J-Dub
Well-known member
Myself, son and daughter went to the Bar on Sunday to try for some papermouths. I just bought a used boat so instead of fighting the armada that would be on Loudon we headed West to the Bar putting in at Ladd Landing. The water seemed really low to me but I only fish the lake a handful of times each year. Anyway, we started off just below the I-40 bridge at the steam plant along the docks. We started catching pretty quick. Along that bank there seems to be a bunch of brush scattered just out of sight so there were crappie scattered too. We'd pick one up here and there all down the bank. We had a triple one time and two of those kept. I think we boated 8 keepers in that area then blasted off to a bank that's just down lake from where the Tn. river dumps in. There were a row of laydowns and we picked off several other keepers there too. We were having a ball. We blasted down lake a little past Caney Creek but struck out down there so we went back to where we started. I think we got two more keepers before calling it a day around noon. We ended up with 15 quality fish, with most being 11-12"+. Only 1 was 10.5". All the fish were FAT. By looking I would have guessed they were full of eggs, but when I cleaned them there was not one single fish with one single egg in it. I guess they were just healthy eaters. That means the fish should be staying shallow for a bit longer if they aren't spawning yet. All fish fell for either a red/chart. jig or a shad colored assassin w/chart. dyed tail (thanks for the tip on the assassins guys!). That was about the best mess for fish, size-wise, that I've gotten in a while. Guess I may have to leave Loudon off my crappie list for the future. Boating was more enjoyable too w/o all the traffic on the water.
