Trav ?

[kevin wcmo]

trav wondering if i could pick your brain a little without giving to much of your trade secrets away on the lower lake. a good friend and i have been going down to taney since 95' the last of january or the first to middle part of february. we stay at a resort past the koa. we have fished down by bee creek, 10 mile marker, down past the gold mine, but mainly with power bait or corn, with mainly little stockers to show for it. thats why we usually end up going up to fall creek or the darn if the water is high enough and drift with jigs, ect. curious how to get in some better fish down below either browns or bows without having to fight the crowd up above. also, is there any truth there is crappie in taney, if so can a guy catch them this time of year? cant beat crappie out of cold water on truman up here right now. tia

kevin

[kevin wcmo]

forgot to ask about nightime fishing the lower lake. and we are not afraid to try new things like live bait or others. tia

kevin

[Trav]

Below Roark creek for bigger trout all ya need to know is depth+structure+current+upsized baits.

If you dont have a graph, dont bother. You will have a frustrating day on the Lower Taney.

Always stay in the channel and use your graph to find structure or pockets sitting below 20 feet. Vertical jig above the area(dont touch the bottom) with baits over 3 inches. Move fast. If you dont get a bite in 20 minutes or so then move to some new structure. I dont stay in one spot very long, I like to keep moving to look for active fish.

Lately I have been having luck with sworming hornets tipped with a 5 inch sluggo. Dont laugh, haha, you really have to think outside of the box on the Lower Taney. The heavy Lil georges and spoons like the Johnson Sprite work well too. Fish for em like you would for deep suspending Bass.

Keep in mind, on most days I can jig over structure for a few hours before I get a hit. But what does bite is usually over 3 pounds.

The night fishing is a bit different but mostly the same. Just darken your color spectrum and fish a bit down current from the structure instead of on top of it.

I dont do much night fishing. Maybe 10 days a year. Only in the summer. Usually when I do, I stay on my dock and fish with extra large chubs and/or trebles full of night crawler. At night I dont catch and release. Thats when I fill my freezer full of bows. The Browns only cruise in early winter so if I catch one off my dock it is the only one I will catch.

To be honost, when I fish off my dock in the summer it really isnt for the fishing. Mostly to enjoy a pretty night.

You will find crappie from bull creek to powersite. I dont fish for them but catch a few while I bass fish. They usually are found way back into creeks and coves. They rarely ever get into the main lake. Or at least I havent seen any even close to the channel.

[rainbow]

Some good info on this thread. What are some other ideas for lower Taney? How about bigger raps jerked along trees and logs?

[Trav]

Raps work well enough, if your fishing for Bass, but you need to wiegh them down to get to the depths desired for the larger browns. Weighing them down does three things, the wieght distracts the fish from the bait, two, your at risk of it hitting bottom. Bottom disturbance will spook most big ones and three, you "will" lose alot of rigs in the sticks and logs.

Best to vertical fish. If you prefer usuing cranks, try rat traps.

[kevin wcmo]

can you catch the crappie this time of year back in the creeks? if so what kind of size can a person expect to catch?

Kevin

[Trav]

My nieghbors catch quite a few crappie when the weather is warm. Some as big as 12 inches or so. Never have heard them say anything about winter fishing. Like I mentioned before, I dont fish for them but do catch the random taker while Bass fishing. The biggest I have caught has been in the 12 inch range as well but the majority I would say are under 10.