polo-dog, Chickamauga, Crappie, Bass, 11/1/08, Freida

[polo-dog]

Fished Sat. morning for a few hours into early afternoon, started out with crappie in WT on vertical cover and didn't get a hit. There were lots of other lines in the water there and the fog was thick. I went slow in WT as I knew that the CBA guys were out there and might not slow down much in the fog. I decided to fish a drop nearby that topped out at about 13 feet as I was marking bait in the 10 to 14 ft range and there were big crappie on it. I caught two right away but the fog was clearing and they "eyes" were all around so I decided to move on and fish it later when the "eyes" were gone. Went and fished some docks that are usually good but there was little or no flow and the fish were sluggish or not there. Had a few "bumps" and the fish had been there recently so I would guess if the flow would have picked up that there were fish there to be caught. Went to another main lake dock and struck out. Was going past a bluff and saw someone that looked familiar. It was Kingfish and perch jerker and I stopped and we talked a bit. It was great to meet those guys and just talk fishing for a while. I was headed to find some new spots for crappie and asked if they wanted to come. They said "yes". We went to a steep drop and there were a bunch of bait at the end but I could only get a drum to bite. We were close to an old faithful dock and they said that they were learning to shoot docks and so we went over and caught a few there. The fish weren't really active and they were at about a 15 count. The fish quit and they went on thier way and I went looking for another drop into a channel that might hold fish. I fished a drop out in Harrison bay and figured there should be fish there but didn't get any right away. I was changing lures on one rod and for some reason left a line out the side of the boat and soon I heard a rod swimming to the bottom of the lake. I couldn't quite grab it so I threw out a bouy. I put on a 1oz rattletrap and added 4oz to it and after about 20 minutes I was about to give up when I finally snagged it. I was so thankful that I hadn't lost that rod as it's a backup rod when someone goes with me that doesn't have a shootin' set up so that we can both have a good shootin' rod. It had fallen in about 15 to 18 feet of water and I thought that I had lost it. I did do a little praying and that probably helped.

I went from there to a slough where the bass run bait in the fall often and there wasn't any action so I had a few minutes left before I had to put the boat up and get to some friends' house and stopped by the drop where I had caught the big crappies to see if they were catchable in the afternoon. I only caught one but I felt what might have been a few little bumps down there. When fishing on a drop like that I do keep contact with the bottom and that is one instance where I do use a 1/16 oz jig head as I was fishing 12-15 feet deep. I still use my panfish assassins though. Great bait even deep. It was a great day to be on the water and my family wasn't available so I didn't miss out on time with them. Oops, left the camera in the boat. I'll post a pic of the big crappie later. All but one of the crappie that I had from the deep drop were over 13 inches. Too bad it's in an area where there are too many "eyes".

 

[JDK]

sounds like a good day .. way to save the rod thats one nice catch

 

[Hal]

Another good post, emoThumbsup Not too many but some real quality, emoToast
Also more reinforcement showing the crappie to be suspended and not at the docks right now. Guess I'll have to try some ledge and drop fishing. Are you vertical jigging or are you casting out with a count and doing a slow retrieve emoQuestion

 

[ditchdoc666]

emoThumbsup WTG Mark,sounds like a great day and good job on getting the rod back,just goes to show you what I've said all along,you can catch anything,anytime,anywhere!! including rods emoWorthy emoBigsmile

 

[drumking]

emoThumbsup emoThumbsup emoGeezer

 

[polo-dog]

Hal - 11/3/2008 6:44 AM

Another good post, emoThumbsup Not too many but some real quality, emoToast
Also more reinforcement showing the crappie to be suspended and not at the docks right now. Guess I'll have to try some ledge and drop fishing. Are you vertical jigging or are you casting out with a count and doing a slow retrieve emoQuestion

The fish on those drops seemed to be closely related to the bottom. I would cast the bait out and fish it just reeling slowly one turn of the reel and then letting the bait settle to the bottom again. The fish would still hit the bait on the pause only. I have caught them vertically jigging but that is less productive in my experience.