Crappie Report

[Phil Lilley]

Jeremy Rasnick and I headed to Long Creek yesterday about 5:30 pm. Put in at Gages. Couldn't believe there were only 7 trailers in the lot.

Headed up and hit a half dz spots- mine and his. Ended up up past Yoccum in Long Creek where he and his dad caught a bunch of crappie earlier in the week. Most of the spots yielded a crappie with the last in Long giving up 10-11 keepers for the evening. None were close to the bank- most were 15-30 feet off the bank suspended and not really grouped at all. Found 63 degree in Long- warmest yet. Water is almost too clear- need a rain to darken it up a bit.

[markg]

Hey Phil,

Came down o your place last Tuesday. That is a great looking rsort and enjoyed talking to your employees on the dock. As far as crappie on Table Rock I thought they were doing pretty well. Six of us limited out 6 out of 7 days last week. The fish ranged from 10-15 1/2". When I asked for info a couple weeks ago I thought guys were just holding out but after being there I think the bite just started and you had to change from traditional jigging. We started out against the north or east side fishing off the walls on Saturday (just our 2 Arkansan friends) and they limited out. On Sunday we all went out and ended in Youcum, 8 foot of water and chasing the schools of crappie. We all limited out. On Monday we stayed on Youcum and moved up on Long from the bridge and rock walls nort.....they turned on around 5pm. We all limited out again. On Tuesday it was rough. Dad & I stayed on the walls of Long and in coves while the others stayed on Youcom. We limited out but the others struggled. Wednesday was another good day. Dad and I continued along the rock walls but eneded up in 5 foot of water on Long. We all limited out on the shallow water of Long creek. We continued to stay on Long cree Thursday & Friday and everyone limited out.

Just watching your site it appears everyone was staying in 12' water looking for the slabs & staying on the creek channels. While I have to say stay just off the channel was best I think it came down to the jigs used. We had quite a few others trying minnows and jigs around us but it seemed that only a couple of other fisherman found the trick. There were a couple of men in a red Champion boat that had beat us on Friday by using a white maribou jig, casting out, and just reeling in. They were the only ones that I seen come close to catching the same amount. A while later some guys in a War Eagle were using bobbers and minnows and caght everything around stickups.

I can understand locals not wanting to give info up. I'm gone and won't be back for a while so I can tell what we used. Out Arkansan friends got use on the flats at Youcum. We were using both a bobber and countdown methods. Bobbers were set from 3-4 fot, count down would be 3-thousand to 4-thousand. Were were using a Charlie Brewer Slider on a 1/16 minnow head jig. The best color for the minnow head jig was chartruese. The best Slider was blue ice with a chartruese tail. We also caught a lot with a white/chartrues slider and a red/chartruese slider. Another good jig under the bobber was a tri-color tube jig in red/blue/chartruese. I think the most constistant thing we did was put a crappie nibble on these. We did catch a lot of short fish on Friday but overall we did have a good week of fishing. Hope this helps everyone.

[Sam]

We went crappie fishing out of Gage's yesterday (Monday), and it was slow, slow, SLOW. My partner and I fished hard all day for 6 keeper crappies, a couple of short bass, and one maybe-5 lb. bass that I wish I could have got in with a crappie pole.

We worked all the crappie spots we know, hard, all the way down to Long Creek above Yocum and back. We scoped lots of crappie, but the bite just wasn't on that day.

Lilley, I think you're right in saying that fishermen think it's springtime since the temperature is in the 70's, but it's still early. We scoped lots and lots of crappie staging in the right places, and they're going to bust loose soon.

[Ron Burgundy]

Sam I don't feel as bad now since you struggled on Monday, we fished all day and had 4 keepers between us you are right it was SLOW,SLOW,SLOW,SLOW,SLOW!!!!!!.........Long Creek, Cricket and Yocum is where we fished....

[naru70]

Markg

Were those 1 1/2 inch sliders?

[markg]

Those were the Charlie Brewer 1 1/2" sliders. The fastest way to get them is online. I ordered some more on Monday and they got here today....fast turn around.

[Sam]

I struggled again today out of McCord Bend. I fished all the way down to Bridgeport and back, and tried all the crappie banks and white bass places I know, with no luck. I caught one 11" crappie and one 14" white bass. The crappie was in 2' of water under a bush, and it looked like a male white crappie. I threw it back.

I got rained on for about an hour and a half, and the river is stained - about 2' visibility. Surface water temp was 61 early, 66 later.

Every year I do the same thing. I get anxious, especially if the weather turns warm - and I'll have several tough trips in March. Come April, I start catching fish. Seems like I'd learn that and wait 'til later, but it's nice to get out after a long winter.

Oh, if there are any spoonbillers here, they're catching the tar out of them at that bend on the south end of Asher's. I saw about 5 big ones caught.

[Ex-Iowegian]

Sam: I probably passed you at some point. My wife and I motored up from just North of Virgin Bluff past McCord Bend and got there just in time for the rain. Waited it out and got one Rock Bass, one bluegill, four smallish whites, one smallie, and one small crappie. You're right about Asher Cane Bottoms and paddlefish. My wife got a 30lb 6 oz on Monday (36" eye to fork of tail) and about a half hour later I boated one that was five ft, 6 inches paddle to tail. We kept hers but let mine go so I didn't get a weight. It was plenty big for me!!! Is that cement ramp just up from McCord's Bend Blunk's?

[Sam]

Iowegian, I'm sure you passed me going upstream - a couple of boats did with wives aboard. I was the extremely wet guy in the blue rainsuit.

The next launch ramp above McCord Bend is at Galena Park. I wouldn't recommend using that one, it's pretty poor. Blunk Hole is two river bends above the Park, and it's a walk-in deal with no roads or ramps.

I've been wishing I'd gone upstream from McCord instead of down, but from your report it doesn't sound like fishing was much better up there. A five-and-a-half-foot paddlefish on Monday, wow! I've never even seen one that big.

[Ex-Iowegian]

Sam: We were in the little white Boston Whaler with the blue interior. After we were already good and wet, I put on a yellow poncho and the wife and dog were under a white plastic tarp. As far as the paddlefish, our tape measure only went to 40 inches so we stretched a rope from tip of paddle to tip of tail while we held him beside the boat, tied a knot in it (no stretching here, this guy was two big to fudge on)and and measured it when we got home. He is the only fish I ever caught worth bragging about! My wife took photos after we boated him. She had to take the photo in two shots, one top and one bottom, because our little Whaler is only 13' 6" and she couldn't get far enough away to get me and the fish in one frame. If I can figure out how to stitch the two photos together, I'll try to post it here. Hopefully he'll hide out till next year and somebody else can catch him again...maybe even me!!