duckydoty

Good report. Lots of good info in this one. I actually fished for bass for 20 minutes yesterday while looking for crappie. First time in 25 years that I targeted bass. I saw them in a cove hitting the surface close to a chunk rock bank. Threw a swimming minnow and reeled it way faster than I ever would for crappie. Caught 2 spots. One right at 15 inches, one short. Would have kept fishing for them, but the urge to find more crappie was overpowering.

Wow! Nice job!

You've come to a great place. Welcome to the forum.

Put in at Long Bend (right across the lake from Cape Fair Marina) with a buddy today looking for crappie. Headed down to point 14 to check a few spots on bluff banks with pole timber. Only caught a few spots in those areas. Did not spend too much time in any one place. Made a few casts and if no crappie, we would move. Went a few coves into Wooley Creek and checked some pole timber with no results. Crossed the lake and worked that bluff all the way to the end with no crappie. Decided to head back above Long Bend a try a few spots up there. Hit an MDC brush pile in a cove and picked up one keeper and 5 or 6 shorts. Tried a transition bank with a little timber on it and picked up a couple more shorts. Hit a deep brush pile next to a dock and picked up a nice spot and a few more shorts. Moved across the lake and found a log pile that we pulled 9 keepers off of in 12 feet of water. One of them was huge! That spot slowed down so we went to Virgin Bluff and worked some lay downs only picking up a few shorts. My buddy had to leave around 4 so I dropped him off at the ramp and went back to the log pile that produced so well earlier. Picked up one more keeper and one more short off of it. Further back in that cove was another MDC brush pile that I picked up 2 more keepers off of and a few shorts. Decided to head up to Flat Creek for a look and when I got there, I was disappointed. The water only had about 1 foot of visibility and only caught 2 shorts in a lay down up there. Hit a few more MDC brush piles on my way back down to Long Bend and only caught shorts the rest of the evening. Caught all fish on 1/16th ounce jigs with lighter colors such as monkey milk, crystal lam, blue grass, and pearl. Some of the brush piles were holding fish at 6 feet deep, others would be up to 12 feet deep. I ended up keeping 9 and my buddy had 6 when he left at 4. Nice warm day out there and the crappie fishing was better than yesterday. Nice to see them getting into some structure.

Nice catch and good looking jigs. Way to go with the long rod!

Great stories!

Nice job Marty. That is one good looking fly!

Nice fish!

I can't believe it has not gone yet. That is a really cool thing your doing. Hope it finds a good home soon!

up river about 3/4 of a mile

Yeah, they have been tearing them up at Blunks and Tayor Shoals should really get good with this rain were gonna get. I would rather chase crappie to eat than the whites though.

Got done working early and on the water at Bridgeport by 3. Started trolling some flats with flicker shad and only caught on short crappie near point 15. Headed up Flat Creek to see what I could find and I did not find too much. Caught a few shorts in the brush along the bluff above the bridge and decided to check out Peach Orchard. Stopped short of Peach Orchard and fished some Timber shallow on Stones Flat. Caught 3 short crappies in 13 feet of water and one big sow white. Decided to head down past Virgin bluff and try some of the MDC brush piles. Caught 6-7 more shorts and 2 keepers on a brush pile in 28 feet of water. The fish were suspended in the brush at about 16 feet. Beautiful afternoon to be out there and lots of big pretty boats roaring around. Though I might want to fish TR this weekend for whites and crappie, but I'm thinking I may head over to Taney to stay out of the way of them big guys.

Nice find Leonard. I had heard a few others found some this weekend too.

Thanks for the tips. We camped at a camp site at Mutton Creek Marina and campground with electric service and running water for a fee of $21 per night. Don't think we broke any laws there. The fish were also cleaned and cooked at the camp site. Shore lunch on Corps property was smoked chicken. That is interesting about fillets on short.

That is some pretty good catching! At least we know we have some room for improvement. Think I'm gonna stick with the crappie and whites this weekend.

Thanks WM. The agent told us that was the best catch he had seen in a couple of weeks.

Gotta be worth every penny!

We had a pretty good weekend camping and fishing. It should be really good by the 10th! Read my report.

Nice job on the whites Matt. Thanks for sharing!

Good looking jigs Frank. Bass fishing has started to peak my interest and it looks like I will be placing an order in the near future.

Yeah, we got that camping thing down.

Finally got the pictures posted!

We caught several 6-8 inch males and only one keeper sized male.

Blunks and Taylor Shoals will happen soon. Should be this week.

Thanks guys"