crappiekayaker

I forgot about this post. I seen a few jumping below the dam a few days ago. I couldn't tell how big of a school it was but they were shallow. Right in front of the middle island.

Aggressor, I sent you a PM.

Hoping to catch some walleye, I launched the kayak at sunup. I’m sad to report I did not have a single walleye bite, I did find a mess of crappie though. After only catching a few off my normal bushes, I figured I would move in shallow, due to the water warming up (Last week it was 38-40, now it is 45-48). Nothing was biting so I decided to fish deep; real deep, 45 – 50 foot deep and see if I could find the whites. Once I found a bush in that range, I dropped the jig down to the top of the pile. To my surprise, I pulled a 12in crappie out. Almost as soon as I dropped it back down, I had another crappie. As soon as I caught my 14th fish they shut off. I tried for another hour, for that 15th fish and nothing. I think all in all, I caught about 20 crappie and one white. The white was nothing to speak of. It was maybe pushing the 6in mark. There were a lot of boats out yesterday, I hope we see some other reports. I’d like to know if anyone found the walleye. Being sunny may have hurt the walleye bite. Water temp: 45 – 48 F Weather: 45-60+, partly cloudy- sunny, light wind. Depth: morning 35-37ft, early afternoon 45-50ft Time fished: 7:30am – 1:00pm Bait: Bobby Garland lures

"jump the dam" was a bad choice of words. I didn't mean actually jump the dam, what I meant was surfacing at the foot of the dam. Thanks for the response and info.

All the rain we received last week, I was hoping they would start the move. I think you might be right and it will be late in the season before they get up there. A few years back, conditions were great and on opening day they were stacked under the dam.

Went last night, after work and only snagged a stick. I didn't see any spoonbills surface or jump the dam. Also, didn't see any dead ones in the trashcan. Has anyone snagged anything below the dam this year? Has anyone seen any in the water? I think it will be a few weeks before they make it up that way.

On Tuesday it was 48. Id say this rain will warm it up a bit more.

Oh, I didn't fish Springfield yesterday. The rain put a damper on that for me.

This is the first year I've done good, out there. Although; I do have to say, the only reason I have them pinned is due to my fishfinder. Without it, I'd be at a loss. I've located some grass beds on the north side of the lake I plan on fishing here in a few weeks.

Thanks for the info. I figured the spawn would be a few weeks away, being that the water temp is so cold. I had no idea that they would start getting ready 32-35+ feet deep. I hope this rain warms the water a bit and gets them fired up. I'd like to find them doing their thing this spring. It always seems I’m an hour and a day late, when it comes to the spawn.

I took the day off yesterday, it was just too nice to work. At sunup, the fog blanketed the lake when I launched my kayak. I’m not sure how many crappie I caught (If I had to guess 25, give or take) but I brought home 11. All fish where caught in or outside brush, in about 35-40 foot of water. The smaller fish seemed to be deeper. They seemed to be sporadically spread out within the water column, making it hard to judge the depth of my lure. Most of my fish were caught before 9:00am, once the fog burnt off the fish shut off. Water temp: 38 – 39.9 F Depth: 35-40ft Time fished: 7:30 – 10:45am Bait: Bobby Garland; Baby shad I’m going to fish Springfield Lake tonight, I’ll report if I find anything. I went Tuesday night and could not get a nibble. I do have a question: is it common for crappie to spawn this deep and this early? A few females I caught had eggs and a few males started turning color. Although, I did not see any evidence of scaring from bed making. Is this just a fluke or has anyone else seen this? Thanks for any info.

Wow, this post went off in a total different direction then I intended. I'll put my two cents in: 1) I too don't like seeing the nitwit, trashy, drunks who vehemently disregard regulations. That being said, at least their tin can with holes isn't as powerful as a wakeboat with a drunk teen as caption. 2) I'm pretty sure paddlefish are native to Missouri Waters and white river chain and due to manmade dams, must be stocked (all native species are important to an ecosystem). 3) I wish MDC would create an egg processing program (like Oklahoma) but that's even more money spent on paddlefish. I think this tagging program is great. Not only does it give the public the opportunity to help MDC manage its resources, it saves the tax payer money. It’s a lot cheaper to give out a few T-shirts and one $500 prize then to pay an employee to track the fish. This hasn't been brought up; I can see where this could put a bounty on the fish but it’s no different than a bass tournament, in my mind (except the paddlefish will die). All in all, I like snagging and I look forward to it every year. If you go this year, happy snagging and good luck.

Last year I found the crappie in about 10ft of water, right across from the ramp. I havent been up that way this year yet but need to.

wow, a lot of views and 0 posts. I'd be interested to know too. I know last year this time, I was catching on brush piles near Aldrich.

http://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/paddlefish-season-opens-march-15-new-mdc-tagging-project looks like you can get a t-shirt and be put in a drawing for $500.

I did not see any water running.

The warm water outlet is fishable now.

I wish cold snap would head out, I'm getting cabin fever!

I have not heard anything but that would explain why its iced over.

My plan was to fish that area, yesterday because of the colder temps. The ice put a damper on that. I'm tired of this winter too, spring cannot come soon enough.

I didn't see anything running and by the looks of it, they hadn't for a few days. The outlet was iced over with snow on top of it.

Yesterday, I got off work (got to love working for a local university ). hoping to use my snow day to go fish, I headed down to Springfield lake. Just about the whole lake was froze over.

I've been on the hunt for a while but cant seem to catch one. About a 2 months ago I seen a few roll in about 40 foot of water, while I was crappie fishing. I've been on the look out but haven't seen any for a few weeks. I'm glad someone is finding them.

Nice! have you been finding them deep?

I went out yesterday morning to Fellows and caught 5. Only 2 were big enough to keep, I gave them to another guy fishing. I was able to finally catch a Fellow’s lake walleye.