Chickamauga Crappie 2-25-06

[DHaun]

Hog Daddy and I got on the water about 7:30am and trolled 8 rods with 1/16 oz jigs, white, yellow, red/white. This was my first time trolling out of my boat with my new rod holders. We started out at the same spot where RSimms educated me on this tactic a couple weeks ago. There were 2-3 other boats in the area and it was real slow, but we did manage to pick a few up off of that flat (one was the big fish below) and then decided to move to a nearby slough 9-13 ft deep where we immediately started catching more fish. We also trolled an adjacent deeper area 14-17ft next to some brush and found nothing so we went back trolling along a 12ft deep stretch next to the bank where we caught a few more. We then moved to another stretch of bank 9 ft deep and scored a few others.

Total for the Day 14 Keepers, 6 released, 2 pulled off. We also scored 5 bream, 4 drum, and 1 largemouth - all released. We went through one area where several of our rod tips just kept getting bumped like they were being dragged through a school of small fish. HogDaddy figured it out and topped the day off with a couple tiny striper - had to get a pic of it.

It was a perfect overcast day on the water, great company, very calm, quiet, and hardly any wind, we even had some sunshine peek through the clouds. One thing I don't understand is why in a huge area with plenty of space and depth why someone would scream right by us doing about 70 so close they basically drove over the lines we were dragging behind us...was it too much effort to move the steering wheel 1/4 inch and veer around maybe 10-20 feet...maybe they were going too fast to see we were fishing. It's no big deal since we were nearly done for the day, I was just surprised to see it happen when all the other boats in the area had been very courteous all day slowing down or making some kind of an attempt to drive around eachother.

We left about 1:30pm, iced down the fish, and HogDaddy gave me a top notch lesson on fish-cleaning with my new electric filet knife. I hardly ever clean fish so I'm not that great at it...after he cleaned more than half I took my turn and I think I'm back in practice now. I appreciate you letting me keep all the fish Hog Daddy! We are gonna fry them up real soon!

 

[fisherpal2k]

nice sting of fish. I bet the pan is almost hot ain't it? Hope so. Thanks for the report.

 

[Biofisher I]

Good report guys and a nice bunch of fish. Any color out produce the others today?

 

[enmreal]

DHaun, a buddy of mine was up there with you today; he fished where you were; tried the flats out in Harrison Bay; tried Harrison Bay Marina slough; the only keeper fish he caught were where you were. He fished from 9-4; only had 5 keepers moving around so much; my daughter and I went where you were and fished from 4:30-6:30 without catching a keeper crappie; we did see the Bald Eagle that hangs around there; that made her day.

 

[jon the fisherman]

Nice fish. I noticed some real disrespectful people out there today also. Had a few buzz by me and two go in front of me, put their trolling motor down and start fishing. I did not Care too much since we were catching fish and I don't think they were.

 

[tndoe270]

Looks like you guys had a much better day the JVS and myself. We fished for the majority of the time around Chester Frost. Only had 5 keepers and very few small ones. We covered quiet a bit of water today from 5 ft to 25 ft and never really came up with any type of pattern. Awesome day just being on the water, overcast and NO wind thank goodness. Hopefully it will start picking up soon.

 

[swamp donkey]

sounds like you 2 had a great time today. I'll be at guntersville next weekend for 3 days. I'll do a little croppie but mainly interested in the largemouth. Thanks, S.D.

 

[polo-dog]

Great report DHaun, sounds like you both were going to get a belly full.

 

[DHaun]

Biofisher I, I could not really tell if any color was out-producing others on my 4 rods, but it did seem like the red/whites had a bit of an edge over the solid white.

enmreal, I did briefly speak with an angler who was trolling the same flat in a tiller fat bottom. He did not stay too long since it was slow - said he was moving on to try another spot...I bet that may have been your friend, although I saw 5-6 other boats on that particular flat.

One thing I noticed about all the places we trolled is that the fish did not seem to be randomly scattered. There were 2 or 3 "hot spots" where there were schools (although I never marked them or any structure on my graph, they could have been on one side of the boat). When we would drag through them you could see the bites on the rods - we even had several double hookups. It was great fun knowing when we were approaching a hot spot! A GPS really helps with this method...

 

[polo-dog]

Do you use the GPS to set up your drift or do you use it to mark where you pick up fish? It would be helpful to know where you picked up fish on the previous drift especially if you were far off shore on a flat. Do you have a WAAS enabled GPS? Mine is not and so it's probably not as accurate. Do you ever use it to help you anchor if there is a consistent place where you pick up fish on the drifts? Usually I would expect that there is a depression, stump bed, brush pile/branch or something that is holding the fish and if you could stay right on it you could stay on the fish. Have you ever tried the crappie and bobber method that we had a thread about a couple of months ago where you let the fish go back but have him attached to a bobber to follow him and hopefully the school? It would be interesting to try.

 

[DHaun]

Polo-Dog, My GPS is WAAS enabled - it's a Lowrance IFinder H2O. I use it for speed determination and setting waypoints when I hook-up. It also has a map with a line indicating the path or trail I have trolled so I can re-track as necessary.

Great point about the bobber - I need to remember to try that next time I go! I assume something like that is legal...

 

[hog daddy]

im not shore but i think that letting a fish go to mark a nother is not leagle but befoe i hnew this in the chattoga river you could take a baloon with you AND IF YOU EVER CAUGHT A SINGLE CROPPIE STICK A HOOH IN HGIM AND CATCH ALL HIS FRINDS AND I'D LIHE TO THINK DHAUN FOR A GREAT TRIP IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO FISH WITH HIM OR 2JIGS TAKE THEM UP ON IT THERE BOTH GOOD GIDES AND GOOD COMPANY I RELLY HOPE TO GET TO FISH WITH EVERY BODY ON THE FORUM THERES NO BETER WAY TO LEARN SOMETHING