Crappie 8/22/20

[Lance34]

Got going about 6 Saturday morning...  They’ve been finicky here for awhile.  Took a break from Beaver and hit other lakes the first part of August.  Boat crowd was getting old

Last week they were mad and it didn’t matter what size the bait was.  This week it started off like that and then once the sun got up it was back to finicky...  Like they just come up and nip at it but not commit to it.  Buddy of mine fishing with livescope would say they just come up and look, then swim away...  That would drive me nuts.

They were hammering it on a 18 foot contour at about 15 to 13 feet down.  Minnows and a Crappie Magnet split tail jig in a color called Sho-nuff...  Looks like Monkey Milk...  Most came off a jig than meat.  Crazy how that is.  They haven’t wanted jigs all summer and now they do...  I guess because it’s a small profile and not much of any action.  Just a little vibration that triggers that horizontal line just enough I guess.   Had 8 on my first past in about 45 minutes.  Flipped around and picked up two more.  Then gave it a rest.  Went searching for roamers on a big flat but couldn’t keep bass, gar, and cats off my line.   Picked up a few shorts but no keepers.  So made my way back into that pocket and went to the same contour.  Picked up two more but the bite was nothing like at first light.   

I quit around noon about the time it turns into an ocean.  

Really gained a lot of personal confidence sticking with Beaver throughout the summer.  I struggle the most in the summer.  Just had to keep dragging my boat out there and plug away at it.

God bless and good fishing Lance 

[Greg B.]

Good work and great report.  I had to take the weekend off and get a few honey dos out of the way.  I can’t seem to figure out when to crank and when to drag jigs.  Seems like one day they want jigs and the next they’d rather hit cranks.  I always thought summer meant cranks but I’m close to slowing things back down and moving back to jigs.  Had several good days dragging cranks and then they seemed to just quit.  
 

 Not sure when I’ll get back after em as I’ve got a ton going on at work right now.  but I’m sure ready.  

[Johnsfolly]

A great report and like always ends with a mess of crappie. Congrats!

[Ruger5555]

Good work!

[Lance34]

8 hours ago, Greg B. said:

Good work and great report.  I had to take the weekend off and get a few honey dos out of the way.  I can’t seem to figure out when to crank and when to drag jigs.  Seems like one day they want jigs and the next they’d rather hit cranks.  I always thought summer meant cranks but I’m close to slowing things back down and moving back to jigs.  Had several good days dragging cranks and then they seemed to just quit.  
 

 Not sure when I’ll get back after em as I’ve got a ton going on at work right now.  but I’m sure ready.  

@Greg B.

Yeah I’ve always been told the magic number for pulling cranks is 75 degrees WT and the hotter the better...  Which 82 is prime...  These cooler nights might slow it down...  I don’t know...  Guys this weekend seemed to pick em off good with cranks... Last weekend no...  Change in temp it got cooler...   Stabilized this week...  Cranks are just not consistent it seems for the money put into it...  That’s just my personal opinion...  Stick with what you know and have confidence in...  

[Greg B.]

9 hours ago, Lance34 said:

@Greg B.

Yeah I’ve always been told the magic number for pulling cranks is 75 degrees WT and the hotter the better...  Which 82 is prime...  These cooler nights might slow it down...  I don’t know...  Guys this weekend seemed to pick em off good with cranks... Last weekend no...  Change in temp it got cooler...   Stabilized this week...  Cranks are just not consistent it seems for the money put into it...  That’s just my personal opinion...  Stick with what you know and have confidence in...  

Well... unfortunately I wouldn’t consider myself adept at either technique just yet:  I’ve spent far more time with jigs than cranks but that day the jigs weren’t working and the cranks did, got me thinking.  I think next time we go I’ll run cranks but it that doesn’t pan out I may go back to jigs for the fall.  

[Ozark Flyer]

I’m not an expert by any measure but my experience has been that it’s work any way you cut it.  Pulling cranks can be a busy day if your really working it.  Staying on your contour, watching your speed, planning your turns, fixing tangles and snags, landing and measuring, changing colors, watching your sonar,...etc., etc., etc..  It’s not the set em out and crack a beer that a lot of folks think.  I am figuring out that success is all about observing and managing the details...what works, and what doesn’t.  And I get my fair share of time observing what doesn’t work..

[Greg B.]

On 8/25/2020 at 4:41 PM, Ozark Flyer said:

I’m not an expert by any measure but my experience has been that it’s work any way you cut it.  Pulling cranks can be a busy day if your really working it.  Staying on your contour, watching your speed, planning your turns, fixing tangles and snags, landing and measuring, changing colors, watching your sonar,...etc., etc., etc..  It’s not the set em out and crack a beer that a lot of folks think.  I am figuring out that success is all about observing and managing the details...what works, and what doesn’t.  And I get my fair share of time observing what doesn’t work..

It’s definitely work.  I long line jigs with 8 rods and use 6 pound test so I can just break off snags and keep going.  I use 8 pound test with cranks for the same reason.  I want to break quickly and keep moving.  With a good map card I’ve been lucky enough to stay out of too much trouble but I’ll occasionally run into a tree in an area where it shouldn’t be.  That can be a mess.  A good sized cat can be a mess too.  
 

All in all, I’ve really enjoyed this summer and trolling.  I’ve certainly caught more crappie than in summers past and I’m learning my little area of the lake far better than I ever knew it before.  I do need to hit some new areas as I think I’m limiting myself by staying as far south as I am.  I’ve learned from Neil’s bluff to Friendship pretty well.  My next segment will be the War Eagle marina area and to the north of there a few miles.  Piece by piece I keep learning more.  
 

I agree that the details matter.  I was trolling one day in about 12 fow and not getting bit and two guys came by me at what I thought must be twice my speed.  They were overhauling the crappie as they came by.  I cranked up my speed, and bam!  Caught my limit in about an hour.  Learned a lot that day.  
 

I keep an eye on everything that’s happening, whether outside rods or inside rods are getting bit, line length, weight, color, wind, etc.  When I catch one, I try to mimic the conditions and see if I can get bit again.  I always circle back through where I catch one and continue trying to establish a pattern.  It’s amazing how a pattern can change overnight.  Every day is a new pattern.  
 

In short, I’m having a lot of fun.