs or small spoons, and park on any long main channel point. Chunk 'em out and real 'em in, you'll have a "Sandie" on almost every cast.

The Crappies on the other hand are a different story. I hit the banks just for posterities sake. An hour of fishing from 1 foot to 6 feet produced zip. I went to the brush piles next. Caught about 40 or 50 fish in about 4 hours on minnows and jigs. Most were small with a few keepers mixed in. I decided to try what I call "strolling". Heavy bell sinker with one snelled hook off to the side bounced along the bottom. I rigged six rods and went to a very fishy looking creek. Marked the creek channel from 6 feet all the way out to the mouth of the cove. Traditionally Crappies will hold on the first drop or creek edge as they move back out from spawning. The creek edge I picked was loaded with stumps. from 8 feet down to about 12 feet. I marked some fish as I adjusted the depth on the rods moving along bouncing off and around the stumps. Within a minute I had a keeper, then another then another. Finally the fish were doing something predictable! I fished that creek and two others over several evenings. I caught 15 - 20 fish each trip that were right at, or over a pound. The capper was three fish on the last evening over 2 lbs. All caught on medium shiners in 10 - 12 feet of water. The one in the picture above was the largest at 2 lbs 4 ozs. All the fish had completely spawned out and appeared to be two weeks or so into the recovery period with no visible fin damage.

I saw a lot of guys fishing the Corp. Brush Piles. They were catching fish, but most were small. The fatties should be there soon!

5/11/02 Lake Lavon Texas

Saturday May 11, 2002 was the first "get together"  for the Crappie Anglers on the Texas Fishing Forum. Pictured to the left is Brian, aka "Duck_Jerky". Brain organized this event. My hat is off to him for the fine job he did. We will probably have another event in the very near future. I would suggest all that can attend, do. And that you visit the Texas Fishing Forum website.

I had it on good authority that there were some fish remaining in the shallow's on Lake Lavon. Faced with a 20 - 30 mph South wind I was convinced that our best shot at some Craps was in the Mallard Creek area. 

We all met at the Pebble Beach launch ramp at 7:00 am. We split up and each crew headed out. Some went North some went South, some stayed near the ramp. Mike, David and I (sorry can't remember their last names : ) fished the super shallow water in the back of Mallard Creek for the first hour. We did notice some bank fishermen catching small crappies in the area behind the bridge. We then fished the standing timber from 4 feet out to 10 feet. Then back to the bank near the mouth of the creek. Jigs and minnows fished all the way out produced zero. We finished our 2 hour trip around the first bridge in 10 feet of water running minnows around the bridge supports. Again we saw people catching small Crappies from the bank. The water in the back of the creek was milky, a funny stained color. They were pulling water from the lake and the surface temperature was 71 - 74. We saw tons of BIG Carp running the banks and some snakes too! Round one was over.

Back at the ramp at 10:00 AM to change partners and talk about our success. Sharon and Fishin Clyde had three nice fat Crappies. They were fishing the Mallard Creek area with us. Everyone else came up empty handed. The wind was absolutely relentless. All had suffered from the wind and decided the best bet was to get out of it. Most followed Sharon, and I back down to Mallard for round two. My partner David and I headed up to the Rail Road Bridge behind Sharon. We fished the standing timber in 12 - 14 feet of water. Sharon and her crew went up a little shallower. TonyT followed us into the trees tying up a few yards away in about 18 feet of water. Duck and Wylie Crappieman went back to the back of the creek where we had fished earlier in the morning. David and I boated some short fish on the first tree we went to. Tony bailed after only a few minutes with no fish. He went back to the deeper standing timber. We left the first tree and fished the bank near the area where Sharon had caught her larger fish. Nada. Broke out the rod holders and rigged 10 rods for slow drifting minnows off the bottom. Caught several small Craps on the first pass. Found the fish suspended at 10 feet in 16 feet of water above the stumps on the gradual drop to the channel. Typical post spawn pattern. Problem was the wind was blowing so hard even my 36" drift sock and the trolling motor in reverse would not keep the baits down in the fish. We boated several more 9 3/4" Craps drifting over the stumps. Sharon and Tony both headed for the RR trestle bridge columns. We quit at 2 pm and headed back for the fish fry without a keeper in the box. 

After talking with the group back at the ramp, it was obvious that Sharon and her crew had kicked our butts. 

Duck an Wylie Crappieman were able to bag 4 nice keepers in the shallow water we had fished earlier in the morning. They lost several more keepers. Both were sick to have to quit as the bite had just started to come on in the shallow water. The sun did come out around 1 pm. This seemed to have a positive effect on the shallow bite. 

Sharon had fished this are quite a few times over the last two weeks. She was prepared. That's the key to success and consistent results. Congratulations Sharon - You da' man I mean da' woman! It's nice to see ladies fishing - I wish more would come out and enjoy this great sport.

Conclusion : The spawn is very close to being over on Lavon. Only one or two of the keepers brought back to the fish fry had eggs. Largest fish of the day was caught on an ice blue/white Mizmo jig. Most of the others came on minnows.

The fish fry was a great way to end the day. The wind nearly blew us away and the grease fire was really interesting! We shared fish stories and enjoyed each others company. Chuck Yeager once said "there is no time that people are walking on more common ground than when they are fishing". That is so true. 

Thanks to all who attended. I look forward with great anticipation to the next "get together". I hope to see you their!

5/5/02 Ray Roberts - Texas

Much like all of you, I have been following the reports on the internet with great anticipation. As I have mentioned many,  many times, information is the most powerful tool you have. Being prepared and doing your homework prior to any fishing trip is time well spent. I am going to give a blow-by-blow account of Saturday's trip.

This is a little different format than I usually use for a report. But I think it illustrates the process I follow to find fish. This is especially useful to those who can not fish every day. I had not been to Ray Roberts in nearly a month. I did my homework, had my equipment ready, I was as prepared as I could be. Here is how it went.

Met Matt at my house 5:15 AM.

Stopped at Snap Shot in Denton for minnows and gas 6:00 AM.

Arrived at Pecan Creek Access area 6:30 AM.

Conditions: (Cold Front) Air temp 65, foggy, drizzling rain, 10 mph wind, surface water temp 68, supposed to clear up and get to 85 and light breeze by lunch.

7:00 AM Started North of the 3002 (Lone Oak) bridge on or near the bank with jigs. Water temp 70 - 72.5, 1 - 3 feet deep. Fished shoreline cover, standing timber, stumps, first weed line, all hard bottom areas. 2 hours no Crappies.

9:00 AM still drizzling rain, air temp 65 - 68 breeze picking up to 10 -15 mph. Fished standing timber from the back of the creek out to the main channel. 3 feet out to 15 feet with jigs and minnows. Water temp 69 - 72.5. 45 minutes no Crappies.

10:00 AM re - rigged for slow trolling. Minnows on Kentucky rigs out the front, light minnow rigs and jigs tipped with minnows out the back. Fished 6 - 15 feet deep in between the standing timber and the bank on the creek channel. Hit two secondary points and two main channel points out to 20 feet deep. 1 hour 1 Drum. 

Cranked up and headed back under the bridge. Talked to several guys fishing under the bridge. They said they had a few.

11:00 AM wind had picked up still cloudy and drizzle. Trolled a main channel flat down from the 3002 bridge. Water temp 69.1 to 70.5. Made two passes with 1/16 and 1/32 ounce jigs in various colors. Some tipped with minnows. Had two light minnow rigs and two heavy minnow rigs as well. Marked tons of fish on the flat in 4 - 10 feet of water just up from the channel drop into 25 feet. First pass yielded 6 White Bass (Sand Bass) up to a pound and half. Encouraged, I turned around for a second run. Changed out the white jig variations I had and stuck to solid Crappie colors, red/chrt, blue/chrt, blk/chrt and all chart. Second pass yielded 6 or 8 more Whites and a drum.

12:00 noon, clearing, still breezy. Headed across the lake and fished a brush pile in 28 feet of water. 4 minnow rigs straight down and a jig in one hand. I was expecting a lot of small fish and that's what we got. One surprise though, a single keeper Crappie on a minnow. Caught a few close fish ( 9-1/2 inchers) on a Mizmo Turquoise blue/white jig. All the fish were tight to the brush and very slow to bite. 

12:30 PM Sun starting to come out, wind is letting up. Two miles down the lake hit a brush pile half way back in a creek in 26 feet of water. Couple more small fish.

12:45 PM rigged for shallow trolling. All light jigs and light minnow rigs. Went back to the very back of the creek out of the wind. Found a good weed and stump covered bottom in 2-6 feet of water, surface temp 72.5. Trolled just fast enough to keep the jigs out of the weeds. 30 minutes produced zip!

1:15 PM Fished the bank staying out in 10 feet of water and casting jigs to the shoreline cover and weed line. Fished jigs from 1 foot to 10 feet for about 30 minutes. 2 Largemouth Bass.

1:45 PM Sun is blazing air temp 85 degrees, wind is down to 5 mph out of the South. Ran down to Ray Roberts Marina for some lunch.  Talked to a man fishing in the covered boat dock ($5 for seniors $7 for adults) who had several nice Crappies on a stringer. One was pushing two pounds and fat with eggs. Water around that dock was 72 degrees and 20 feet deep, lot's of brush.

Matt and I fished some nearby covered boat docks for about 20 minutes with minnows and jigs. NADA!

2:00 PM headed straight across from Ray Roberts Marina to some brush piles I know about in 35 feet of water. Fished with heavy (1 oz) minnow rigs right in the brush. Caught 15 - 20 small Crappies.

2:20 PM Sunburn starting to show, minnows starting to thin out. I told Matt I thought the fish may be done and on a post spawn pattern. Although every other report I had seen said the fish were shallow, we headed to another main channel brush pile. Only this time I chose a shallow brush pile hoping to catch some bigger fish returning from the bank. Stuck with the heavy minnow rig as the wind was still pushing us around a little. I fished 10 feet deep over the brush in 18 feet of water. the brush came up to within 8 feet of the surface in places. Within 30 minutes I had 6 more nice keepers in the box. Several of these fish were nice females over a pound. Very, very slow bite, all on minnows. The fish were in the brush, not above it not out to the side, in it. Matt was fishing with lighter rigs and was not able to get a keeper of this spot.

3:30 PM headed to the ramp.

While cleaning the fish we kept, I realized that all of them were loaded with eggs. Not to the point of bursting as you would expect with fish preparing to spawn. But heavy red veins, with good sized eggs. 

I don't know if the fish have begun to spawn on Ray Roberts or if they are already done. I can tell you that the water temperature is at the upper limit in my opinion, with 62 - 68 being prime. Most of the biologists I have talked to in Texas say that things happen a little later down here. All indications say that they are right. I can also tell you that we put in a serious effort from a shallow water perspective. Many different colors and techniques produced zero Crappies. 

Conclusion: I would continue to hit the high percentage shallow water spots first on every trip for the next several weeks. I would take minnows with me on every trip. I would hit the standing timber in 10 -20 feet of water next. Fish the bottom near the creek channel drop with stumps and timber. Never pass up a point with timber on it. Drag minnows and cast jigs. Remember dark colored jigs in stained or dark water, light colored jigs in clear or lightly stained water. Then head to the brush piles in 15 - 30 feet of water last. I was killing the big fish on brush piles and bridges by June last year. I can not imagine they would be on the bank for more than another 3 weeks.

There's my two cents... Hope it helps you plan your next trip. I welcome feedback as always.

4/28/02 Sam Rayburn - Texas

There I was", is the way all the pilots in the Air Force used to start their stories. I'll start this one that way. There I was on a new lake with a new partner and no idea where to start. Shannon Sherbert (shown here) agreed to fish the Crappie USA tournament on Sam Rayburn with me in an attempt to qualify for the Region 5 regional tournament on D'arbourne in Louisiana.

Shannon went up to Rayburn form Conroe Texas to pre-fish last week. Met with very windy conditions Shannon was forced to find a spot out of the wind. He did, just South of the highway 103 bridge, and that spot was where we ended up fishing all day on Saturday. Shannon is from South Carolina, a "home boy"! He is used to trolling in the traditional sense, as am I. Our plan was to troll or slow drift minnows, jigs and jigs tipped with minnows in 6 - 12 feet of water in the creek. We managed to stay out of the wind and catch a limit (Texas 10" minimum limit) of Crappies. We found the fish on the first secondary point in the creek early in the morning. We put 4 keepers in the box by 8:30 am. My trolling motor batteries gave up shortly after 11:00 am with only 6 fish in the box. (Should have charged them after the previous day, lazy-lazy-lazy) We rigged floats and Kentucky rigs to try to finish off our limit in a 150 yard stretch of creek. The fish were far and few between for us this day. Boating 5 or 6 fish per hour with 1 or maybe 2 keepers. The 2 - 3 foot white caps and 30 mph wind kept us trapped in that one spot. So we stuck to our plan and by 2 pm we had 10 solid keepers to weigh. The last 4 fish came on Kentucky rigged minnows bumping bottom in 8 - 10 feet of water. 15 minutes before we were to quit fishing, the larger fish started to hit. We culled two fish 10 minutes before quitting time. We beat our way back to the ramp and made the 45 mile drive to the weigh in site, arriving with 5 or 10 minutes to spare. Our weight, 7.35lbs. Big fish was just over a pound. We had two like that, but that was all we could manage. We finished 9th overall, 5th in the pro division, qualifying 3rd in the pro division for the regional. The winning pro team had 14.14lbs topping all others by more than 4 pounds. They were fishing less than a mile from us on the same pattern. Our big fish just never came around. But that's the way it goes. My partner and I went to this tournament to qualify for the regional. And that's what we did. We stuck to our plan and never quit. Like I wrote on the index page, Shannon gets all the credit. He found the spot and we were able to catch a limit. I was out of my element and Shannon put us on some fish. Many thanks to my new partner, a true Crappie Killer!

April 8, 2002

I couldn't help but remember Lt. Dan in the Forrest Gump movie when I was on Grapevine Lake Saturday afternoon.  Specifically when he was in the crows nest on Forrest Gumps shrimpin' boat during the hurricane screaming "blow you SOB blow, is that all you got, come on it's you and me, here I am come and get me!" Well maybe it wasn't that bad, but I swore there were 3 foot swells on that little lake. But I couldn't stand it, I had to go. The water in the main lake looked like dirty dish water and was 55 - 57 degrees. I found a few small spots to fish out of the wind on the West side of the lake. Water temp near the bank was 57 - 59. I managed a few small males and one nice slab. I used a rig I call a Jig 'n' Jig. Similar to a Jig 'n Pig, this rig is deadly on spawning Crappies. See the articles section for more info on this Crappie Killin' rig.

Guide trips are still available in NC. See the guides page for details.
Email me for more info or to book a trip.

Best fishes',
Mark

March 23, 2002

Our big ten weighed in at 8 1/2lbs. A few of my buddies and I returned to High Rock on Friday. The fish had shut down. We left at noon with 10 keepers. I ran the full length of the lake. The water on the lower end was clearer, but 3 degrees colder. We managed a few nice fish way back in the creek straight across from the launch ramp.

Black and Chartreuse was the hottest jig early in the week when it was raining. When the sun came out later in the week the hot color for me was blue/pearl/chart followed closely by orange/pearl/chart.

If I was going back over the next two weeks I would fish the hump in the middle of the lake up from Dutch Second Creek. Crane Creek is still a hot spot. The first point going in is loaded with fish as always. Work your way back in the creeks for all the small fish you can handle.

I did manage one day on Lake Hickory. This is the lake I grew up on and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Look at this picture and you'll see why! (Insert picture here) I had a few adult beverages before taking this photo, I'm sure it shows. I only kept 8 fish in the 3 hours I trolled. Total weight, 11 lbs! The two in the picture weighed 1 3/4lbs and almost 2 lbs. I caught them trolling the mouth of a creek in over 30 feet of water. I was using an orange/pearl/chart Mizmo jig on 1/32 oz head.

Going slow, the jig was cruising right in the fish at 6 - 8 feet deep. On the Killer Tricks For Trolling Tape, I cover this technique along with many other deadly tricks. If you get a chance to fish Hickory any time soon, hit the mouths of the creeks. You won't be disappointed. I did see some guys catching a few fish along the bank. But with the water temp hovering near 50, I would troll a while longer. Snow Creek and Cloningers Mill, along with Huffman's Cove and Bethlehem Marina should be excellent within the next two weeks or so.

March 2, 2002

Although I can't get near a lake here in Texas because of high winds, my buddies back in NC are having a blast. Jay reports catching some monster stringers of Crappies on Wylie for the past two weeks. Biggest 10 fish stringer went 14lbs 4ozs. He has had several more over 12 lbs. Trolling the creeks near the main channel is the key right now. 1/32 oz jigs in various colors trolled 30 - 40 feet behind the boat at a slow speed will get you a limit pretty quick.

My buddy Greg Heath is catching fish on Kerr as well. He says the fish have started to move into the creeks. Drifting or slow trolling jigs and minnows in the middle and back sections of the creeks from 4 - 10 feet is the way to go. Try the creek arms off of my favorite part of Kerr Lake, Nutbush Creek. The heavy weights should be hanging on the points near the back ends of the creeks right now. Watch that water temp! 50+ means get shallow and start trolling.

Good luck... The Killa'

Joe Pool Lake, Texas
June 10, 2001

Booze and I took "Mr. Bush" (Boozies Dad) to the only place we have been able to catch Crappies with any consistency for the last few weeks. Under the bridge at Joe Pool Lake just South of Dallas. This is a nice little lake with moderate boat traffic. It's $8 to launch your boat but worth it if you are after Crappies. There are two long double bridges on the lake offering hundreds of Pylons to attract and hold Crappie through out the hot summer months. We found the Crappies in 22 feet of water this day suspended 2 feet off the bottom.

The fish never did turn on big time, but we were able to boat a nice sack of fish for dinner. I bounced a jig the entire time we were out and never got a smell. Red/Chart, Blue/Chart, Red White and all White were my choices in the semi-clear water. No takers though, all the fish came on minnows. Night fishing should be superb right now. The productive pylons were those in 18 - 24 feet of water. Shallower showed nothing and produced nothing, deeper same thing. Bring a minimum of two ropes to tie your boat off and stay on the downwind side of the pylons.

The key has proven time and time again to be shade. Fish the side of the bridge that is in the shade and you will catch more fish. As the sun moves across the sky you are presented with new fishing opportunities. The fish seem to bite all day long. Just keep moving. Good luck.

Joe Pool Lake, Texas
June 3, 2001

The plan was to fish brush piles today, but the wind changed that. 15 - 25 mph wind out of the South forced us to fish under the bridge just out from Lynn Creek Marina. We found a pile of Crappies suspended just off the bottom in 22 feet of water. The fish were tight to the pylons as wind persisted through out the morning.

Two hours of drowning minnows produced 15 nice keeper Crappies and about 20 more throw backs. The ten inch limit keeps you honest here in Texas. The largest fish we boated today went about 1 1/2 lbs with several more over a pound. All the bridges on the lake and surrounding lakes should produce fish now. If you have a chance to get out at night the fishing should be superb!

My buddy Walt "Boozie" Busch with a beautiful Lake Fork Bass Lake Fork, Texas May 19, 2001

Walt said we could get some Crappies under the bridge and he was right. After Bass fishing for several hours we decided to drown a few minnows and see if the Crappies had moved out yet. They had indeed. We didn't get started until after 10:00am. A little late, but better late than never. This was after all, a learning trip for me. Fork is a huge lake. And one that a Crappie fisherman would look at and say "where the hell do I start". It all looks the same.. standing timber every where, shoreline brush, long points, rocks, bridges, docks!!! It is a great lake.

The monster Bass are nice but I love Crappies and that is what we came for. Fishing tight to the bridge columns was they key. We fished minnows suspended 5' off the bottom in 25 feet of water. The fish were suspended from 14' to 20'. Some big, most small. I lost one in the 1- 1/2lb range. The fatties are still recovering from the spawn.

Night fisherman could clean up right now. I look forward to getting back to Fork soon. If you live in Texas, get over to Fork and get some Craps. They are thick under the bridges right now. Stop at Atkinson's for a great Hamburger!

North Texas Lakes: Grapevine, Lewisville,
Lavon and Joe Pool.
April 10 - 22, 2001

Most of these lakes had warmed to near 70 in the creeks until April 18. A three day cold snap, with temps near 40 at night brought the water down to 60 - 62. The fish moved back away from the banks and held in 10 - 12 feet of water. I was able to catch about a dozen nice fish on Grapevine trolling 1/16 oz jigs behind Twin Coves Marina.

If you look close you can see the red and chanteuse triple ripple this fish took. Look closer and you can see the temp gauge reads 74.9 air temp and 68.5 water temp. These large females were hanging in 10 - 12 feet of water suspended 6 - 8 feet down. Once I found them it was relatively easy to bag a limit of 25 10" fish. Most weighed between 3/4 and 1 1/2 lbs. Several days later after the cold front came, these fish were gone. According to my Lowrance they were suspended just off the bottom in 25 feet of water and they had a serious case of lockjaw.

Lake Lavon three days later saw 40 mile per hour wind and cooler temps. My old buddy Greg Heath paid me a visit and we were trying hard to catch a few Craps on Lavon. The wind made trolling and bouncing minnows off the bottom or suspended impossible. We saw several fish caught behind the 78 bridge near Mallard Park so we hit the banks hard for about two hours. Although there were a few, very few, little males on the bank in the 66 degree water, we were not unable to bag any keepers.

Give it another week or so and we should be killing the big fish trolling and on the bank.

Kerr Lake
March 3, 2001

My old buddy Greg Heath took me out for a little Kerr Lake Crappie Killin' on Saturday March 3, 2001. I was able to make a little time for fishing after a business trip and some family illnesses brought me back to NC for week. Greg and I bounced minnows off the bottom around the Oconeechee State Park area of Buggs Island Lake.

This is basically the Virginia side of Kerr Reservoir. Greg put me right on top of these beauties. We caught over fifty, kept about thirty. Minnows on a Kentucky rig fished in 12 - 23 feet of water right on the bottom, was the trick. A Kentucky rig is simply a 1/2 to 1 oz bell sinker tied on the end of the line with 1 - 5 hooks looped off the line above it staggered about 18" apart.

A good trick for this type of rig is to use 20lb test mono for the hook leader. Tie the hook on with a simple fisherman's knot, then make the leader about 8" long, put a small loop on the end. The stiff 20lb mono will keep the leader out to the side, avoiding any twisting with the 6 - 8lb spool line. Also keep the leader short, 8 - 10" maximum.

If you make them too long, say 18" or more, the Crappies can inhale the minnow, swim around in a three foot diameter circle, and never make the rod tip twitch. Keep your leaders short and make them out of stiff mono, you will catch more fish.