Mythical Table Rock Crappie

[Naturesfinest]

So my dad and I have been out to the rock about four times in the past 2 weeks hunting down brush piles in 20-30 feet of water trying to catch these mythical table rock crappie in the James river arm. So far we have caught 1 crappie(about 5" long), 1 walleye, and a ton of bass. We have been using minnows and an assortment of jigs. The problem were running into is that most of the corps brush piles we find are sticking out of the water or only about 10 feet deep because the lake is low. So now we are kind of scratching our heads and losing confidence quick. My dad has always been a big crappie fisherman and normally can find them on most lakes just not table rock. What in the world are we doing wrong?!? We use our electronics to find brush on the bottom but are still having no luck so I guess I need your help. Are we not fishing the right part of the lake? Not using the right baits? Not holding our mouth right? You get the point. Table rock is closest to us so we would love to learn how to find the crappie in it so we can freaking eat some fish? Oh yea and any tips for pulling out some more walleye would be great to! Catching bass is fun but were hungry for some fresh fish. We are going back out tomorrow to continue our search. Thanks in advance for any help on this matter.

[duckydoty]

Those crappie are tough right now. I went out yesterday for 3 hours and did not catch one. Now the last 2 weeks I have been getting some on the brush piles. There is one that the Corps put in down by Cape Fair Marina in 16-18 feet of water that has been producing pretty good for me. It is on the flat just outside the marina cove. There are a couple on the tip of the point just across from Virgin Bluff that have been giving up a few good crappie and they are in 18-20 feet of water. The flat just up lake from Virgin bluff has 2 good piles on it in 17-19 feet of water that has been fishing pretty good last week also. They are just across from the bouyed short cut that you can take in higher water to get from Bridgeport to Cape Fair Marina. Water temps were 46 degrees yesterday and like I said I did not get a bite. Wont be long and they should start moving up into the shallower flats out in the open. Flat Creek area. I've been fishing Salt and Pepper crappie magnets with gold 1/16th ounce crappie magnet jig heads on 4 pound test and really picking the brush piles apart. Loose alot of gear but usually catch some fish. Hope this helps you some.

[Phil Lilley]

Are you giving out ~SPOTS~ again!!??

[Phil Lilley]

[johnm]

I would look around those big docks close to deep water for crappie. Just throwing that out there

[snakem]

No crappie in the james river arm move along

[Bill Babler]

For the most part and I know I'm going to catch it for saying so, but if I had 100 crappie lakes to pick from in the Midwest Table Rock would be at the extreme bottom.

There are crappie here, but they can be in the durnest locations. Lots of times at this time of the year the crappie will not relate to any type of structure at all. They will be on the mud bottoms and mud flats up the river systems that are for the most part completely devoid of any type of structure.

Also as the biologist will tell you Table Rock has one of the lowest densities of crappie of any lake in Missouri. Crappie fry must have a either proto or Zo, plankton that is just not in large supply here. I know I butchered that, but you get the drift.

The deep dock deal is usually about as good as it gets this time of the year, in conjunction with the shallow mud bottom bite.

YOu want to consistently catch crappie, that are much easier to find and in much grater numbers, better head to another pond.

I took the Martin Brothers about 8 yrs. ago, and these guys are national crappie champion derby winners, multiple times. They told me they can catch crappie anywhere at anytime including thru the ice. Catching crappie is never a problem. WRONG. They did not skunk out, but said they would never be back and we fished trout the last two days, of a 5 day trip.

Said they had never anywhere and they had fished from Florida to New York to California seen crappie harder to catch than Table Rock Lake. They had also never seen patterns here that catch crappie. It is also not abit unusual to catch 1 or 2 as a lot of times the crappie here do not school, they are loners.

Just sayin, its not your dad, this pond is and can be a very tough crappie bite, even for those that make it a practice to catch them regardless.

Good Luck

[Champ188]

Beaver is a much better crappie lake. Best fishing is from Hickory Creek Marina south up the White River as far as you care to go, or up the War Eagle arm as far as you want to go.

[Naturesfinest]

Thanks everyone for your help. We're going to give it another go tomorrow and see if we can do any better with the tips everyone provided. Does it get any easier in the spring during the spawn? We'll try beaver next if our luck doesn't change on the rock.

[Seth]

Mid March around Flat Creek is the only time I have had luck catching decent crappie down there. You just have to hope Duane left a few for you to catch!