Crappie mid-am to early pm 2-21-07

[drumking]

I made it out at mid-morning today and fished until early afternoon. Caught 5 keeper crappie and 2 bass. In my opinion, the crappie are on the move. Had 3 weather changes in the short time I was out there.

I did get to see President Bush's plane fly over me and by the time that I realized it and got my camera out of my pocket, he was too far to get a good pic. I took a couple anyway.

Back to the fishing. I caught some fish sort of deeper and 1 big female black crappie in 5 feet of water at the end of a brush pile. I was using a floater and tube technique. The rest of the crappie and bass came on white tubes and 10-12 feet deep. By the end of the week, if this weather holds up, someone is going to slay these fish. I'm going out of town Thursday pm and am going to miss it.

Hey Snuffy! I'm gonna be in Maryville through Saturday. Wanna take me Crappie fishing or have you started back on the bass?

For those who have a hard time telling the difference between a White Crappie and a Black Crappie, the pic will enlighten you. Notice that the White crappie is a longer, more slim lined fish with vertical bars whereas the Black crappie is more rounded like a bluegill with specks all over it. I can tell the difference in the color and texture of the meat after filleting. Very little difference in the taste. Too close to tell.

 

[J-Dub]

Speaking of white and black crappie differences I've heard that white crappie tend to hold to brush the majority of the time whereas the black crappies may gravitate more to gravel, chunk rock type of areas. Has anyone noticed that or is it just a saying? I don't catch enough black crappies to really know but I'm usually dunking a jig into a brush pile or wooden dock 99% of the time.

 

[polo-dog]

DK, nice pics to show the difference. Have you been catching many whites? I think that the main difference is that the whites tend to hold in shallower water with less current than the blacks but I think that they tend to spawn in the same areas and so once they start to head for the spawning areas we tend to catch more whites as a percentage of total numbers that we catch now. The whites seem to be more hard to come by. From what I've read it seems that the percentages of white vs black crappies has changed in the TN river over the last few decades especially lakes with a large amount of vegitation. The black crappie seem to be more abundant in those lakes. The white crappie does have a prefference for wood cover and does better in more turbid or murky water than does the black crappie. This info is from the book, The Fishes of Tennessee by Etnier and Starnes. I just reffered to it to jog my memory.

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Good comparison there DK. Do you suppose that some bank fishing could get into the "Boy I slayed them" game? If so ... anything special I should look for???

Just wonder ... safe travels.

TT

 

[polo-dog]

TT, in a month or so the crappies will be moving to the sloughs and will be accessable to bank fishing. Keep watching the posts and you will find out when that is. As if you never watch the forum closely right? Anyway, at that time the fish will be easily accessible to bank fisherpersons. Remember last year in some posts we talked about where you could fish not far from your house? If you have forgotten PM me.

 

[rsimms]

Part of the reason for TWRA wanting to reduce the crappie creel limit is due to a dramatic decline in white crappie numbers on Chickamauga. There research indicates that 10-15 years ago white crappie were by far the predominant species in Chickamauga. However there has been a very dramatic switch and nowadays black crappie seem to be predominant. However they say the black crappie numbers have not risen to the levels to compensate for the decline in white crappie. It is my personal opinion that the switch in predominant species is due, at least in part, to an aging lake and a decline in woody structure. I have no idea if the TWRA guys would back me up on that or not? But that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And for what it's worth, I prefer black crappie.... as DK noted, no difference in taste but in general the black crappie seem to have more "meat on their bones."

 

[drumking]

TennesseeTalker - 2/21/2007 5:16 PM

Good comparison there DK. Do you suppose that some bank fishing could get into the "Boy I slayed them" game? If so ... anything special I should look for???

Just wonder ... safe travels.

TT

Years ago when I was a bank fisherman, I fished a lot in Harrison Bay state park and I know that you do too. I caught crappie behind the boat houses and docks leading up to the offices and resturant. Like Polo, said though, it might be just a little early. I wouldn't wait a month though. Couple of weeks if this warming trend continues. I was also a brave soul back in those days and would fish the rip-rap along hway 58 from the place where a lot of people bluegill fish toward Island Cove. Maybe we can get out in the boat in a few days and catch you a mess.

 

[fishinvol]

drumking - 2/21/2007 12:44 PM

I made it out at mid-morning today and fished until early afternoon. Caught 5 keeper crappie and 2 bass. In my opinion, the crappie are on the move. Had 3 weather changes in the short time I was out there.

I did get to see President Bush's plane fly over me and by the time that I realized it and got my camera out of my pocket, he was too far to get a good pic. I took a couple anyway.

Back to the fishing. I caught some fish sort of deeper and 1 big female black crappie in 5 feet of water at the end of a brush pile. I was using a floater and tube technique. The rest of the crappie and bass came on white tubes and 10-12 feet deep. By the end of the week, if this weather holds up, someone is going to slay these fish. I'm going out of town Thursday pm and am going to miss it.

Hey Snuffy! I'm gonna be in Maryville through Saturday. Wanna take me Crappie fishing or have you started back on the bass?

For those who have a hard time telling the difference between a White Crappie and a Black Crappie, the pic will enlighten you. Notice that the White crappie is a longer, more slim lined fish with vertical bars whereas the Black crappie is more rounded like a bluegill with specks all over it. I can tell the difference in the color and texture of the meat after filleting. Very little difference in the taste. Too close to tell.

Good post DK! I got to see the presidents plane also. It flew right over my house, my daughter and I got a couple of decent pictures. Pretty cool and much bigger than I expected it to be!

 

[drumking]

polo-dog - 2/21/2007 5:11 PM

DK, nice pics to show the difference. Have you been catching many whites? I think that the main difference is that the whites tend to hold in shallower water with less current than the blacks but I think that they tend to spawn in the same areas and so once they start to head for the spawning areas we tend to catch more whites as a percentage of total numbers that we catch now. The whites seem to be more hard to come by. From what I've read it seems that the percentages of white vs black crappies has changed in the TN river over the last few decades especially lakes with a large amount of vegitation. The black crappie seem to be more abundant in those lakes. The white crappie does have a prefference for wood cover and does better in more turbid or murky water than does the black crappie. This info is from the book, The Fishes of Tennessee by Etnier and Starnes. I just reffered to it to jog my memory.

Polo, I seldom ever catch any white crappie anymore. Rsimms post in this thread is accurate I believe. I used to catch whites and very few blacks. Now blacks make up 99% of what I catch. Of course, the areas that I fish are more conducive to blacks than whites. I like to catch black crappie better. Seems like they fight a lot harder. But in the areas where I used to catch whites yield blacks now. Go figure? emoScratch emoGeezer

 

[SNUFFY]

Nearly all the fish I caught back in the winter on Tellico were white.....I think I had one small black and had it tossed back before I could look at it good....

DK ..I have kind of headed back to the bass but still would like to get with you one weekend when you`re up here....I have our first Club tx on Douglas this Saturday though....might catch more crappie up there than bass...they`ve been filling the boat with crappie up around Swann`s Bridge and Nina Creek just above. We cancelled the Douglas TX last weekend because of the snow and stuff on Saturday.
If your still on the every other weekend trip to Maryville...I`ll see when our next tx is and give you a shout.

 

[drumking]

SNUFFY - 2/21/2007 11:31 PM

Nearly all the fish I caught back in the winter on Tellico were white.....I think I had one small black and had it tossed back before I could look at it good....

DK ..I have kind of headed back to the bass but still would like to get with you one weekend when you`re up here....I have our first Club tx on Douglas this Saturday though....might catch more crappie up there than bass...they`ve been filling the boat with crappie up around Swann`s Bridge and Nina Creek just above. We cancelled the Douglas TX last weekend because of the snow and stuff on Saturday.
If your still on the every other weekend trip to Maryville...I`ll see when our next tx is and give you a shout.

I kinda thought you might be back to the bass. That's ok, we will get together one of these days. Maybe you can take me below Ft Loudoun dam and striper fish in a month or so. I want to learn about that place. Do you feel up to something like that? emoGeezer

 

[SNUFFY]

there`s a good possibility ...but you`ll have to teach me....only striper I ever catch are when I`m trying to catch a smallmouth in a tourney......always think I`ve the world record smallie ....until they start heading for the next island down the lake......looks like I have most of april open ...stay in touch

 

[drumking]

SNUFFY - 2/22/2007 3:02 PM

there`s a good possibility ...but you`ll have to teach me....only striper I ever catch are when I`m trying to catch a smallmouth in a tourney......always think I`ve the world record smallie ....until they start heading for the next island down the lake......looks like I have most of april open ...stay in touch

You show me the water and I'll show you how to catch the stripers. emoGeezer