crappie 11/4

[top_dollar]

Hit busch yesterday for some groceries.  Caught eaters at 36, and 38, only got 8 though swimming jigs 3-5 feet down near any vegetation still alive.  Saw lots of cars parked on the dam at 33, so my guess is that you can catch boatloads of dinks there with about 1 in 10 fish being 9 inches or better.  Its getting cold quick!  My guess is that they will be very catch-able until everything freezes up.

[top_dollar]

Welp, my guess was wrong....went up sunday afternoon for a few hours and got skunked at 36, and 30.  Went to 33 and pretty much had the place to myself which was unusual.  Caught 18 but 14 were dinks, and it was kinda slow the whole time.  Ate 4 for dinner and composted the rest.

[snagged in outlet 3]

On 11/21/2019 at 2:08 PM, top_dollar said:

and composted the rest.

So you kept them and then threw them out?

[top_dollar]

3 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

So you kept them and then threw them out?

Yeah, lake 33 is perpetually stained and has way too many crappie.  The vast majority are less than 8 inches long. The sign says please remove all crappie up to your daily limit of 30. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Good work!!   I haven’t driven through there in years due to the chat roads.  

[top_dollar]

Yeah my car is always covered in white dust from october through may! 

[JUNGLE JIM 1]

The biggest crappie I ever caught, 17.5" came from Busch out of a catfish lake there. Average size in those lakes are 9+ so I would definitely try those if you are looking for some eater size crappie.

[top_dollar]

9 minutes ago, JUNGLE JIM 1 said:

The biggest crappie I ever caught, 17.5" came from Busch out of a catfish lake there. Average size in those lakes are 9+ so I would definitely try those if you are looking for some eater size crappie.

I never really try the catfish lakes, good tip.  I bet they don't get hit very hard for crappie.  I bounce around from lake to lake casting and swimming small jigs and can usually catch a decent mess of good eaters.  As the weather gets colder and colder that pattern gets less productive.  Since you cant rent boats in the winter I have trouble getting them from the bank on the clearer lakes, which in my experience hold bigger crappie.  33 and a few other lakes stay fairly stained all year and the fish stay on that shallow brush.  I am no purist however, and cant resist catching dink after dink especially when my alternative is 1 bite an hour or less this time of year.

[top_dollar]

Hit busch yesterday and once last week for a few hours each afternoon. Crappie were biting well at 33, 38, and 6.  A few small bass and bluegills mixed in.  I imagine they are biting the same at any of the dirtier lakes.  Jigs 1-3 feet under a float.  I used swimming minnows,  gulp minnows and maribou jigs.  They all worked equally well.  I had to use a cork because they were so shallow.  Mostly dinks, but between my brother and I we would've had a decent mess of 10" fish had we chose to keep.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

53 minutes ago, top_dollar said:

Hit busch yesterday and once last week for a few hours each afternoon. Crappie were biting well at 33, 38, and 6.  A few small bass and bluegills mixed in.  I imagine they are biting the same at any of the dirtier lakes.  Jigs 1-3 feet under a float.  I used swimming minnows,  gulp minnows and maribou jigs.  They all worked equally well.  I had to use a cork because they were so shallow.  Mostly dinks, but between my brother and I we would've had a decent mess of 10" fish had we chose to keep.  

Thanks for the report.  Did you happen to go by 21 or 28?   I’m curious about the C n R crowd.