Attn: Crappie

[bigdub]

It seems like on this forum everyone is pretty tight lipped about crappie for the most part, which I "guess" is understandable, apparently NO-ONE ever crappie fishes in Bull Shoals... wierd LOL!! OH WELL,I guess so this may be considered a little Sac-religious I guess, but I'm just a Kansas boy who doesn't know any better, so who cares! My father and I ventured up into Swan creek on Sat in all the rain and nasty weather and caught what I would consider to be a substantial amount of crappie around the bridges, along the bluff and up in the creek around where those bush tops are sticking out and the water transitions deeper! We were using a combination of swimming minnows until they would slow down and then switch rods with a white 1/8th oz jig and back and forth! All in all left with a limit and the smallest one was 14 inches all in about 2 hours. We also snagged a few very small whites, but not as many as expected. I would think that this was just a case of blind squirrels and acorns, but the Sat before we had done th same thing fishing in that cove just beside K Dock(not sure what its called), simply fishing into the bank where the water has a nice ledge. Now with this being the first 2 times we have ever fished these waters I know that there have to be some crappie expert out there who know a hell of a lot more than I do and if you choose not to divulge your hard earned information that is your perogative, but I am just throwing my 2 cents in here for what its worth, this seems to be a great crappie fishery! If I have given away anyones spots I truely am sorry, maybe, good luck out there and be safe!

[crappiefisherman]

Ill be darn,

[crappiefisherman]

Its my understanding that the creek crappie will give you the crappie flu , and should be avoided

[bigdub]

Its my understanding that the creek crappie will give you the crappie flu , and should be avoided

Well, that would explain this strange illness LOL!!

[crappiefisherman]

where are you taday dub, and is the creek up and muddy today do you know

[crappiefisherman]

and at k was it the creek with docks in it or the one by the submerged dock road

[crappiefisherman]

shucks hes gone, guess ill go to the creek and look for a rig with 22 inch dubs

[bigdub]

shucks hes gone, guess ill go to the creek and look for a rig with 22 inch dubs

[/quot

I was in the one with the submerged road on the opposite bank, just throwing up into about 5 ft working back into the deeper water, the jigs were the ticket there. I did go all the way up into "Trigger" I believe? where two small creeks kind of merge in the back, the water was a few degrees warmer and caught 2 really nice ones, but that was it, a lot of small largemouth up there, it was hard to fish for catching them!

[Phil Lilley]

Great report- thanks! I'd heard about the K-Cove being hot. Glad you got on them.

[Sam]

bigdub - I'm glad you had such a good trip, and though I guess I'm one of the K-Dock regulars I've got no problem with reports like yours. General reports are helpful, and real specific reports don't matter much because things change so fast. If you tell me on Monday that I oughta throw 10 feet to the left of the flat rock, that'll probably change by the time I finally get there on Wednesday.

I went out of K Dock yesterday (Tuesday), and I had a real good trip. Based on what you wrote I tried the K Dock cove first but couldn't get a bite. Things change, and the crappie might have been biting before I got there or after I left, but not while I was there. In fact, I haven't found spawning crappie up shallow yet this year, but I'm looking for 'em.

A couple of miles from there and with completely different conditions I got a crappie limit. I'm not sure what to think - they were in one of my old spots in 25' of water. I caught about half males and half females and about half black crappie and half white crappie all from the same spot on a main lake bank. The females' eggs were no where near ready and I'm not sure whether some of them decided to skip the spawn or just haven't done it yet. Their size was great - all over 12" and I caught one black crappie that was 16" (with immature eggs). Water temp was 60 to 62 everywhere I went.

I also caught some white bass while crappie fishing, and I caught and released about 10 bass, all small except for 2 keeper largemouths, 16" and 17". Those were a lot of fun to catch on a light crappie rig - they took me around the boat a couple of times!

As I launched, I noticed about 100 three-inch crappie under the end of the little courtesy dock there at the ramp. That's something I've never seen there before, and I think it's real good. Those hatched out in the high water last year, and if there are little crappie all over the lake like that we'll have some good years coming.

The water's over the low road at K Dock, and most of the lot's underwater leaving parking for only about 10 rigs. I was the third rig to park there in the morning and there were only five parked when I came back in, but that parking situation may become a real problem on weekends if the water stays high.