Crappie Time

[WHARFRAT]

Just to let everyone know, if like in past years, this is generally the best time to find bigger crappie at Busch. Normally I fish lake 35, but, out of wanting to do something different, I fished 33 years back and where you generally catch one decent size crappie out of about 35-50, my odds got better. Last year and the previous year the weekend before duck season I fished 33 and kept a nice mess of 9-12" crappie, instead of a mess of 6-7 inchers. Fishing just like pre-spawn, I usually go to the north bank by boat and cast to the sunken brush and the bite comes on the outside of the brush. Depending on the wind, I'll fish no lighter than a 1/16oz jig. I normally dip with a 10 footer, but i've had better success casting here.

Small fish closer to the banks, the bigger ones are deeper and on the outside of the brush piles. I hear the weather will be favorable this weekend. I'll probably start out at 35 like always, get frustrated, then go to 33. I did hear from a friend of mine that fished 34 the middle of this month and kept 9 crappie, 4 of them over 12". That's his go to lake for crappie, I've never really given it a good shot. I've always done good at 35 for size, and 33 for numbers. But for some reason, had my best luck near the end of Oct at 33 for size.

[WHARFRAT]

Didn't have a whole lot of time, so I just fished from the north bank on lake 33. Started out promising, first two fish within a couple of minutes were between just over 10". But that was short lived. Fished the next hour and a half and only caught about 10 more. Only 1 other was just over 8", the others were typical lake 33 dinks. Pretty windy. Fishing a blk/chart slab buster jig, 1/16oz, with a nib. Most were caught on the outside of the brush in deeper water. Also caught of few bass, and a small channel cat. Might have done better in a boat, but would have got aggrevated with the wind.