Swan

[crappiefisherman]

Phil, I think I saw you in swan, but not sure.I lucked out and caught some very healthy big crappie on the mud bank.Caught a few whites, but I let a gigantic walleye get the best of me.I am betting it would have gone 10 lbs and I do have a witness, I was trying to get collaburated with a friendly boater with a net and prolly would have jumped in his boat to try to net the fish in the creek, but the fish made a run towards the main lake and the old 5ft 6 didnt keep him at bay.The boater thought I was gonna be upset but I figure I had a fight for a bit and enjoyed the heck outta it so I still won .It just dont get any better then that.

[Phil Lilley]

Thought that was you... I had clients waiting for me up in the creek or I would have offered a seat in the boat. But it sounds like you had a better spot.

We boated a ton of small male whites and maybe 12-15 decent ones we kept (I haven't cleaned them yet). Saw a few sows caught but not many. Water was 56 and good color. Beaver is in the same condition- I took a look at the 160 bridge.

We caught most on small jerk baits- rebels and husky jerks. Others were catching on sliders and swimming minnows. Not crowded in the water but the banks were full of people catching whites.

[Forsythian]

File this one under the "doesn't anyone work anymore?" file!

I had to drive between work facilities today, which took me across the 76 bridge at River Run about noon (on a Wednesday mind you)... I would estimate no less than 25 rigs parked at the ramp. They were lined up 2 deep, then in the grass, then spilling into the 1st campsite nearest the ramp. Might be the most rigs I've ever seen there.

Sam, were you among the masses?

[Sam]

Sam, were you among the masses?

Nope, I put in at Beaver Creek and stayed there. I've never liked Swan and the dam area much, and I've decided it's well worth the 3 bucks to avoid the crowd at K Dock (where I used to go to avoid the crowd). There's power in advertising - there were only 12 rigs parked at Beaver.

I threw a jig a little looking for crappie, but didn't do any good. Every crappie tree I know there had a boat on it with markers out, minnow fishing with about 4 poles with slip bobbers, staying all day and catching about one crappie an hour. The few crappie I saw caught were real small. Feeling kinda lazy, I switched over to trolling for whites. I just went back and forth between the mouth of Beaver and the first sharp bend up the creek, staying on the edges of the channel. Water temp was 56.

I started out with a Roostertail but caught only two males with a long time in between. I noticed two other boats catching a lot more fish than I was, and they were trolling small plugs with a diving lip. Figuring my Roostertail wasn't running deep enough, I switched over to trolling a small chrome Rattletrap and started catching fish.

I ended up with 12 white bass including 4 big sows, 1 big crappie, 1 bluegill that must weigh a pound, and I threw 6 largemouths and spots back including 2 keeper largemouths just over 15". It sure wasn't quick - sometimes I'd go an hour between bites, then they'd turn on for a little while. The fish quit biting entirely about 1 p.m., and I quit at 2 - it was hot out there and I was burning up. Not a bad day - and maybe with this report now everybody will go to Beaver and I'll be able to find a parking place at K Dock next week.

Hey, I'm thinking about trying to find a crappie at Long Creek on Tablerock on Friday, putting in at Gage's. I haven't been there this year and I haven't heard any reports - does anybody know what's going on over there?

[Forsythian]

I've not heard a thing about Long Creek, but I bet it'd be worth a try.

I was thinking about camping at Buck Creek this weekend, but I've not been able to drum up a partner. I may still do that, but Ill probably wind up in line for the sunrise launch at Kdock on Saturday morning, mebbe spend the day in Bee Creek or something.

[Sam]

PM sent with some super-secret confidential crappie holes in the Bee Creek area.

It looks like we're going to James again tomorrow instead of Long Creek. It's supposed to be real windy, so James oughta be easier with my aluminum boat that scoots sideways on the water like a dead sycamore leaf.

[Martin]

Sam, I hit both Cow's Wed and caught no crappie in either creek. They are late for sure but you haven't missed anything around these parts that I know of. Hope the James works out !

[Sam]

We got easy limits of small male white bass on James. We put in at McCord Bend and went up to the launch ramp at the end of Blunk Road, throwing Roostertails to the bank - and they're everywhere. We didn't catch any sows, though, and didn't see any caught. Water temp was 61.

We didn't do near so well on crappie, though. We had our white bass limits by 11 a.m., so we went down toward Ashercane to some crappie spots that have been good in past years. The south wind was blowing a hurricane down there, 3 foot waves and whitecaps, and it was just too tough to fish. My partner caught one 11" white crappie and we headed for home.

[Jason Essary]

sam, i was planning on going sunday with my kids. do u think the crappie were there just to windy, or was they still deep?

[Sam]

sam, i was planning on going sunday with my kids. do u think the crappie were there just to windy, or was they still deep?

The one we caught was in a nesting area in a side cove in about 3' of water. There didn't seem to be any others up shallow there because we fished it hard after catching the one. I figured they'd be in the usual staging area outside the cove and we drifted through that with the wind, but no crappie bites there. So, I don't know.

My guess is that they're still on the edges of the flats at Ashercane, but the wind was so bad we couldn't find out.