Hookey

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temperature: 63 - 82 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 582.63 - High
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny, warm.  Winds Variable 3-10 mph.

I called Kyle last night and he also though it was a good idea to skip work and go fishing, so we did. 

Recent patterns showed that the fish really seemed to pick up as the day warmed.  We tried a couple typical shallow spots, but it was a little slow, so we worked some deeper structure early and decided to revisit shallows a little later in the day.  Kyle pulled a couple giant slabs out of the deep water.  The water in general was up a couple feet from recent weather patterns, so some new areas were good options for fishing today.  We had exceptional luck in the back of a southern bay where spring fed water was coming in.  After lunch, we fished around the road levee near Britton Bridge and also had exceptional luck there and along the back bay in that area.  We were catch good, frequent fish in the rear around 1.5 feed deep.  As the bays warmed, it was spawn crappie fishing at its best. It overall was an excellent day, even if it did start off a little slow.  Ended the day with 20 keepers with a the biggest being 13.25" and weighing 1.25#.  It was the first time Kyle and I had a chance to catch up in quite some time and it was a great time all the way around.  

2021 Cedar Creek Day 2 - Ridin' Solo

 Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 51 - 70 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 63 degrees
Lake Level: 581.58
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Clear. Heavy winds. 12 mph to 15 mph W.  Sustained.

Today was day 2 of my month on Cedar Creek.  I hit it solo today.  I started out on the south shore near the Britton Bridge boat ramp and picked up a couple quickly with minnows under a bobber up against the logs.  They had an extremely soft bite this morning and setting the hook was very difficult. The wind got up and made it tough to stay in position.  I tried moving out a little deeper and pick off suspend fish over deeper structure and managed to pull a couple out of about 8 FOW with jigs and the livescope.  

The wind forced me to move on so I went to the bay by the pump house and pulled out a couple shorts.  I then intended to go under the bridge over to the good south side blow down, but there was a boat in the spot, so I went up the the north blow down in the bend instead.  As I mentioned yesterday, it is in pretty poor shape this year, but I parked on the east side and tied off and was able to put 3-4 out of it with minnows.  I worked several more small areas on the north shore but struggled to stay out of the wind.  Fish were very scattered, but I picked up a few along the way in 3.5 FOW to 1.5 FOW.  Fish were about 50/50 keepers vs shorts.

I ran up to Lost Creek, and the wind was terrible.  I intended to fish around the docks on the west side to stay out of the wind, but there was a boat there too.  I instead fished the dogleg bay on the eastern shore.  I jigged a couple out of the deeper water with the livescope.  Once finished, the boat was still in my preferred spot, so I just headed back towards the bridge.  

I tried to fish my 1st spot of the day again but the wind made it impossible.  I took another pass near the pumphouse with now luck.  As a final effort to fish out of the wind, I crossed under the bridge and headed to the south shore up against the road to be sheltered from the wind. 

Bingo.  This was the ticket.  I began pulling crappie out of the log jams and bushes in the rear of this area.  Fishing was strong and steady and they were striking the minnows hard again.  I pulled in several here to finish the day with 11 keepers and 11 shorts and one yellow bass.

As I mentioned, the fish were scattered and the wind made it extremely tough, but overall, I was very satisfied with what I managed to catch.  I'll head back Thursday with my Dad and brother-in-law.

Kicking off Cedar Creek Spring Crappie Season

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
Air Temperature: 58 - 78 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 63 degrees
Lake Level: 581.56
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Clear. Winds turning heavy. 6 mph to 15 mph SSE

Today kicked off our spring crappie season on Cedar Creek.  Doug and I cashed in a vacation day and hit the water.  We put in a Britton Bridge and fished the nearby south shore first.  Pretty much immediately, we got into the crappie while pitching slip bobbers and minnows into the stumps, bushes, and log jams.  They were hitting hard in about 3.5 FOW up to about 1.5 FOW.  Douglas and I pulled in several pretty rapidly.  Lots of short fish...

Afterwards, we went over on the north shore near the pump house and pulled out a couple, but is was slower, so we quickly moved on.  We headed under the bridge and looked for the structure I'd fished the past couple seasons on the other side of the road, but the water was too high to fish it by sight.

We rounded the corner upstream and fished the big blow down on the south shore and managed to pull several more out of there.  Again, many short fish.  I pulled 3-4 out of there on vertical jigs as well.

We tried the blow down on the north bank in the curve of the river, but had no luck.  The winter was not kind to the blow down and it is very rough in shape now.  

We headed all the way west towards the dam and went back into the cedar stands on the south shore to the area I did well last year.  We picked up about three largemouth there, but not much for crappie. We were well into a fish drought by this point of the day.

We headed back up to the north shore and tried all the typical areas, but struck out every time.  We did catch about 7 rock bass, but no crappie.

With our day getting short, we decided to head back to our first stop and re-fish that area.  Glad we did.  Doug pulled in two nice crappie and Douglas and I added several as well.  

Overall, it was a solid day.  Ended up with 15 keepers and threw about 20 back.  Caught a total of about 45 fish today.  

Social Distancing

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:30 PMAir Temperature: 36 - 56 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 45 degrees
Lake Level: 554.13' ~ 111,111 ?? cfps
Weather Conditions: Winds turning heavy. 5mph to 24 mph SSE


For the first time in more than a year, I finally put COVID aside and had guests in the boat. Doug and Douglas Ainsworth joined me today for a crappie trip to Mooresville.


Overall, today was a terrible day to fish. The only thing attractive about the whole situation was a high temperature of 56, which didn't feel like 56 with the high winds. We had to bust 3/8" of ice just to get to where we were trying to fish. The water was very turbid and swift. Lake levels were about 2 feel shy of full summer pool. Very tough conditions for this time of the year, but there is never a bad day on the water.


Douglas and I fished up front with vertical jigs while Doug fished the back with minnows and a cork. Minnows proved to be a complete bust on the day. Jig fishing was very tough, as well. We started with red and chartreuse and only managed one fish. After a few color combinations, black and chartreuse finally seemed to be the ticket.


We fished tree tops and managed to catch 13 crappie with only 4 being big enough to keep. We caught most of these in 10-13 ft of water. Very tough day, but still had a great time fishing with these guys. Will definitely do it again when the weather improves.


Went home and cooked ribs and spent the afternoon with the family.

Location: Cedar Creek Reservoir - Alabama

Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Air Temperature: 59 degrees AM - 79 degrees afternoon
Water Temperature: 66 - 74 degrees
Lake Level: 581.25' - A bit high for conditions.
Weather Conditions: Moderate Winds from South. Sunny.

Today was a first... I've been crappie fishing for about 25 years and today was the first day I've ever caught my limit (30 fish) of crappie.

I fished same as the past 3-4 trips to Cedar Creek.  Concentrated on the same locations of tree tops, brush piles, log jams, etc on the shallow banks in bays and pockets.  Launched boat on the S.E. ramp by the bridge and started by heading straight out front to the north bay and fished log jams.  Immediately began catching crappie.  Also caught one catfish there in the bay.  Fished with minnows under a bobber about 2' to 4' deep.  Water was high, so it made fishing some of normal spots a bit challenging.  

Moved over to the largest north bay where the other boat ramp is and fished the east pockets.  Caught good fish there too.  Then moved over the the large bay and creek area to the west on the north side of the lake and fished my normal pockets and tree tops and log jams.  Caught good fish there too and one large bluegill.  Then moved out to western most set of bays near the dam.  Caught fish there too on the west side of that bay.  Did not catch anything on the beaver dam, but wind was starting to get up.  

Fished the log jam back in the middle bay by the road on the way back and picked up a couple more fish.  Then headed back towards the truck but decided to stop and fish the first bay that I had started in that morning.  Caught a couple more, but winds were getting up.  Had a conversation with another boat and they made the comment that some people had reported catching good fish to the east of the bridge.  I had never fished over there, but that would likely get me out of the wind.  I had about 25 crappie in the boat at this point and decided to spend the last 30 minutes past the bridge on the south shore to keep out of the wind. 

Started by fishing the log jam, but the area was very shallow.  I had passed up a green tree submerged under the water by the road levee on my way in the area, but decided to fish it on my way out.  Good idea!!  The tree was in 5' of water.  I immediately began catching crappie.  After catching about 5 more, I decided I better stop and count fish.  I had already thrown back the catfish and bluegill, so all the fish in the well were crappie.  I moved fish from the front well to the back and counted.  30 fish on the money!!  It was straight up 5:00, so I packed it in.  I had also thrown back 2-3 short fish today.

An older gentleman nearly 80 years old approached me at the landing and asked me how I did.  He was very surprised when I told him I had caught my limit.  He said, "How did you do that??"  He said him and his wife only caught 1 crappie and a couple bass.    I have been out-fished by these old locals all my life.  It was nice to be the one catching fish for a change! 

I cleaned the fish when I got home.  Ended up with just over 5 lbs of dressed fillets.  Several of the females still had eggs much to my surprise.  Makes me think last year I gave up on the spawn too early and assumed it was over when I should have been fishing tree tops instead of submerged beds and brush.  I suppose you live and learn...

Overall, this was the best day I've ever had crappie fishing.  Sure hope I can repeat it in the future!