Bridgeport Crappie 1/10

[Phil Lilley]

Water Temp - 41.3 and pretty clear.

Yes it was cold yesterday!  It just wouldn't warm up to the 41 forecasted.  But we caught them.  Good day.

We boated up in Flat Creek first and looked around on the flat above and below the bridge.  Not much.  Did see some schools of probably crappie but with the clear water we couldn't get close.  They were spooky.

Went out and up past point 15 and fished the flat.  Found crappie scattered all over the place, from 14 to 24 feet of water mainly on the bottom but some were schooled up in small numbers moving around.  We were able to cast to a few using the Livescope and hooking a few which was fun.  But we caught the most trolling 2- 1/16th ounce marabou jigs. 

I tried to stay in 18 feet of water and trolled .7 mhp.  And tried to keep them almost dragging the bottom.  The bite was light.  We ended up with 10 keepers and may be 8 shorts, a couple of SM and spots.

 

 

[Dutch]

Nice bunch of specs.  Where did you launch?

[Phil Lilley]

At Bridgeport. North side of the highway

[slabseeker]

You definitely look like January fishermen. I'm not a Livescope guy but it is interesting to see how often crappie are schooled and/or moving around or suspended.  We have always just fished structure in winter if they are not there just go to the next spot. 

[Phil Lilley]

We looked at structure and didn't see much on it.  Up in Flat, just above the bridge, we saw a continuous line of fish right on the bottom.  We fished for them and they were interested but not biting.  From the size and attitude, I think they were either blue gill or small bass - leaning towards BG.  It was cool to see them and how they acted.

On the flat on the main lake, the crappie were in small schools sometimes but mainly they were just scattered.  When we'd see them, they were in small schools but not tightly grouped at all.  They were in 3's and 4's and suspended 15-18 feet deep in 20-23 FOW.  Those are the ones we casted to and were more apt to bite/chase.

Livescope is an education.  You see them and more importantly - you see how they react to what you're doing.

[Dutch]

51 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

We looked at structure and didn't see much on it.  Up in Flat, just above the bridge, we saw a continuous line of fish right on the bottom.  We fished for them and they were interested but not biting.  From the size and attitude, I think they were either blue gill or small bass - leaning towards BG.  It was cool to see them and how they acted.

On the flat on the main lake, the crappie were in small schools sometimes but mainly they were just scattered.  When we'd see them, they were in small schools but not tightly grouped at all.  They were in 3's and 4's and suspended 15-18 feet deep in 20-23 FOW.  Those are the ones we casted to and were more apt to bite/chase.

Livescope is an education.  You see them and more importantly - you see how they react to what you're doing.

Did you look at cover as well as structure, ( brush piles, lay downs, etc.)?

[Fish24/7]

I don't understand why people spend thousands on electronics ,but won't buy a couple hundred dollar camera that confirms what you are seeing on your fancy equipment 🤔 I've got about $400 total in electronics and a camera. I almost always know what kind of fish I'm seeing on the screen. Why guess, just look...

[Bill Babler]

Watch Mike Baker's current Lake if the Ozarks video on 1-9-21 open water crappie with Live scope

Thousands of docks and structure and they're catching them at depth suspended around and near nothing. 

Mike is one of if not the best crappie guy in Missouri. On a previous video in Sprung when we were all fishing the bank and structure he was catching monsters both pre and post spawn suspended around nothing. Just staging, similar to the way we catch bass on the Rock, Beaver and Bull. 

One of the big deals now is trolling bandit or similar size 300 series crank baits to suspended crappie after the spawn

On one of his vids I heard him say for every crappie you find on structure there are 100's that are not

Don't get me wrong he also fishes structure as he says its easier to find fish than spending time searching open water, but to this he only fishes structure with quantity or numbers of fish or big schools. Just cause lake O has docks does not mean everyone of them has fish. I also heard him say about 1 in 50 and they move. Just cause you caught them there once does not mean they will always be there in numbers. 

He is also a terror on Truman and Stockton. Very well equipped Nd knows how to use it

Nice mess of fish Phil. Bet you could have caught those really good on a spider rig also but I know that's not your deal 

[Dutch]

8 minutes ago, Fish24/7 said:

I don't understand why people spend thousands on electronics ,but won't buy a couple hundred dollar camera that confirms what you are seeing on your fancy equipment 🤔 I've got about $400 total in electronics and a camera. I almost always know what kind of fish I'm seeing on the screen. Why guess, just look...

I had one.  I couldn’t see anything with it.

[Fish24/7]

Trolling pearl red eye bandit 300s for pre post spawn crappie , they must have heard about that from Bull Shoals? First time I saw that done was over ten years ago from a couple who stayed at the Theodosia corps park every year. 

There plenty of people who catch offshore suspended crappie, decades ago before livescope. I've shown dozens of people how to do it. All you need is a $99 or whatever fish finder to see them. The rest is pretty easy.  This same technique also works in 44-46° pre spawn water. 

If anyone wants to know how I do it. The trolling cranks deal. Send me a message.