Crappie on the Chick 3/8

[Fishin Fool]

WE started out about 10 am this morning off the ramp at Skull Island. Water was up a little from the last time we were on the lake. Water temp was about 52 and rose to 54 before we left for the day. We began fishing for bass in the shallows and with no action decided to try the crappie. The only thing we caught in and around Skull was a few white bass and a yellow perch. No crappie.

We moved to another location and began to troll jigs and minnows. Not a thing. Tried shooting some docks. No luck. Finally we eased down a little slough and the sonar began to show some serious returns in about 12 feet of water. We trolled through the area and picked up a nice crappie. Turned and hit it again. This time a double. We kept hitting this one spot over and over until we had picked up 16 crappie, with two being whites and the rest blacks, and it seemed the bite turned off. We moved into some shallows about 3 feet deep, with stumps and just being curious I tossed a spinner bait (cutthroat in white and chart with a double tailed chart grub) into them. Wham! In a matter of 20 minutes I had caught 7 bass, with a couple being keepers. No huge fish, just very eager, aggressive ones! I actually think the bite was turning on just as we had to leave! I'll bet there will be some reports on here tonight that reflect that.

All in all not a bad day. We managed 16 crappie, numerous white bass, 9 bass and one yellow perch. We forgot the camera phone so no pics with this report. It was a beautiful day with very little wind. Oh, one more thing. As we were heading out this morning Mike reminded me that we need to pick up our new fishing license. I had completely forgot! Stopped at Hamiltons and picked them up. As we were leaving the last spot I heard someone say behind my back "How you boys doing"? You guessed it, TWRA! He'd eased in on us when I was preoccupied with bass in the stumps. First time I had been checked in 3 years. Be SURE and renew those license.

 

[Jmax]

Good report there Fishinfool and glad to see you on some. I was beginning to worry about ya after you have been posting so many poor trips. Thanks for letting us know about the shallow bite.emoThumbsup Jmax

 

[polo-dog]

Good to hear that you found fish today. It's great to hear that the bass were so aggressive for you. I would expect them to be that way in the afternoons with all of the sunshine warming the shallows. I was wondering how hard it is to get in and out of the Skull island area when the water is down. Last time that I was up there when the water was down it seemed to me that I was in some pretty shallow water and almost got grounded.

 

[Fishin Fool]

Polo you have to be REALLY careful when leaving the area for the main channel. Even hanging close to the markers is kinda dicey. Yesterday I was so close to a green marker I could almost touch it and the water dropped from 15 feet to 3.5 in just a matter of seconds. The best thing is just to go really slow, hang to the green markers and use your sonar. I acutually think that the first green marker has moved some, maybe from storms and high winds. It seems awfully close to the main island now. I don't think I'd want to try to make it in there at night. By the way, some of Tileman's brush is still in place in the deeper waters but we didn't get a single bite on it. One of the trees has floated out toward the main channel, and showed up perfectly on sonar. I'm sure once all the needles are off it will settle there and stay since it has a concrete block tied to it.

 

[polo-dog]

FnF, when you say the first marker, did you mean the first marker from off the river or the first one from the ramp?

 

[Fishin Fool]

The first one from the ramp. Sorry I should have made myself clearer. When you put in there notice the water around that bouy. It gets shallow in a real hurry. But the other ones appear to be pretty close to the main creek channel.

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Glad you found 16 keepers FF ... how long did it take you to clean em??? I'm trying to see if I really sux at that or not!

Nice report.

TT

 

[TR20bh]

FF,

Good trip. Thanks for the info. Hope to see you around Skull Is. soon.

 

[Fishin Fool]

TT it took about 20 to 30 mins to clean them. I scale mine and leave the skin on but some folks prefer to take the skin off. You'll get the hang of it. You just need to make sure you have a really sharp fillet knife. Dont be afraid to mess up. The first time I filleted fish many, many years ago, I think I took more meat off my hands than I did off the fish!

TR20bh, I hope to see you guys soon! I gonna put a GPS transponder on that boat and find out where you guys are catching all those hogs!

 

[MADD DOG]

Good reportemoThumbsup

 

[Liveliner]

It may have been slow, but hey, It was a day of fishing wasn't it? Those Crappie made it all worth while. Or at least it will be at first bite of crappie fillet.emoHungry

 

[Guest]

good report. Crappie and bass on the same day! Glad you guys got into them.

 

[Fat Albert]

TennesseeTalker - 3/9/2007 10:48 AM Glad you found 16 keepers FF ... how long did it take you to clean em??? I'm trying to see if I really sux at that or not! Nice report. TT

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<font color="#ff0033">TT, you need another training session with DK.... get your self a good electric knife and it will not take very long to clean fish....I would show you but ain't got time right now....you know baseball...FA

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