Crappie To Be Had, But Need To Work For Them.

[WHARFRAT]

This weekend was kind of goofy. No real pattern emerged. Temp was mid 70's. Could see fish on brush anywhere from 4-8' down. For some reason, can't catch fish vertically jigging, and I love doing that more than anything. I guess I'm addicted to the "thump".

Got up Saturday morning, and said "no way" not going out on the boat in this rain. So I grabbed a big ol cup of coffee and headed out to our docks. Maybe hour and a half caught 3 small crappie verticle jigging. Caught in middle of stalls, no cover to speak of.

Left ran some errands. Got back around 2, rain pretty well quit. Miss Julie wanted to nap, so out to the lake I went. Saw the fish on the graph, couldn't buy a bite. Was out for 2 hours, caught 5 or 6. All but one could have went in the livewell. Wound up shooting docks, but the fish bit almost to the boat about 4' down. Went in, Pretty dejected, but Miss Julie met me on the dock with life vest in hand. So out we went, fished until about six, with only a couple of 10" fish, I was ready to call it a day, she wanted to cast to some of my deep brush. I didn't have any luck on it earlier, but we rode over to the two spots. We stayed out until just past dark, probably caught 20 keepers. She got the prize, with a 12.5"er. Of course she knows way more than me now!

Sunday, I guess the high pressure spooked them, except for the dinks. I think I caught only one fish that measured. Went in about 10:30, Miss Julie is on the dock, and get this, verticle jigging and tearing up the big crappie. I just tied up the boat, lifted it up, and put the cover on. I conceded. I was a beaten man.

Anyway, the fish we did find, still don't seem to be on the October pattern, I'm not finding many fish mid cove, they still seem to be around points and docks around points. I'm still fishing the same water I was fishing in August. Anyway, that's all I got.

[rangerman]

thanks for the report..Nice pic as well.

[crittermo]

thanks for the information wharfrat, it is very helpful

[MOsmallies]

Again awesome info.... WHARFRAT you are like the Bill Babler of LOZ crappie... This is very good info for all the LOZ crappie guys. My father-in-law was just down for 5 days and I'm sure did a little Crappie fishing. I'll try to post a report from him from the 25 mm.

[97procraft]

I was fishing the big bass bash and ended up catching 2 crappie on a crankbait. One was 11" and the other was 13.5". That was the biggest crappie I ever caught. Just my luck, i am fishing for the biggest bass ever and I catch the biggest crappie ever. I wish I had a picture of it, but it was raining very hard.

[Old plug]

That is the way to catch big crappie. The two largest crappie i ever caught in this lake i caught on consecutive cast using a rogue. Early in te spawn it happens that big females will rise over points. I have caught lot of 12 - 13 inch inch crappie like that. The two biggest I csught here were both 18" one was a white and one was a black. I have picture. But they are on my computer and i cannot figure out how to get them onto this Ipad to post. There used to be a picture in Laurie at Ozark outfitters but I do not think it is there anymore. But wrench has seen the pics.

[WHARFRAT]

WOW! 18's are nice.. I don't think I've ever personally broke the 16" mark. And the last one over 15" I landed, I took the snoopy pole out of my 3 yr olds hand and landed it for her. She's now 28. So it's been a long time.

Now before we had kids, my wife and I were bass fishing on a 40 acre lake and she caught a crappie just under 19". Wish I would have got it mounted for her, but we didn't really have the spare change at that time of our lives.

For some reason, big crappie elude me. This year I've only caught a handful of crappie over 13"s, and I've caught a ton of fish this year. The biggest one in our boat this past year, my son-in-law caught a 14 1/2" fish.

But, the year isn't over, I still got time!

[MOsmallies]

My biggest was just over 17" out of a St. Louis County subdivision pond about 10 years ago. Watched my brother in law catch a 16" out of the same pond. I've caught a 15" out at Busch Wildlife, and maybe a handful of 13"-14" crappies out of LOZ.... I haven't caught one over 13" though in probably 6 or 7 years though.

My father-in-law just fished his own dock last week but he caught a lot of 10-12" crappie. Vertically fishing minnows with a crappie nibble. His dock is pretty far back in a cove at the 25 mm. Sits in about 12-13 feet of water and has brush and pvc structure underneath. I believe he was catching them relatively close to the bottom.

[Old plug]

I am gitting off my channel bank dock right now are summer crappie. It is usually november before they wonder in around here.

[Old plug]

I posted something but evidently it never made it. Anyway i have had lot of luck with the larger crappie fishing using small flukes about as long as a index finger or smaller on jigs and road runners.