Friday- Saturday report

[waterpossum]

Put in with a friend from Iowa at Mutton Creek Friday at noon. Water visibility about 2' water temp 46. Tried jerk baits in Goocher for an hour without any luck. I don't have much confidence in stick baits in low visibility water. Found a cove north of Mutton on the east side that was about 48 degrees. Tried a wiggle wart without any luck. Took out and went to State Park and the water temp was about the same 47-48 degrees with a little bit better visibility. Finally caught a small bass and 3 keeper crappie off a brush pile in 25' of water. Went to the dam area about 5:30 along with a lot of other boats to try the walleye. Caught three keepers 16-17" range, but we lost four that just pulled loose. The bite is short and sweet lasting for about an hour. We found out the hard way that they shut off after dark. We should have taken the hint when all the other boats left after dark. Saturday we had five bass (two keepers 2.5 and 3.2 lbs) one on a jig the other on a small chartreuse crank bait in the back of Birch Branch on a flat gravel bank that was showing 50 degree water. We targeted crappie sporadically for the two days without success. Saturday eve at the dam was a repeat performance of three keepers except while we were biding time at the dam area setting off a point in 36' of water my friend looking at the back graph mentioned he was seeing a few fish at 12'. First drop at that depth he caught a big sow white bass. We saw there was going to be 20-25 mph winds today and checked out of Southwinds and came home. The lake temp mid day was around the 48 degree mark in most places, but I would think that howling warm wind would get it to 50 lake wide in the next couple of days. Two old men throwing jerk baits for two days was all our bodies could handle.

[paintnfurdoe]

Waterpossum.... No white bass action?

[waterpossum]

I think the white bass report will be coming soon. I understand CC was packed with boats this weekend.

[dprice]

What's water temp at cc ? 

I had 47 in mouth of little sac   

but at 12 went close to Aldrich   Found 53  

[slab slinger]

Great report. Thanks for the info.

For what it's worth I'll try and help out in finding crappie. The crappie are in pre spawn pattern obviously but many people have trouble finding them now and after the spawn. The pre spawn Fish will usually be hanging out in spawning coves hugging the creek channel ledges in deeper water. Some days They will suspend near the creek channel like post spawn fish. The males should be starting to gather up in spawning coves on the channel and also on spawning banks with a channel swing near. It's sometimes hard to find pre spawn Fish like now because fish are scattered like crazy this time of year. If you are struggling finding them on known locations piles, timber, bridge pillars. Try looking for suspended fish or close to bottom in coves near the channel's edge or near spawning main lake banks with channel swing. If there's stumps or piles on channel edge then that's where the fish will be heaviest concentrated. Good luck. Thanks again for the report. 

 

[waterpossum]

There was a lot of suspended fish over deep water especially in the dam area. I went to the channel side of point 2 Friday cruising around. There was a lot of fish over the 80' channel suspended at various depths down to 50'. Water clarity in the mid lake area has been so bad for a couple of months I haven't tried spooning or jigging for these fish. Slab slinger probably has the best approach, especially with the warming water. A little warm rain in the forecast would also help.

[blacknoseddace]

There are lots of carp suspended there too. Carp love that area, but not to worry, lots of desirable type fish too. Just saying, over the years I have found out a lot of them are of the bugle mouth variety. I have an underwater camera. 

[slab slinger]

These post spawn crappie will not be over agressive but they will bite and some days very well. You'll have to sit tight over the fish and really work the areas you've marked fish. For me live bait shines for this situation but a jig tipped with a minnow is very effective as well. I can't think of a better technique to catching  pre spawn Crappie on channel ledges other than spider rigging. I use to hold a 12ft pole in each hand and double minnow rig over the fish on the ledge. I know there's other techniques to catch these fish but I have came reliant on spider rigging for this pattern. I would recommend the investment in a spider rig set up if your a die hard crappie fishermen if not I probably wouldn't make the investment. I have a hard time leaving the set up at home because it is so effective year round. Good electronics and mastering boat control are key to catching fish and not making a mess of your lines. Fishing 16 hooks over a brush pile takes practice and perfect boat control. I'm not going to say it's not boring staring at 8 rods when your not in the fish.  I am a single pole jig fishermen at heart and I live for the thump bite on a jig  but when it's tough riggin shines over any other technique I know. 

[blacknoseddace]

48 minutes ago, blacknoseddace said:

There are lots of carp suspended there too. Carp love that area, but not to worry, lots of desirable type fish too. Just saying, over the years I have found out a lot of them are of the bugle mouth variety. I have an underwater camera. 

For clarification, I am speaking of the dam area.

[dprice]

Water temps -  frontal conditions   

And especially  good bass around  beds  and wood cover will scatter them things pretty fast