Crappie5

Has anyone been fishing the Shell Knob area since all the rain? Just wondering if the water is muddy and trashy. My next chance of going looks like Thursday before the holiday crowd hits.

Thanks for the update guys. I figured it got pounded again. Probably will turn to mud again. Babler you probably will have a dew days to help Becky clean rooms and do laundry. Ha. Ha.

Anyone know how much rain the lake received today? Here in Monett I had almost 3 inches. i had a report that Shell Knob had 4 or so inches but did not know if that was true od not. SKMO, did you get that much rain? Babler how was your end of the lake?

Bill, you are right. The night bite did not get real good until 11:00 when the moon came up and it was still going when we left for weigh in. There were several at weigh in talking about how some of the keepers they caught were just 5 minutes before the had to come in.

We fished the campbell point night tourney last night and came home with 4th place with 12lbs. 1st was 18-1/2 lbs and they also won big bass with a 6.7 lb LM. 2nd. We caught a few fish drop shotting before dark but nothing to get rich on. It was pretty much dead from 9:00-11:00 and then they finally turned on. We stayed on the bluff ends all night. All of our keepers and most of the rest of the fish were caught on watermelon/black flek salt crawls. Weigh in was at 1:00 and we left fish biting. We stayed in 30'-42' of water all night and most of the fish were halfway from the boat to the bank in the 20' range mosty on the bottom. We caught around 20 fish with 8 keepers. We weighed in 5 fish. Hope this helps any of you night fisherman.

Fishrman, mostly chanel swings and some bluff ends. I'm not too sure about after 3:00 pm I have been done and home before 3:00. I did not find any fish on the flat points.

I forgot to mention that most all the drop shot fish yesterday were suspended. I stayed in 40'-50' of water and the fish were 15' down at least while it stayed cloudy. After the sun came out the fish went to 25'. I never caught any off the bottom. I would say later in the day they finally moved to the bottom.

I started out yesterday on the water at 5:00 am looking for the top water bite. Babler was right there was a boat on every point I tried to fish. I guess you need to get there at 4:00 to get on a good point. I managed 8 top water fish, 2 on a spook and the rest on a fin. Bill has me hooked on the red fin. None of the top water fish had any size just a lot of fun. I did have one LM on that threw the fin at the boat that would have went 3lbs or so. My top water bite quit at 7:30 and i went straight to drop shotting crawlers. Bill Babler stopped by and I had caught around 20 fish at that time mostly on crawlers and a handful on a watermelon candy 4" worm. Babler had 20 on the topwater bite at that time. I found some large schools of what I thougt were shad but every time I dropped a crawler I caught a 6"-8" bass. I caught the bigger fish on the watermelon candy worm dropping it through these schools and the larger K's were there. I guess the little ones would just eat up the crawler before it could get to the larger ones. I ended the day at 1:00 after the joy riders ran me off. 30 fish total with 5 keepers. One 16" Kentucky and one 16-1/2 LM were the biggest.

I put in at Cape Fair 2 weeks ago. It is pretty tight for parking but you can do it. The low ramp has no parking you have to park around the camp sites. The upper or real steap ramp has about enought room to park 12 rigs.

We finally had to opportunity to go on a trip in with Bill Babbler yesterday. What a great day and a great Guide we had considering the fronts that kept moving in and out. Got a little wet but we were catching fish in the lite showers. Fished the fin for the first time and I have to say I have never been so impressed with a bait in all the years I have fished. After Bill taught us how to hook them up we landed several fish. I would have to say my partner and I landed the more top water fish in this trip than all other trips on my own combined. We learned how to drop shot fish which we had never done before either and it was great. Got to watch them on Bill's graph and I have never been so intrigued. Needless to say I learned so much about reading a graph and techniques that I want to book another trip tomorrow. Not to mention I caught the most Bass in one trip than I have ever caught in my whole life. Before the trip my partner told me that if he caught 2 bass he would he happy because he had never caught more than one. Well he blew the 2 fish limit away. We ended the morning with 40 or so fish with probably 9 or 10 keepers but quantity is what we were after. I would say all we learned will improve our next trip 200%. Bill is really a great guy and a good teacher. He is a very professional fishing guide that knows what he is doing when it comes to Bass fishing. If you are struggling, save your gas and book a trip with him and I promise that it will be well worth it. Great day of fishing and good fellowship, you can't beat that anywhere. Thanks again Bill for the great trip. Howard & Todd

Whack'em, We went to Cape Fair last Saturday night. We put in at 9:00 pm and fished until 2:00 am. I did not boat a fish and my partner caught one dink. I can honestly say I only had one bite all night. We fished shallow, deep and everywhere in between. We went up in flat creek and fished every spot I knew all the way to Piney creek. They just were not there. I heard rumor that the Cape Fair night tourney the week before had ZERO fish weighed in. I think for now a guy is going to have to stay around the Baxter/Campbell point area at night. Anyway all my buddies are doing okay in these areas right now.

I agree with denjac and whack'em, great FREE graph info. I printed it out as soon as I seen it. I have always wanted to ask the same settings questions but I felt there was enough good info on this site that I did not want to push my luck. Thanks again to all who post good information.

Whack'em, I totally agree. we need to keep reporting on night fishing. There are a lot of people night fishing these days than most know about. I personally love it. It is moe relaxing because all the day time big boats crusing around and all the personal watercraft are off the water. I can fish in the heat of the summer during the day and not do any good. I usually wait until dark before I even put in and do really good after all the water has calmed down. In the peak of the summer on full moon nights I will put in about 11:00-midnight and fish until a couple hours after the sun comes up.

Anyone night fishing? We went last night, put in campbell point and fished up towards Baxter until 12:30. managed to catch 7 fish with 2 keepers. One keeper K and one LM about 4lb. No specific pattern whre they were. The keeper LM was right on the bank in a bush and the keeper K was out in 25 ft water. All the fish we caught were on a football jig tipped with a watermelon craw and a couple on 8" black neon worm.

Anyone know the results from yesterdays patrol tournament?

Bill, Thanks a lot for the great info.

Has anyone found any crappie yet or are we just going to have to give it up for the year?

A friend of mine fished the night tournament out of Campbell point last Friday night. There were only 7 boats in it and he had only 2 fish. It took 3 fish I believe around 9lbs to win it. That is all I have heard.

I have been a couple of times since the high water and have not had any luck. I can't find them! All my normal spring time crappie spots are so far under water and I have been mostly up in Kings River and the water there has been too dirty. Last time I went was on the 7th before all this last rain fell. Water temps in the Kings was 58. Should be perfect for the crappie but I could not catch any.

Looking at the graph the lake is back on the rise again. It has came up 2' since Monday. With more rain on the way what are we going to do. Arkansas is suppposed to really get pounded and this will all run in. How about all our great Guides, this has to be hitting them real hard? It's April and water temps are getting prime, we should be tearing them up right now. Any thoughts out there as to what we need to be doing?

Thanks for the report on the west end. Good news on some of the improving color, if we can get the rain to hold off. Have not seen any mention of What's Up Dock / Kimberling commercial area...anyone know if that is open? Looking for something close to Schooner Creek Resort. Looks like the rain is not going to let up. We will be praying for rain come July and August but let it quit for awhile so we can get some quality fishing in. Anyone have any rain reports for yesterday and today? Looks like Shell Knob area is getting pounded, maybe the whole lake.

Put in at Viola Saturday. Pretty tricky to launch the boat. Courtesy dock is way out and my partner had to throw a log out to walk on over by the playground so that I could pick him up. We had to park up in the lot by the bathrooms. We put in at 8:00 am and rode it out between showers and thunderstorms until 1:00 pm. We started out fishing for crappie only had one bite and it was a keeper. We threw spinnerbaits and wiggle warts the rest of the day with two bites and both of them were short K'S. We were in the coves, brush close to the bank, bluff ends, docks and just about everywhere, just not there. They must have got a lot more rain Thursday night through Friday because we were down Thursday evening seeing nice water color but yesterday it was cream coffee everywhere we went. Temps averaged 53. Maybe Babbler will tear in to them today. I heard he is out there.

Just thought I would let everyone know what I seen last night. I drove down and checked out some of the ramps and took my laser gun to check some water temps. 1) Shell Knob bridge, water was cream coffee, temps at 4:30 pm were 50 degrees and you could put in at the ramp. Kind of tight but there was an open lane to put in and the courtesy dock was usable, they have pulled it up. probably 10 or so places to park so if you go better get there early. 2) Viola ramp is still a mess. Trash everywhere, water was same cream coffee color, temps at 5:00 pm were 53. You could possibly put in but the courtesy dock was way out yet. you would probably botttom your boat out on the asphalt ramp trying to pick up your partner. There is no place to park unless you park in one of the camp sites. 3) Hickory Hollow was open. You can put in but it would be tight. The dock is real close to the bank, by the time you get your boat all the way in to unload you are almost against the boat dock. We seen a couple of guys unloading. the water color is starting to break here, you could see the line from mud to green. Temps were the same 53 degrees at 5:30 pm 4) We went across 86 bridge and the water color is the prettiest green you will see. Talked to some guys there that have been catching several cats on limb lines same as mentioned in previous forum posts. Anyway, hope this helps some of you plan your trip if you are heading to King's River.

Don, I agree. I was all over crappie last year until the cold front hit and then that was it. March was full of 60-70 degree days and then three days of temps in the upper teens. It also killed most all fruit because everything was blooming. And with the water so high it will make it impossible to visually find standing trees. Where is Babbler in all of this. I would like to hear what he thinks about the small mouth spawn. Grandad always told me that crappie and smallmouth of any two fish tend to follow the same spawning patterns.

Any theories on what is going to happen with the Crappie spawn after all this water and debris?