Lance34

Got on the water today at 11:30. Water temp 48-49 with green grime on the surface. ??? I targeted various brush piles or timber in 25-30 feet off water. Vertical jigging 9-10 feet down right over the top of the brush. Started out using lights out color baby shad by Bobby Garland and the first drop down, thumb, and slinger in. Had four fish in the kitchen in a mater of 20 minutes and then they shut off. I decided to let it die down and then come back to it. After trying other timber for a bit I came back to the same brush pile still no luck so I switched color and went with another faithful color that I like to use electric chicken which they started nailing it to the point one about knocked my rod out of hand. Lots of fun for a couple of hours I kept 10 and fish sizes ranged from 11-13". Pictures below and whats left of what I used.

Well after getting a hall pass from my wife I was able to get out for a bit today. I put in at hickory creek at 11:30, water temp was 48-49 degrees I fished tree lines at Edens Bluff and a tree line in the Horseshoe Bend area. I looked for different brush piles in 25-30 foot of water. Came up on one that was producing crappie that made fishing with the wind today easy. I was able to tie onto a stump that kept me off the brush pile and fish it. I vertical jig about 10 feet down using Bobby Garland lights out with a 1/8oz jig head. They where pretty active for about hour and I already had six keepers and a few shorts but as fast as they where biting is about how fast they shut off. I started trying different color combinations and depths but nothing was working so I called it quits after two hours and headed back to the house. All keepers where about this size.

About a month ago when the water was 63-65 degrees I was catching them in about 3 feet of water right off the bank in brush in blue springs just like they do when they spawn. White or black I find them mix but me personally I think blacks like the thick, thick, cover more and are more fun to catch. To me it depends on the water temp. Did the same thing a couple weeks later and had no luck until I got over a lay down in 20 feet of water fishing 7-8 feet down. Temp then was 55ish. I wouldn't fish in there all winter. Go deeper in the dead of winter 30-40 feet with timber and fish slow and small baits with some kind of pinkish color in it. Their lazy and not very hungry. I pay attention also to cloud cover too, they tend to move up the water column and hold closer to the brush on sunny days. The trick is figuring out what depth there stacked up at, use your graph. Right now I targeting brush, lay downs, stick ups and docks in 20-30 feet and figuring out how deep there holding to the cover. Going by my trip last week that would be 10-12 feet down. But this lake their here today gone tomorrow. I always start with how I did the week before and go from there. Sometime its takes all day but thats why they call it fishing.

It's the West Point rod. I use it as a back up rod and a different minnow slip bobber set up I have learned to use with beads and worm weights. I like it and for under $20 it's no big deal if you break the eyelets or tips like I have done on my more expensive rods in the past.

Figured out how to upload photos. Here's the fish and what I was using.

For over a year now I've been using BnM Bucks 11' ultra light jig pole and like it a lot for crappie fishing. I use a cheap crappie reel with 15# braid. Just set the hook pull the line and slinger over. Caught a nice size channel cat and drum on it too that where a blast to land.

Wasn't for sure if I was going to go or not due to the weather forecast but after talking myself into it I put in at Hickory Creek about 11:30 and headed straight to Edens Bluff. Water temp was 51-52 degree. I fished around a brush pile that was in 25-30 foot of water and vertical jigged about 10 feet down using Bobby Garland baby shad lights out color. Lots of fun for the short hour I was out there. I was getting a strike or a hook set about every other drop. I hated to call it short but I was getting pretty wet and cold. Kept five out of the eight I caught. Size range on all fish where around 10-12.5 inches.

Cool man thanks for the advice and heads-up.

Got the trolling motor/battery issue fixed. After trying a couple different test to see if it was a current issue. I ended up taking the battery back up to get tested again and made sure they did a load test. The thing checked out good still. I went ahead and bought another battery. I figure if it ran that one down I would know for sure if it was one or the other. Finally got to get out yesterday. Fished for 3 hours and the motor stayed strong the whole time. Thanks for y'all's suggestions. One good idea I thought I share after talking to my uncle about this was carrying a pair of jumper cables if your cracking battery goes out. You can jump it from your trolling battery. Just never thought about it before and thought I share. Throw in a report here to I guess. Put in at 412 bridge targeting crappie as always. Fished lay downs close to the channel around 412 area is where I had the best luck. Which wasn't very much. Five 10-11 inchers that are all still swimming.

Thanks fellas. I haven't had a chance to work on it yet. Going to pull it out tonight and have it looked at again tomorrow and ask to do a load test on it. Any of you know if autozone does one? That's where I got the battery and looking to see if they'll replace it at a discount since it's only a year old.

Thanks, yes I do charge it after and before. Looking to find a battery to borrow to be sure it's the battery and not a current issue. Thanks again

Ok thanks. That was my first idea to try. I'll try to come up of one to borrow from something.

The last few trips out my Motorguide 45 thrust will work fine for about 1 hour or so and then after that it will start to slowly loose it thrust. You turn it up to five and it runs like it set at two after while. The battery is about a year old and I have had it checked out and it's good. I have a graph on the bow that is wired through it and has been working fine since the day installed two years ago until now. When I turn the motor up to five the graph will shut off but once I let off it turns back on. Called a service center to get any idea on what I could do to troubleshoot it myself and all I got was maybe the windings but wasn't for sure until they could tear into it which would run $100. I thought I would post here to see if any of you have any idea on where to start or should I save $100 and repair cost and just get a new trolling motor.

The last few trips out my Motorguide 45 thrust will work fine for about 1 hour or so and then after that it will start to slowly loose it thrust. You turn it up to five and it runs like it set at two after while. The battery is about a year old and I have had it checked out and it's good. I have a graph on the bow that is wired through it and has been working fine since the day installed two years ago until now. When I turn the motor up to five the graph will shut off but once I let off it turns back on. Called a service center to get any idea on what I could do to troubleshoot it myself and all I got was maybe the windings but wasn't for sure until they could tear into it which would run $100. I thought I would post here to see if any you have any idea on where to start or should I save $100 and repair cost and just get a new trolling motor.

Nice mess of fish. Thanks for the update. I went Friday and fished deep brush and timber. Caught a few crappie but very far between. I did land my first ever walleye though but, it was only 16". Going again tomorrow, starting out deep and go from there.

The last couple weeks I've been mostly crappie fishing from Friendship creek (Kelly creek) south and have been doing alright no boat load by no means but enough mess each time for supper. Fishing lay downs in 20 fow and spider rigging in 15 fow has produce the best numbers. Still with all the fish I've caught down that way they still have eggs in them. However Saturday since everything I've caught has had eggs in them I wanted to try fishing shallow in Roberts creek and caught a few in there but slow to come by. I've been using bobby garland baby shad pearl white mostly. Going to go back to spider rigging this week since that produces more fish for me. Still think the weekend of the FLW was my best weekend ever fishing this lake since I started fishing it a year ago. The water was deep enough in the buck brush around Mill hollow and I limited out in hour. Man that was a fun day.

Goofed there, dreaming I was back on Reelfoot. I meant cedar trees.

Put in at Hickory creek today. Ran up to Joes Creek and caught a few crappie around cypress trees cypress trees in 10 fow and then on the way back stopped by endens bluff and caught a boat load of shorts and two keepers. One was 14.25". The ones I cleaned for supper tonight still all had eggs in them. Temp at edens was 63 and joes was 60

I started spider rigging this year and I'm hooked. I installed Hi-teck rod holders and they work perfectly. We put the mount plates at the front corners on the bow so we have plenty of room for two guys to sit up front to use a foot control TM and to maximize our pole lengths. Only issue is if you have to make a run you have to take one holder down to get the trolling motor up. But it is easy just unscrew one screw from the plate and slide her off. Our set up on a bass track 170