James River Arm Crappie

[duckydoty]

Spent some time on the water looking for some crappie today. Put in at Bridgeport and worked my way up past point 15 checking brush piles in 10-15 feet of water and trolling flicker shad to the next pile. Caught a whole lot of nothing. Decided to head down to Virgin Buff area. Trolled the flats and worked the brush piles on the way down. Picked up a few shorts on brush in 12 feet of water down by Bear Den. Picked up a short spot on the flicker in 18 feet of water on the next flat down. I was trolling the flat just before Virgin heading towards a brush pile down loaded from the MDC website. It was in 20 feet and I had the i-pilot following the contour at 1.5 mph. The brush showed up on the down imaging graph and I could see fish on top of it. The flicker shad snagged the brush pile so I turned around to get it. Once I was directly over the snagged lure I threw out a marker and hit spot lock on the i-pilot. The flicker shad came free and then a familiar thump. Reeled it in and had a 14 inch crappie attached to it. Started dropping crappie magnets 20 feet straight down. Lifted them about 2-3 feet and let it sit. Started getting quite a few light taps and every now and then actually hooking up. Ended up with 7 keepers before it started getting dark. Fun day out there watching and playing with the graph.

[James Coonrod]

Those looks tasty! Nice job!

[Moswimb8slinger]

Awesome, thanks for the report, I know several people waiting for the crappie to start biting

[Champ188]

Thanks for the report, Ducky. Can't beat those wintertime crappie for taste.

[merc1997 Bo]

sounds like knowing how to utilize the newer high tech equipment really paid off!! really nice job.

bo

[duckydoty]

Thanks guys. I forgot to mention the watert temp was 46 degrees. The new electronics are almost as much fun as the fishing......na, not really.

[fishingaddiction]

Nice report and utilization of your equipment. Good looking stringer.

[5bites]

Great report. Winter James River crappie is on my agenda too. I don't know anything about it but thankfully I inow someone who does.

[duckydoty]

This is my 3rd winter of chasing the James River winter crappie. I feel like I finally have the right equipment and Im building on a knowledge base that is making me more confident in the chase. Should be a fun winter. Cant wait tilll the lake turns over and they get out on the flats.

[Jozark]

Duck,

My father and brother where fishing off the far end of Virgin Bluff over Thanksgiving week. They caught about 12 or so in hour with about 5 keepers. But they said the Crappie where acting very strange after they would release them. They would float and then my brother said he grabbed one and the air bladders where coming out?? I thought that was very strange since they where catching them in about 15-18 feet of water. Did any of your fish do this??? I was wondering why this was happening??