Crappie fishing trip

[slabseeker]

I was able to get away Sat. morning on the lake for some early fall crappie

fishing. I usually don't have much luck this time of year, and this trip was no exception, but it was a beautiful morning. Got on the lake around 6:30am (at Choania Landing) and there was some major heavy fog on the channel. Had wanted to get out and fish some deeper stumps (15ft--deep for this lake)on the channel, but too foggy to safely anchor out there, as you couldn't see 10 feet away. So we went over into Snow creek and tried throwing a Roadrunner and Jig and Floater, with not much success, couple small ones. Got into a section of logs and stickups and I couldn't resist throwing a buzz bait down that bank, with no success. When the fog finally lifted, we got out on the main channel down from Lost Creek and fished a jig and floater with no luck. We decided to try some shallow stumps (5ft.) in the coves, also with no luck.

Finally did locate a few keepers in a brushpile off of Lost Creek channel, but not enough to keep. So either the fish were not feeding, or we could not locate them. There were not alot of boats in our area, I did not see anyone fishing shallow. I did encounter 2 other boats trolling along the river channel, and overheard that they were not having any luck either. One of them said that it is just a nice day to eat a sandwich on the lake. My sentiments exactly. I know probably not a lot are familiar with this lake, but thought some crappie fishermen might want to compare notes.

[Phil Lilley]

Does the crappie fishing pick up in the fall on Wappapello? Sounds like it was just too pretty for the fish to bite... that's usually the way it is.

Thanks for sharing- hope to hear more about that part of the state.

[ryan]

The best time to fish wappapello is when they drop the water to winter pool to about feb. this is when you can really catch some fish. Sunny days are the best as the fish stay close to brush. A lake barkley rig or tandem rig is tough to beat when fishing heavy cover. It's not uncommon to have 100+ fish days although a nuber of the fish will be small.

[slabseeker]

I am a firm believer in the too pretty of a day theory. I have seen it many times. In my experience, fall crappie fishing is just hit or miss. I think fact that you will not see that many fishing this time of year is evidence of that. I have had more slow days than good, but if you can locate some fish you can usually have some pretty good success. I am sure that if you found the baitfish or shad, that would help. At least until the lake turns over, usually in October, then it is really tough. But as ryan says, the best time is mid-Nov. to Feb., when they lower the lake level to Conservation pool, practically cutting the surface area of the lake almost in half, and concentrating the fish on most days along the deeper channel structure.