Crappie at Wolftever 3-15

[Fishin Fool]

Hey guys,
Me and FishinFire went out on the lake today about 11. When we got there we caught 4 huge crappie right off the bat in the first 15 mins or so. Then the wind kicked up really super fast. I mean in like 3 minutes it went from glassy to white caps! Cold as heck too. That slowed us way down and we ran for a little slough and fished there for about 30 to 45 mins and picked up one keeper. By the time we made it back out to the mouth of the slough we decided to try the main bay in front of Wolftever bridge again as it had calmed some. As soon as we made it back out the wind kicked up again but in between fighting it we managed to boat about 35 fish. Kept the 12 you see here for dinner. The one with measuring tape beside him weighed a little over 2 lbs. All the fish we caught were in 19 to 23 feet of water and we caught them on minnows and red and white tubes trolling. Great day in spite of the wind!

 

[Fishin Fool]

RE: Crappie at Wolftever 3-15

By the way.....water temp was 60 and kinda cloudy....

 

[jon the fisherman]

Nice crappies.emoThumbsup

 

[DHaun]

RE: Crappie at Wolftever 3-15

Great report Fishin Fool - Thanks! I'm going to try to get out Saturday if I can. When you are trolling in 19-23 ft, how much weight do you use on your red tube jigs? Are they dragged behind the boat or spider rigged from the bow using heavier weights? I have never trolled water that deep and was wondering if the fish were suspended or caught near bottom.

 

[hog daddy]

fishin fool ' great report but im with dhaun give us a little more because ive never trolled that deep give us beginners a tip be fore some one get a croppie tourn. up

 

[fisherpal2k]

Good report Fishin Fool. Nice catch. Was you down lining with extra weight or what? Keep the reports and info coming!!! But like above just a tad more info please.. emoPoke Like the rest of the folks I haven't tried for them all that deep without using extra weight and just keeping it almost right under the boat.emoSmile

 

[Fishin Fool]

Hey Hog Daddy and Dhaun,


What I use is something we used to call a "Christmas Tree", kind of like the store bought crappie spreader rigs but homemade and with a jig added. I take a hook and tie it into the line about 36" up, then about 8" down from that I tie a jig that is about 1/8 oz and put a tube or twister grub on it, then I drop down the line another 8" and tie another hook, finally I go to the end of the line and tie on a river sinker. The size of the river sinker depends on the wind, depth I want to fish and so on but about an ounce to an ounce and a half is normal. We fished this rig back when I was growing up in the 1970's. It gives the fish a choice between either the jig or the minnow and I actually think the bright color of the jig brings a lot of fish in and then they see the minnow and hit when they otherwise would not have hit the jig. I catch about 30% on jigs and the other 70% on minnows. I just drop this rig over the side of the boat as I am trolling, watch to make sure it has hit bottom and then trip my bail. When I see the rod tip kind of "bog" down and then spring back up I know I am bumping bottom.If you are drifting in the wind and it is really blowing drop the rig as you are drifting, let it hit bottom and then count 6 to 8 seconds. Most of the time in really strong wind you'll move a lots faster than you do with a trollnig motor. The extra time count allows more line to play out and gets the rig down deep. Sometimes you may be fishing in 20 feet of water but have out 40 feet of line. The strange thing about this rig is that when a fish hits the jig instead of pulling the rod tip down, the line may actually LOSE tension and seem to come up. This is the time to really strike because the fish has taken the jig from the bottom and is swimming up toward you, instead of away from you. It is also a really strong rig, I have never lost a fish on it due to a hook coming undone. The last fish I lost was a largemouth about 7lbs I would guess. I was fishing 4 lb test and got him right to the boat while trolling for crappie last week. I thought I had worn him down but just as I reached to lip him he surged and broke my light line. As for the legality of this rig, I looked it up. You can have three hooks on one line but one hook must be smaller than the other two. Go figure. I called Nashville TWRA and they told me not to worry about size as long as I did't exceed 3 hooks. TWRA pulled me over twice last year and looked at my lines and said they were fine. Hope that helps you and hog daddy. Come fishing with us sometime, or meet us on Wolftever, we'll put you on some honey holes out there...

 

[Fishin Fool]

Hog Daddy and Dhaun,
Check out this link and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.CFPage?mode=article&objectID=28370

 

[fisherpal2k]

Good article fishin fool. You was doing like I was thinking by using the heavier sinker rig.

 

[hog daddy]

hey fishin fool ; great info i'll give it a try next time out

 

[DHaun]

Thanks fishin fool! I'm going to read up on this when I get a chance today - I appreciate you educating us all on this tactic - it's new to me...