crappie-hunter

Book a trip with Kris at Tandem fly outfitters and pick his brain while you are out. He has lots of bass fishing experience.

When asked about fishing this was their reply..

Unfortunately they have no plans to open it up for recreation of any kind due the added expense of filtration when the body water is used for recreation. If it goes through the way they plan- all we can do is look at it from afar...

They are moving into the river channels and transitioning out to deeper water. Found some today around hawker point area. Suspended 10-20 ft deep in 30-40 ft of water. Caught them on size 7 flicker shads. Had to cover a lot of water to get a 3 man limit.

We fished the lower end of the lake at greenfield and the action was really slow as well. Caught crappie 4 ft deep in 8 ft of water around structure, caught some 20 ft down in 25 fit of water, caught some 2-4 ft down right against the bank when it got dark. The bite was not nearly as aggressive as it usually is this time of year. Water temps were around 56-59 degrees. Ended up with 16 keepers.

The fisherman have now officially caught spring fever. We got to the cc ramp at 1:30 yesterday afternoon and there was not a parking spot left in the ramp area or the over flow. Crappie fishing was still tough. But that didn’t stop everyone from trying.

I was there last Thursday and yesterday. The ramp was not busy. The crappie bite is still slow, so it’s not as bad as it usually is this point in April

The lake is so high this year, the crappie will be up in the brush spawning. Will make it a little tougher on the fisherman when they really move up

Decided that enough was enough and tried to find them shallow yesterday. Started by putting in at the sons creek access. The lake is high enough that you can’t see any stumps, but they are still there! Hit a couple of my favorite spots but caught 0 crappie. We did catch some nice keeper largemouths and a few whites, but we were after some crappie. Made the decision to load the boat up and go launch at CC. Tried fishing out of the wind and wasn’t catching anything. Went the north end of a cove where the wind was really beating us up, and we managed to find some crappie up in the brush. Ended up with 9 (3 females), all caught from the same place, all were keepers. Found water that was 54 to 59 degrees in the coves, and there had to be more crappie around, but the wind made it impossible to stay on them. Bite was really light on minnows. Threw all sorts of jigs but caught nothing on them. if Mother Nature would ever straighten out, the spawn just might kick off, but it’s probably still a couple weeks out. This post has been promoted to an article

I went yesterday. The wind was tough! We were tired of fighting the boat by the end of the day

How were you fishing for them?

I'm sure you will find a few up on the banks, but after this rain, they will probably be suspended farther out. Fishing was great a couple weeks ago, we should be on the tail end of the spawn now. Chunk rock banks have been more productive than pea gravel for me. good luck

Still fishing in 20ft of water? We have been catching our fill of crappie lately, now it's time to try and figure walleye out I guess! headed to the lake in the morning to do just that...

Are all the crappie fisherman being tight lipped? The catching is good if you catch them at the right time in the right spots. Fished all Sunday afternoon out of the CC ramp and caught 21 keepers between the 2 of us, all on minnows against chunk rock banks. Northing against pea gravel. Kept the boat in 4-6 of water and caught them against the banks. All on minnows, couldn't buy a bite on a jig- tried all different color combos. Had to keep moving around, we could catch 2-4 in a spot then we would move on to the next spot. The size of the males has been great so far this year, I have only had to throw back 4 crappie in 5 trips for being under 10 inches. A small front dropped in around 7 and shut the bite down. Couldn't catch anything after the wind picked up. Only 3 females in the bunch. Greenfield trading post was out of minnows on Sunday. They had this problem around this time last year. Someone should clue them in that it's crappie season, and they will sell much more of them than they normally would at any other time of the year! Anyone else having any luck?

I was there last night as well. The bite was tough with the north wind. I had my boat in 4-5 ft of water, but was throwing to the bank on the steeper rock bank and found a small area where the crappie were hitting a minnow 12-15 inches below a bobber right up next to the bank. I was reading 58 degree water. I caught 12 keepers, and only 2 females in the bunch. Most of the action came in the 30 min before and after sunset. All keepers came from minnows. I was throwing a jig all around my bobbers, but only caught 2 small ones on it.

That's good to hear! Is Miller cove north or south of the cc ramp?

Go to recreation.gov to check out and reserve a site. Cedar ridge, rurark bluff, and hawker point are popular site with electric hookups, restrooms, and playgrounds for the kiddos. i believe all of the above are closed until April though.

I just bought some spoons from them yesterday. I can't wait to try them.

Around the full moon in April I caught a lot of crappie right on the bank in spawning coves close to the cc ramp by Greenfield. Saturday night I went back to those banks since it was the full moon again and caught more. The size wasn't a good, but they were there. Ended up keeping 4, but probably caught 15. Threw a couple back that were so full of eggs they were about to bust open! Caught a nice walleye and a couple cats to eat, and a few whites. Good evening fishing with the boys! The eggs in the female crappie were very pale and almost white. I don't think I have ever seen them look like that before. Does anyone know what causes this?

I'm assuming the rain Friday night would have kicked all the whites into spawn mode. Did anyone fish for them yesterday up the river arms?

Didn't really run into any yesterday around CC

Fished yesterday morning, was the 2nd boat in the water before the sun came up. Ran straight to the spot I've been catching them on the bank for the past 2 weeks, and they have moved back out. Caught a few on the bank, but most were caught on minnows and jigs in 10ft of water or so. Water temp was above 61 in the cove at sunup. Bite really died off at 10:30. Only caught one keeper crappie from 10:30 to noon and we called it a day. Only 3 females still had eggs. One was ripe, the other 2 were still a couple weeks away. Caught a few walleye, but only one was a keeper. And a big channel cat that was a lot of fun to pull in on an ultra light spinning rig with 4 pound test. Thank goodness I had a good net man with me. Catfish was for supper last night!

You need to try the go-go minnow. I believe the guy who makes them lives outside of grove Oklahoma, and the tails on them swim like crazy- even with the slowest retrieve. They are worth trying, I have caught a ton of fish on them!

Has the recent rains moved them out deeper? Or are they still moving to the banks at dusk?