Greg B.

I feel ya. I’ve located a TON of small fish. The larger fish seem to bite in the first and last hour of the day so I know they are there. It’s just hard to find a good pattern this time of year. If I do I’ve lucked into it usually.

I live very close to the white river so that’s why I do most of my fishing there. I do prefer jigs most of the year but I’m sure they can be caught on cranks many times as well. For one, it’s much cheaper when you drag across a tree :). I find that they will inhale a jig in the hottest part of the summer down to the gills. When that starts happening I know they are aggressive and I’ll then switch to cranks to coax a few of the bigger fish. In September when the water starts cooling I go back to jigs and stay with them all year until next summer. Probably mostly personal preference.

One long cast plus a few pulls of 6 lb test gets my jigs where I need them. 1/16 run 5 feet or so at my speed. 1/8 down to 8-10 depending on speed. I try to stay at or above the level of the fish on my sonar. I also pull cranks and should have made the switch by now. It’s hard to switch because I troll jigs all year and have confidence in them. I do find that bandits and picos catch bigger crappie on beaver once the weather gets hot. hope that helps!

Sorry for my absence lately. This summer has really kicked my rear end and I've not had a lot of time to get online. Just wanted to post a bit about my crappie experiences on Beaver for the last few months. I long line troll jigs mostly up the white river arm. Last summer I found some large schools and stayed with them a while, but this summer has been different. I've located some large schools but getting them to bite has been difficult. Most of my trips have been between the 412 bridge and War Eagle Marina. I'm currently finding crappie suspended at different depths in 13-20 FOW. Most fish are between 7-10 feet deep of late. I'm reaching them with 1/16, 3/32, or 1/8 jigs trolled at about 1mph. I find that they like the jigs a bit faster in the summer so I'll often vary speeds up to about 1.4 to see what kind of mood they are in. My son and I have had a few good trips and several slower than average trips, but I think we are about to settle into a decent pattern and hope to move things in the right direction. Good luck out there!

Nice report. Glad you caught a few and one really nice one!

Yes. On that trip I was pulling 1/16 oz jigs. Mostly the Bobby garland ahead with the little flipper on the tail.

Thanks, Lance. I was hoping to hear from you on this as I know you fish all winter long. I guess its my lack of experience in the winter, but I certainly did not expect to find them where they were (no cover, shallow flats). I always just assumed most of the crappie went to deep cover with a cold front. I suppose the bait may have moved to the slightly warmer water and the crappie followed. If I had more time, I would have stopped trolling altogether and thrown jigs up in the shallows, maybe even under a cork. The fish I did catch there were certainly hungry and fat. They were feeding very aggressively for sure. I couldn't see them on my down scan for sure, but did finally see a few on side scan up in the shallows (not a very good picture and I likely would have missed them if I didn't already know they were there). I'm happy to have stumbled upon this. I enjoy the learning process and seem to pick up something new every time I go. I will certainly be trying them shallow next time out.

Thought this was a strange occurrence, at least for me. Thought I'd share it. I was patrolling my usual spots long lining 16th ounce jigs in about 10-15 feet of water yesterday. Although I've been catching crappie regularly at this location, suddenly they were gone yesterday. Water temps had dropped nearly 5 degrees from last weekend and I'm sure that had a lot to do with hit. Me still being fairly new to this winter crappie thing, I figured maybe the fish moved deeper, so I moved deeper. Now I could see fish on brush occasionally, but still no large schools as I've been seeing. Fished nearly 2 hours with only a few fish. I ran into another local I talk to regularly and he told me his fishing was slow, but he said he had caught his only two keepers while setting his lines up in shallow water. I was running out of free fishing time, but thought I'd make a pass into some shallow flats for the heck of it. Mud flats with zero cover. I reeled lines up and went trolling though 4-6 feet of water. Suddenly, BAM, started catching a few good fish. These fish were still really spread out and there weren't a ton of them, but they were larger and were absolutely slamming the baits. I made two short passes and picked up some nice fish before having to load up and head home. I am still a beginner when it comes to winter crappie fishing and learning things every time I go. I would never have trolled through 4-6 FOW if my friend hadn't said what he said. Never dreamed the fish would be there, but they were. I didn't notice the water temp being much warmer, if at all, but it must have been just enough to get the bait and fish moving shallow. Just thought I'd share this as it wasn't at all what I was expecting yesterday.

Nice work again. The fish I Caught Saturday sure were aggressive. I had several that just inhaled my jigs. Must’ve been hungry and getting ready for that long cold winter.

Ok, switched spots and went back to long lining. Fished from 8:00 -10:30 this morning. Caught over 30 crappie but most were small. Kept 7 with two thumpers. Caught all fish on something with bright yellow or chartreuse. Literally zero on natural colors. Strange but I suspect it was water color, overcast skies that did it. Fish were on channel drops but were high in the water column.

Yeah good job, Lance! I’m hoping for an outing in the next few days but work and the weather forecast for the weekend aren’t playing fair.

Yeah on that. I’ve not seen a Lance report without a white bucket in a while. Well, I guess that makes me feel better. At least I’m not the only one struggling.

I’ve fished here most of my life. Moved to the lake area a few years ago and have more immediate access now. Crappie in spring and summer I can usually do. After that I’ve got a lot to learn

Everyone deer hunting or what? It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anybody posting their fishing stories. I’ve been out a few times trying to relocate the crappie but don’t have them figured out yet. I tried dock shooting for the first time on Sunday. Not easy in the wind. I fired those jigs pretty much everywhere but where I wanted them. Finally gave up and went back to just trying to cast jigs near the docks. Not much luck but I think it was more me just trying to learn something new. Located some new structure near War Eagle but the wind was aweful. Decided to go upwind and try to float some minnows on corks over the brush. Got a few bites but just couldn’t stay out there with the waves. Hard to watch a cork on two foot waves. Gave up and came home. Still trying new things. I’ll eventually get a pattern dialed in. I’m thinking of hiring a guide or two this winter in an effort to learn new tricks. I figure a few hundred on a guide may save me several weekends of trying stuff that’s not working. In any event I sure am having fun trying.

Not much luck today. It’s been awhile since I’ve been out so I thought I’d post anyway. Fished from noon to three to hit the warmest part of the day. Long lined jigs and jig heads tipped with very small crappie minnows. I found lots of fish bunches up on the sonar and some really massive schools of shad but couldn’t get many bites. Caught three decent crappie but that was it. Water temp was still between 61 and 64 in most places. Most fish were in deeper water but suspended. 15-20 fow, fish were 7-10 feet down. wish I had a better report but I suspect the cold front has things a little bit off today. Maybe once things settle down a bit again I’ll get back in em.

It’s definitely work. I long line jigs with 8 rods and use 6 pound test so I can just break off snags and keep going. I use 8 pound test with cranks for the same reason. I want to break quickly and keep moving. With a good map card I’ve been lucky enough to stay out of too much trouble but I’ll occasionally run into a tree in an area where it shouldn’t be. That can be a mess. A good sized cat can be a mess too. All in all, I’ve really enjoyed this summer and trolling. I’ve certainly caught more crappie than in summers past and I’m learning my little area of the lake far better than I ever knew it before. I do need to hit some new areas as I think I’m limiting myself by staying as far south as I am. I’ve learned from Neil’s bluff to Friendship pretty well. My next segment will be the War Eagle marina area and to the north of there a few miles. Piece by piece I keep learning more. I agree that the details matter. I was trolling one day in about 12 fow and not getting bit and two guys came by me at what I thought must be twice my speed. They were overhauling the crappie as they came by. I cranked up my speed, and bam! Caught my limit in about an hour. Learned a lot that day. I keep an eye on everything that’s happening, whether outside rods or inside rods are getting bit, line length, weight, color, wind, etc. When I catch one, I try to mimic the conditions and see if I can get bit again. I always circle back through where I catch one and continue trying to establish a pattern. It’s amazing how a pattern can change overnight. Every day is a new pattern. In short, I’m having a lot of fun.

Well... unfortunately I wouldn’t consider myself adept at either technique just yet: I’ve spent far more time with jigs than cranks but that day the jigs weren’t working and the cranks did, got me thinking. I think next time we go I’ll run cranks but it that doesn’t pan out I may go back to jigs for the fall.

Good work and great report. I had to take the weekend off and get a few honey dos out of the way. I can’t seem to figure out when to crank and when to drag jigs. Seems like one day they want jigs and the next they’d rather hit cranks. I always thought summer meant cranks but I’m close to slowing things back down and moving back to jigs. Had several good days dragging cranks and then they seemed to just quit. Not sure when I’ll get back after em as I’ve got a ton going on at work right now. but I’m sure ready.

I went Sunday Morning. Had 5 in the live well when I decided to release them. Could tell I wasn’t going to get many that day. Interestingly I was catching most fish on the shallowest cranks. I discovered this by mistake. I was reworking one when a plug got hung up so I flipped the one in my hand out there about 30 feet and grabbed the one that was hung. I broke it off and before I could re-tie, the one I barely flipped out there went down. After that I pulled all poles back to short lines. My cranks were running around 6-8 feet. Caught all fish on those except one from around 15 feet.

I’m sure there will be boat traffic there. That area of the lake certainly gets used by the boating crowd. That said, there’s boat traffic everywhere. I don’t fish that area much and I have been staying south of there. After about 10:00 am, there’s traffic wherever you go. I troll a lot so boat traffic is not a day killer.

Of course, I'm typically trolling, so my opinion may not help much. best jig color for me lately has been either a natural color (like an Arkansas Shad, Tennessee Shad, etc) or something with a bit of yellow (acid rain). When I'm not trolling, I like the Bobby Garland Baby shad in natural colors. Good luck!

Good work! Glad you got into some

To me, finding them and patterning them is half the fun. They seem pretty difficult to pattern for me right now as they seem really scattered, but I will keep trying. I haven’t been at this as long as Lance but his posts keep me feeling like learning the lake is a possibility. I agree that I haven’t been finding many on the main lake channel. I keep trying as it seems like a logical place to find them, but I’m only picking up a fish here and there in those locations. Steep banks with brush or main lake humps have been a bit more consistent. In the area I fish of the white river I’ve located 4-5 spots that always seem to have a few fish. I really need to expand my search area and learn more. I’ve just returned from Mississippi and really need to get some work done this week but I’ll likely get out there this weekend.

Mine had a very small piece of a leaf stuck in the foot pedal and it was blocking a sensor. Foot pedal wouldn’t move. It’s been great since then. I fish about once or maybe twice a week and I run it hard trolling. No problems since that first situation.

I went Sunday morning. Started at 5:45 am and stopped at about 10:00 or so. Trolled mostly cranks (bandits mostly) and a few jigs with heavy weights due to the speed. Took a while to find crappie but I located them in a creek channel along a steep bank in about 25 fow. Fish were about 10-14 feet down.