Crappie, Harrison Bay Side 1/13, No luck

[Fishin Fool]

Everyone from CFF talked all morning at the TWRA event about how nice it was outside and how we wished we were all on the water so Fishing Fire and I decided to go check out the crappie after we finished. We got on the lake about 12 only to find the wind really whipping things up. We fished the edges of the creek channel all the way down to the bridge at Wolftever. Got several nice hits but it was honestly just too windy to do much. When we got close to the bridge, about 50 to 75 yards out the sonar lit up! Talk about a ton of returns! BUT the wind was so bad it pushed us off the areas we were getting hits at. We finally gave it up and for the first time in a long time got totally skunked on a fishing trip. Big ole goose egg! But hey, it was nice to be on the water instead of sitting at home worrying about what the fishing was like! Now I know and can relax the rest of the evening!emoTongue

 

[JerDog]

That wind does make it tough for fishing. Could you have anchored up and fished the spot or was it just too difficult?

 

[Fishin Fool]

Yeah we could have anchored but honestly with all the wind it would have been a slow drift anyways. I just thought it was interesting that there was that many sonar returns near the bridge. Lots of "something" showing up on the screen. I would assume a lot of it was baitfish but some of it had to be crappie. Won't be long until they move out into the bay.

 

[polo-dog]

Fishin Fool. I've been noticing huge numbers of baits many of the past few years right there at the mouth of WT creek and just inside the bridge too. I would expect that as the water cools in the creek the fish get out into the bay and then if we get a big warm rain that the warmth coming from the creek and the nutrients that are flowing into the bay there concentrate the bait to that location. Remember, threadfins are really a warm water species and when the water becomes less than 45 degrees some of them start to die off and if the water temp gets to 39 degrees there is a huge die off. The crappies and other predators are there too I would expect but sometimes with all that bait in there it's hard to get them to eat a fake bait. At least it seems that way to me.

 

[Fishin Fool]

Polo I think you are on the money. I think that as the water in the bay cools (if it ever does this winter) the bait will scatter and the crappie will move deep. It seems over the last couple of weeks that they have been moving back and forth with no real pattern. They should turn on soon if we have cooler weather. I agree with you about the amount of food in the water; I think they have way to much right now.

 

[polo-dog]

On Wed. late afternoon the gulls were thick just inside and outside of the WT bridge and there were fish busting them all over the place just outside the bridge. Since then the water has cleared up some and the water in the creek seems to have cooled some and the gull activity is scattered, some back in Harrison Bay State Park and much of it out near the Islands out in front of Island Cove Marina. I hadn't seen the bait packed at the bridge like that for a few years. Some years it happens and some years it doesn't.