Mythical Table Rock Crappie

[rangerman]

No one mentioned trolling....I have found fishing the James river arm, that covering water even this time of year is key to limits. Concentrated on the suspended fish over the river channel. Some may be deep however a majority are around the 15-20 mark which when trolling cranks such as flicker shads 100 or so foot back allow for the fish to rise and strike. Have caught crappie trolling in water as cool as 43 degrees.

[Ron Burgundy]

No one mentioned trolling....I have found fishing the James river arm, that covering water even this time of year is key to limits. Concentrated on the suspended fish over the river channel. Some may be deep however a majority are around the 15-20 mark which when trolling cranks such as flicker shads 100 or so foot back allow for the fish to rise and strike. Have caught crappie trolling in water as cool as 43 degrees.

I catch them the same way up the Kings it's a blast!

[gitnby]

Sometimes impossible to get to from a boat, but look for ropes or romex wire hanging straight down inside boat stalls or on main deck in front of docks.

Many of them are attached to cut cedars or artificial structure of some type that attract crappie and bass.

[abkeenan]

I've never had much luck catching crappie on Table Rock except at the end of March on though April. Even then it's usually spotty. I am fishing the dam area and Long Creek though. But still, like Bill has said TR isn't a crappie haven like LOZ or other MO lakes.

[Naturesfinest]

So we didn't get skunked today! We fished for about 5 hours and caught 9 with 2 keepers. Most were in between 9-10" long. When we stopped for gas there was a guy who told us a couple spots to check out where he could normally pull some out so we headed to the big dock he recommended and fished all around it. The do m was in 25-30 feet of water and the crappie see to bite best at around 15'. We tossed jigs into the slips and hung minnows off the side. I would say we caught a few more on the minnows until the bite just quit around 3:30-4. Hey at least we finally tracked down some of those few and far between fish. My dad did catch one with quite a cool characteristic.( the first one he had ever caught with a marking like this). Funny thing is I just read about this trait last night online so I was able to educate him a little bit on what he pulled out. Thanks again for everyone's input and tips.

[duckydoty]

Glad you found some! Thanks for reporting.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Pretty common marking from a James river arm crappie. I catch a lot with that black streak down their head. I don't think I've ever seen I in any other lake. Maybe someone in here knows more on that

[abkeenan]

When I do crappie fish in early spring I always catch a few that have that funky black marking on the nose, head and down their spine/back. We had this conversation one time here on OA but I forgot the reasoning. I believe it is totally normal though and happens throughout lakes in the U.S.

[Naturesfinest]

I guess it's caused from a recessive gene in the black crappie that gives them this marking. They call it a black nose crappie. Both keepers today had this mark but none of the others we caught did. Here's a link to the article I stumbled upon last night. http://wired2fish.scout.com/story/1495658-do-you-know-your-crappie

[Bill Babler]

The black mark can also be found in the Winter on LM bass, lake wide. The only two species that I have seen with it are the crappie and the LM bass. I think we have tried to determine what it is before. It goes away as the water warm and the season changes. I'll ask the biologist what it is and get back with you.