crappie report jan/feb 2023

[top_dollar]

               My brother and I have been up at Busch to crappie fish in the winter time like we do.  As usual you can catch them easily at lake 33 on tiny jigs about a foot under a bobber.  99/100 will be less than 9 inches long, with that 1 being 12+, that lake is weird.  You can catch larger crappie at the smaller ponds generally about 4 to 6 feet down around brush.  We mark plenty of brush piles up there for everyone, just look for snagged bobbers.  I have my best luck on lakes with south facing dams, or steep banks that face south, but if there is brush in 5+ FOW on the north side of a lake it is worth casting at.  It seems like in the winter time a jig and float works best, but as the water gets warmer you can just swim them around. 

              I have yet to catch them very good on the dam at 35, but soon I think they will be catchable in the 4 to 6 ft range.  That lake is comparatively deep and I can graph those fish with my castable graph about 15 feet down to the bottom in about 25 FOW.  I cannot get slip bobbers to work at the depth I need and the distance I need to cast though, so they are safe until I figure out how to catch them.  Starting around the end of February they will start to show up around the brush on the dam at about 6 feet down.  I have not done much bass fishing at all, but catch an occasional one while crappie fishing.  Yesterday we did catch a few bass at lake 35 on the outside of the dead vegetation just a few feet down.  They were dinks, but we were using crappie jigs.  That may be a viable pattern though a jerkbait or fluke.