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

[wareaglecamo]

SOUTH of Springfield is CORRECT! addituonal CLUE: last year ranked SECOND BEST CRAPPIE LAKE in the country

[MOPanfisher]

Grenada?

[wareaglecamo]

not Grenada . . . Grenada is actually low right now and being slowly refilled . . .  making fishing somewhat poor until it is back up

[Ketchup]

Man thats some hogs right there. I ghink Ol' Wally Marshall would be proud of that bag. 

[Royal Blue]

Lake Washington?

[wareaglecamo]

 YOU GOT IT RB . . . LAKE WASHINGTON is it!!! . . . 5000 acres of the prettiest crappie water you'll find . . . 10 miles long and about 1/3 mile wide . . . 362 miles from my house in Springfield MO . . . one trip and you got enough fillets to last you for the year!!!

[Royal Blue]

1 hour ago, wareaglecamo said:

 YOU GOT IT RB . . . LAKE WASHINGTON is it!!! . . . 5000 acres of the prettiest crappie water you'll find . . . 10 miles long and about 1/3 mile wide . . . 362 miles from my house in Springfield MO . . . one trip and you got enough fillets to last you for the year!!!

Google is my friend.

[Bill Babler]

Couple of questions if you all don't mind.  Where do you stay when your down there?  Do you fish 1 day or 2, I would think with that drive you would fish at least a couple of days?

Do you haul your boat or do you use a guide service, and if so who?

Do you think that tightline spider rigging would work on any of our Missouri or Arkansas lakes near by?  It seems very interesting.

I have seen two different thoughts on the rigging, one said to move at 1.5 to 2. mph and I read another article that said the traditional speed is .3 to .6  What are your thoughts on that?

Another question, did you use live bait or jigs and what was the length of your rod and the depth that you fished?  This is a very interesting topic and really not what we do here at all, so any information you all can provide is super interesting weather we ever do it or not.

Congrats on a wonderful trip and beautiful fish.

[wareaglecamo]

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

  

[abkeenan]

2 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Couple of questions if you all don't mind.  Where do you stay when your down there?  Do you fish 1 day or 2, I would think with that drive you would fish at least a couple of days?

Do you haul your boat or do you use a guide service, and if so who?

Do you think that tightline spider rigging would work on any of our Missouri or Arkansas lakes near by?  It seems very interesting.

I have seen two different thoughts on the rigging, one said to move at 1.5 to 2. mph and I read another article that said the traditional speed is .3 to .6  What are your thoughts on that?

Another question, did you use live bait or jigs and what was the length of your rod and the depth that you fished?  This is a very interesting topic and really not what we do here at all, so any information you all can provide is super interesting weather we ever do it or not.

Congrats on a wonderful trip and beautiful fish.

Good questions Bill. Will be interested in what the crappie guru's have to say. In early spring we will go after them sometimes if the green and brown fish won't cooperate at a willing rate. Enough "specks" (I believe that's what the true southern boys call'em) for a fish fry and a few for the freezer. I have NEVER spider rigged but I always thought it was mostly a stationary tactic. I also thought it typically was used on mud/clay flats that are prevalent on the AL, LA, MS, FL, etc lakes. All those lines out sounds like a real disaster in the making if you get hung up while drifting. Something that may deter that on TR would be 1) The amount of cedars/wood/trash in the lake and 2) the WIND which we all know can be a real bear most days.