Chickamauga Crappie 2/23

[polo-dog]

Went down to get my maps out of the boat and decided to fish for crappies for a few minutes and was glad that I did. I can tell you that there are lots of crappies on brushpiles in about 8-9 feet of water back in Chickamauga. Is the limit still 9 inches or is it 10 now? In fishing less than 30 minutes I caught about 12 crappies and lost a couple of big ones to the pile or flipping off before I could lift them out. This was right before the sun came over the ridge at 8:15. After that they slowed down and I broke off and so I stopped. Here's a pic of a few. It is an absolutely beautiful morning and if you can get out this afternoon on the lake I would bet that the fish will be active. The sun came out earlier than expected and it's already warmer than yesterday ever was.

 

[DHaun]

Thanks for the report polo-dog - looks like you got a nice shore lunch! Yep, the weather is looking up for crappie! I think the limit is 30 and they need to be 10 inches.

 

[polo-dog]

Those three were all right as 10 inches. I let all the fish go. I've got too much to do today to clean and eat them. I almost slimed my camera taking the pic. I couldn't hold the others and push the button.

 

[jon the fisherman]

nice crappie. Kind of makes me hungry.

 

[fisherpal2k]

Nice catch there polo-dog, I wish I could have been out there. It's supposed to be really nice tommorow but I promised one of my friends I would help him out some. Can't help anyone till they need it, and when in need it is nice to have a friend. Don't catch them all !emoSmile

 

[Biofisher I]

Keep listening to that vioce that tells you when to go and good things happen. Good report and pictures. Keep it up.

 

[TR20bh]

Oh, the joys of living on the lake. Man, if I could just figure out a way to go to the garage & fetch my maps & catch a mess of crappie while I'm at it! Nice catch, polo, did you get them on jigs or minnows?

 

[polo-dog]

Minnows but I would guess that jigs would work just as well and not near the mess. There are lots of what look like crappies to me suspended over 14-16 feet in 8-12 feet. rsimms says that the creek flats that are about 8 feet deep are where he's been catching them and that sounds right to me. I would expect that cover like stump beds or brushpiles in that depth of water and near the creek channel would hold the most. That's just me thinking. If you remember, my dock is on a somewhat steep flat that terminates into the creek bed that is about 8-9 feet deep right now. I caught some of the fish just fishing 3ft deep over the top of the pile and then played around with the up current, down current, channel side and side opposite the channel and never fished deeper than 5 ft deep. I used a slip bobber so that I could change the depth quickly. It seems to me that the bigger crappies tend to come from the channel side of the brush pile and that they are often a foot or two deeper than the "dinks". Sometimes the pile is just covered in dinks and you can't catch anything else. Sometimes this time of year the 13-14 inchers are there and you can't catch anything else. That's usually when the water is a little bit colder. If the water is clear I can usually catch a few when the water is cold but if the water murks up after a rain, they go off or just won't hit until the water clears up. I've been playing with the brushpile for ~16 years and that seems to be the way it is here.