Crappie Fishing Harrison Bay 12/12/06

[Fishin Fool]

Fishing Fire and I got on the water about 9 AM. I just knew the crappie would be in the bay after the cold weather we have been having. We began to fish the edge of the submerged creek in about 15 to 22 feet of water. No luck. We trolled down to the bridge, got about 100 yards from it and began to pick up signs of fish in about 19 feet of water. Mike started catching yellow bass right and left. He hooked into something that we thought was a big cat due to the fact that it just hunkered on the bottom and would not move very much. After a pretty good fight it just straigthen the crappie hook out and went on it's way. He also caught a huge drum which provided a little excitement. I was getting skunked the entire time. No bites, nothing. Finally I decided to change my rigging a little and tossed the rig over the side. As soon as it hit the water the rod bowed over! I pulled out a 13" crappie, my first of the season. BUT the story here is that was it! We caught a few more drum and yellow bass but no more crappie. The wind began to really get up and it was impossible to stay on the fish showing on the sonar. Talked to three other boats all having the same luck. By the way, saw some guys spider rigged. They looked like a floating porcupine! How many rods are legal per person? Not that it mattered much because I didn't see them pull in more than we did. Great to finally be on the water again. Sorry to have such a gloomy report but that's the way it was.

 

[polo-dog]

Do you get the feeling that the fish are scattered or do you think that you can't stay on them because of the wind/current. Do you ever use bouys? If you think that the fish are bunched up and you just can't stay near them with all of the movement of the wind/current I would throw out a bouy every time I saw a big group and try to stay over the top of them, or if and when I caught a fish I would throw out a bouy and see if there is a group that I could stay on. Is that the way you tend to do it or do you have another way you go about fishing open water for crappies?

 

[Fishin Fool]

Yesterday a couple of boats were marking with bouys in the same area we were fishing, which is relatively small right in front of the bridge about a hundred yards or so out. All I was doing was watching the sonar, the fish were in about 19-21 feet and as soon as the depth dropped to over that, say 22 to 27, I knew we were off the fish. They seemed to be really scattered and not concentrated at all. But they were holding close to deeper water. We normally use marker bouys when bass fishing but I never have for crappie. I always just find the depth they seem to like and fish for them there, using the sonar to locate concentrations of fish. Depth has always been my best weapon in the crappie wars! Yesterday sonar was dead on the upper end toward Harrison Bay Park, but became a little more active once you got close to the bridge. Inside the bridge, on the Wolftever side there was a ton of returns but we couldn't buy a bite. If I don't do any better next time I might start using dynamite to mark my spots! emoBang

 

[rsimms]

Fishin Fool - 12/13/2006 4:46 PM
How many rods are legal per person?

No rod limit in Tennessee... used to be a "3 rods per person" limit... but it was removed. Lots of folks don't know that. I think there is still some sort of rod limit on Dale Hollow only however.

 

[paulj]

If you are leaving the creek and looking towards the main river I usually do real good on the left side of the channel tight lining minnows. I usaully just stay around the drop off and troll till i find fish and then throw out a marker.
paulj

 

[polo-dog]

paulj, I think that would be a good approach. Do you usually get multiple hook ups or do they really move away quickly?

 

[Fishin Fool]

Richard I didn't know that. I thought it was still 3 rods per person. That explains the "porcupine" look then. 3 people on the boat and looked like about 12 rods in the water. I'm sure that helps make sure you get some fish regardless of how slow it might be.

 

[paulj]

I do not know if they move away or just quit biting. Sometimes I will just catch one and other times I will catch more. There is alot of structure on that side of the channel that holds crappie.
paulj