Crappie authority

[Phil Lilley]

Anyone know of someone who fishes for crappie on TR alot... someone I could talk to about winter crappie fishing?

[Sam]

Lilley - I fish TR a lot for crappie in spring, summer, and fall. I've only tried it in the winter a few times, and not for a couple of years.

I know this much. Crappie in the winter will be bunched up and suspended in the mouths of deep coves, right where the main lake starts. You can scope them, but they're hard to catch. A whole bunch of crappie will be in a ball only a few feet wide, and you've got to put your bait or lure right in front of their noses to get a bite.

I've never had much luck with those conditions.

- Sam

[Phil Lilley]

I have a story -

I hired a guide in late winter on Beaver Lake once in hopes to get my dad into some hot action- whites were our target. We pulled back into a cove, water was 40+ feet deep; the guide has his depth finder on looking for schools of fish.

We were idling along when he said, "there's some fish, oh, they're crappie." I asked how he knew which he said they were in a tight, dense ball. OK... I took his word for it. Not long after we saw another group of fish- he said they were whites. I didn't see alot of difference in the "balls" of fish. We hurriedly dropped our spoons and started jerking. He said he needed to break them up and we did eventually. Then he said we needed to keep them broken up or else they'd go back to the ball and not feed. We each hooked a white at one point and all were out of the water for a couple of minutes. They went back to the ball and that were it. No more bites.

I have heard of "old-timers" who live on Long/Cricket Creek that catch crappie all winter long. they must have the touch- and time.

[Chris]

I caught Crappie all last winter down in Long Creek. I fish small jigs and depths much shallower than most. I catch them pretty regularly in the general vacinity of Yocum, and in Cricket Creek and I even caught a couple of whites Monday. Right now I would treat the entire area south of Cricket Creek marina as a no-wake. There are trees everywhere. I regularly bounce my boat off of them. (that is why i stick to aluminum :-)...