Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Put in at Cricket Creek Marina at 8 am this morning with Bill Babler and heade up past the mouth of Long and into Cricket. Fished the flats on the right, sitting in 12-15 feet of water and doing best when throwing paralelle to the bank- sink to the bottom and reeling real real slow. 1/6th oz head with chartruese swimming minnow. I caught 5 short and 5 keeper crappies and Bill caught one keeper. They were biting light. I left at 11 am and Bill stayed and fish longer.

Buster was fishing upstream in Long with clients this am. We talked to him on the cell phone a couple of times and he and his party limited by 11 am. They were short of Yocum fishing the first tree line off the bluff bank using white or chartruese grubs close to the bottom in 10-15 feet.

[Phil Lilley]

Another tip for crappies... I got it from an excellent source that crappie are being caught in very shallow water on mud flats way up on Long Creek, much higher than Cricket and even Yocum. Shallow- 2-4 feet deep. This has been going on for about a week now. But these crappies aren't as big as the ones I caught yesterday down around Cricket. Yes there are alot of 10 inch crappies but they are thin and just 10 inches.

[Sam]

I went there yesterday, Wednesday. I mostly fished Long Creek about halfway between Cricket and Yocum.

It was pretty slow most of the day, I only had three keeper crappie and one short one after five hour's fishing. Then, at 4 p.m., they started biting. I got a limit before dark.

They were all from 10" to 12", except for one 15 1/2" female. I was lucky to get her, I hung up in a brushpile in 22 foot water, pulled it loose, it hung up again, pulled it loose again - then I had that big crappie on. I've noticed that before with really big crappie - they're bullies and they'll take the heaviest, brushiest cover they can find, forcing the smaller crappies to the outside of the pile. I know I caught that big one right in the middle of that brush.

Another interesting thing about the big crappie. When I fileted the fish this morning, I noticed that her stomach was real full. I opened it up - and there was a six-and-a-half-inch shad rolled up into a ball inside. I didn't know a crappie could eat something that big, and she STILL bit on my lure. I think those "big mamas" take pretty good care of themselves.

I caught several undersize crappie, and they were all in shallow water. All the keepers came from 20 to 28 feet around brush.

[Phil Lilley]

I knew yesterday would have been a killer day to go... can't wait till next week- I'm going on the warmest day!!