Wheeere's Wareagle? . . . in CRAPPIE HEAVEN!!! CHECK OUT THE PICS!!!

[abkeenan]

8 minutes ago, wareaglecamo said:

thanks Bill . . . I'll be glad to pass along what I know, especially considering ALL OF MOUNDS OF INFO YOU HAVE SHARED WITH FORUM MEMBERS OVER THE YEARS . . . 8 rods on a boat is the normal setup . . . 16ft rods preferred . . . a company called Jenko has produced a new spider-rigging rod which is catching on like fire down in the south . . . can also be used for single-pole dipping among the trees . . . the rod has a heavy butt section with a very flexible tip . . . the heavier rod is definitely preferable in the south to prevent the BIG CRAPPIE from taking control and running right or left . . . the 1.5 to 2 mph is way out of line . . . never that fast . . . the only guides that ever approach 1 to 1.5 mph are those that are long-lining crankbaits or roadrunners out of the back of the boat . . . I went down for three days (thurs, fri, sat) and fished with my favorite guide Jerry Gross . . . there are only 3 guides on the lake that I know of and, IMO, Jerry is the best for many reasons . . . at this time of the year in MS, you spider-rig at .3 to .4 mph and, as the water temp increases you increase the speed not to ever exceed .8 mph even in the hottest times of the year . . . this last week, when we would exceed .4 mph, the strikes slowed down noticeably . . . .6 and .7 mph produced nothing at all . . . I have spider-rigged on Truman with top guide, IMO, Jeff Faulkenberry . . . it works, Jeff has tremendous success all year, but he also dips with a single pole among the thousands of trees . . . in deep lakes like TRL, it's more about where the brush piles are and in many cases necessitates vertical jigging over the pile . . . in Lake Washington, the deepest parts of the lake are only 20-24ft with very little or no structure . . . most of the time we are following the migrating patterns of the crappie as they move from the deeper parts of the lake to the pre-spawn staging areas and eventually into the cypress trees to spawn . . . those that chose to fish the cypress trees last week were too early and only picked up smaller crappie now and then . . . the females were in the migration and staging process leading up to the spawn and had to be found with sonar . . . we found them in mostly 10-12 feet of water at a depth of about 3-4 feet above the bottom . . . a week or two ago they were in 16 feet of water . . . Jerry Gross owns a company called Meatgetter Jigs . . . he ties a very unique WEIGHTLESS JIG that I had never seen before anywhere in Misssouri . . . he calls this weightless jig the MINNER CRITTER . . . he tips it with a live minnow and fishes 2 per pole with a 1 ounce weight toward the bottom of the rig . . . in the south, everybody knows what MINNER CRITTERS are . . . but not up here . . . every crappie you see in the photos were caught on MINNER CRITTERS . . . they are extremely effective!!! . . . by not having a weighted jig head, the minnow swims more freely and naturally and lasts much longer . . . Jerry Gross and I have developed a good relationship and I love fishing with him . . . I have learned a lot from him . . . all of his jigs are custom-tied by Jerry and his wife Debbie . . . they cannot hardly keep up with the orders . . . here's the info on guide Jerry Gross and where to stay . . . 

***get the BEST CRAPPIE GUIDE on Lake Washington for the BEST PRICE (by far) on the entire lake: Jerry Gross 870-718-8665 MAKE SURE to tell him that George from Springfield MO told you to directly call him for the BEST PRICE . . . Jerry will always answer his phone ***for the BEST PLACE TO STAY RIGHT ON THE LAKE and also at the BEST PRICE, contact PAM, the OWNER of Roy's Store and Cabins and tell her that George from Springfield MO told you to call her directly PAM . . . OWNER, ROY'S STORE AND CABINS 662-827-2588             Reply   Forward

  

Fantastic info right there. Neat to see regional and seasonal fishing tactics. Learn something new everyday. Thanks for sharing. 

[Bill Babler]

Wow George, all I can say is Wow.  That is truly why we love this forum.   Fantastic information from one of our members.  Again.  You just have my blood pumping, that would be a fantastic road trip for just about anyone except those with extreme bassidis.

Thanks much and Great Luck fishing here at home.

[vernon]

Ever feel like a paper airplane pilot when you just met the captain of the Space Shuttle?

Wow.  No wonder I never catch anything!

Thanks for the most comprehensive editorial I've ever seen regarding crappie fishing.

That would make for an amazing youtube video.  I can't even begin to visualize the operation in action.

[wareaglecamo]

hey vernon . . . thank you very much . . . you're much too kind . . . SPEAKING OF A YOU TUBE VIDEO, THERE JUST HAPPENS TO BE A COUPLE THAT I POSTED ON YOU TUBE after my trip to LAKE WASHINGTON in 2016 . . . to see it, go to You Tube and  SEARCH Jerry Gross . . . there will be 2 different videos that come up . . . each showing a person holding 2 CRAPPIE . . . one is about 8 minutes in length and the other about 4-5 minutes in length . . . take a look . . . hope you enjoy them!!!  

[vernon]

2 hours ago, wareaglecamo said:

hey vernon . . . thank you very much . . . you're much too kind . . . SPEAKING OF A YOU TUBE VIDEO, THERE JUST HAPPENS TO BE A COUPLE THAT I POSTED ON YOU TUBE after my trip to LAKE WASHINGTON in 2016 . . . to see it, go to You Tube and  SEARCH Jerry Gross . . . there will be 2 different videos that come up . . . each showing a person holding 2 CRAPPIE . . . one is about 8 minutes in length and the other about 4-5 minutes in length . . . take a look . . . hope you enjoy them!!!  

No - thank YOU!  I will be sure and check it out.  I feel like I just learned a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't previously know or had even remotely considered but now I'm completely overwhelmed by the volume of the information presented and can't figure out how to process it all.

Congratulations on a fantastic trip but, again, thanks for sharing in such great detail.

[Terrierman]

3 hours ago, wareaglecamo said:

hey vernon . . . thank you very much . . . you're much too kind . . . SPEAKING OF A YOU TUBE VIDEO, THERE JUST HAPPENS TO BE A COUPLE THAT I POSTED ON YOU TUBE after my trip to LAKE WASHINGTON in 2016 . . . to see it, go to You Tube and  SEARCH Jerry Gross . . . there will be 2 different videos that come up . . . each showing a person holding 2 CRAPPIE . . . one is about 8 minutes in length and the other about 4-5 minutes in length . . . take a look . . . hope you enjoy them!!!  

What a great thread.  Thank you very much for posting everything you have.

[Champ188]

A very nice thread packed with lots of undoubtedly hard-earned information. Thanks much for sharing, wareagle.

[CarpSlayer]

Here's what we found down a good ol bull shoals yesterday. We both got our limits with a couple of 15 inchers

[Devan S.]

wareaglecamo...fished Grenada last October the same way. Showed up to fish on Saturday to 30+ MPH west to east wind....guide said we can if you want but I have an opening tomorrow. Held off a day only to be greeted with 25+MPH winds. DIdn't have anymore days to spend so said lets do it. Winds had switched a bit more southwest to northeast so went to Enid. Pushing minnows/jigs in 8' water with 8 rods and probably caught close to 100 fish in the 10-11.5" range. Had 16 keepers(12"+) guide said it was a terrible day. I can only imagine what a good day would have been.

Have seriously considered buying 4-16' rods to try and push jigs in the Kings after the crappie move off the bank and see if it would work just don't have enough guts to spend the money and make it happen.

[wareaglecamo]

hey Devan S. . . interesting stuff . . . I think you made a smart move picking Enid over Grenada on that one and only day . . . I have never fished Grenada but I know it can a bear in terms of wind . . . the word last week in MS was that even if the wind would lay, the fishing has not been good at Grenada and that it needs to fill more from the winter draw-down . . . sounds like you had a lot of action at Enid and had a good time . . . fighting strong winds, even with 2 wind socks out, can absolutely prevent you from maintaining the proper spider-rigging speed at this time of the year . . . your guide is right because if you hit it right on any of the MS monster-crappie lakes (Enid, Sardis, Arkabutla, Grenada or Washington) the fishing can be INSANELY FABULOUS!!! . . . I had the pleasure of experiencing one of those days last Saturday at Washington! . . . I always remember that MONSTER-CRAPPIE TIME IN MS IS FROM VALENTINES DAY TO APRIL FOOLS DAY . . . that's when you have a GOOD CHANCE for a SPECTACULAR day of crappie fishing with many 2-POUND PLUS fish . . . I know for a fact that spider-rigging is consistently very good on Truman Lake . . . I have experienced it first-hand with guide Jeff Falkenberry (IMO, the very best of the best crappie guide on Truman) . . . I'm not familiar at all with the King's arm of TRL, but, in general, TRL would not be by first choice for spider-rigging in MO . . . the rods are the CHEAP PART OF SPIDER-RIGGING . . . 4 X $60 . . . the expense comes in with the rod holders . . . "INDIVIDUAL"  TITE-LOK ROD HOLDERS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GO . . . a set of 8 with the mounting base between $600-$800 . . . 8 Jenko 16ft rods at $60 each $480 . . . the 2 combined are an unbeatable set-up and are superior to any other combination, IMO