Back after a month break...

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:45 AM - 2:30 PM
Air Temperature: 40 - 52 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 51 degrees
Lake Level: 551.86
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy. Winds from E-SE 7 MPH.

Between traveling for work, Christmas holiday, and family vacation, I had not been on the water for a month so I was excited to get back out today.  I went out searching for crappie.

It was a little slow today.  I picked up couple out of various places, but struggled until around lunch to find any schooled up in any sort of concentration.  I caught a couple on a minnow under a bobber, but for the most part, my best luck was with a white and chartreuse tube jig tipped with a minnow.  I couldn't catch much actually in the blown down tree tops, but found them on fully suspended structure in 8-12 FOW.

I caught a streak around 12-1 o'clock but it was short lived.  A little slow, but I managed to catch 15 and 4-5 bluegill too.  Still had a great day on the water.

Gators Galore! And a Couple Crappie...

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Air Temperature: 53 - 80 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 553.09
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Winds from South 5-10 MPH.

I set out today to see if the crappie had moved in yet with the falling water level and cooler nights.  I mostly failed on the crappie.  Only caught 4 crappie and 3 shell cracker, but still had fun.

I saw 2 or 3 gators that were probably - 5-6 ft long.  I've always heard they were in there, but this is my first time actually seeing.  Very cool!

Eve of Christmas Eve

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 28 - 61 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 551.57
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Winds North- North East 2-12 MPH.

Returned to Arrowhead today on a solo Christmas vacation trip.  Glad I did!

Early in, the fish wouldn't touch a jig.  Had early success fishing minnows under a bobber and caught consistently.  As it warmed up, I was determined to get them to hit jigs on the Livescope.  I tried all my trusty colors, but couldn't get them to commit.  I could seem them come inspect my jig, then move on.  Finally I put on a white tube body with chartreuse skirt and tipped it with a minnow.  Bingo.  

I fished this way from lunch onwards as the wind picked up with great success.  I ended up getting into some skipjack, too, so I put 9 in the live well for future catfish bait.  

Caught 60 total crappie today with 15 keepers.  Caught another 9 or so bluegill, bass, etc.  Ended the day with right around 90 total fish caught.  Excellent day.  

Show and Tell

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Air Temperature: 28 - 47 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 551.49
Weather Conditions: Mostly Cloudy. Winds North 6 MPH.

Kevin and I took to the water today.  I wanted to demo the livescope with him as he's been thinking about getting one.  I think he's sold 😆.We fished a 1/2 day.  Struggled with jigs early, but minnows under a cork did fairly well.  Never did find a great color combination on jigs.  We fished tree tops, stumps, and bushes.  We didn't keep count today.  I think we probably caught 50-60 crappie total, but they were very short.  We struggled to keep anything with size and only had 3 keepers at lunch.  Still was a great day.  Didn't take any pictures today...

Crappie Fishing Ahead of a Weather Front

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:00 PMAir Temperature: 33 - 49 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 45 degrees
Lake Level: 551.31' ~ ?? cfps
Weather Conditions: Light winds, 6 mph NNE.


Today was a repeat of my last trip to Arrowhead. I used a single pole/single jig with the LiveScope to pick crappie out of the blown down tree tops.


I fished the same tree top as previous near the mouth of the creek and had a very good day. The LiveScope showed fish stacked in there. I started with an orange/chartreuse jig and picked several out, but it was a little slow. I changed jigs several times, but couldn't hardly get a bit on any other color. I switch to a similar jig - the classic red/chartreuse tube jig and BINGO. That was the ticket.


I ended up pulling 31 crappie and one bluegill out of the tree tops in 6-12 FOW. There were extremely light on the bite and finicky, but it was a solid day. I kept 15. Lots of shorts today, which is good as it shows a health spawn over the past couple of years and growing fish to replenish populations.


Still getting the hang of the LiveScope, but very impressed.

Shallow Water Winter Crappie

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7 AM - 4 PMAir Temperature: 37 - 64 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 54 degrees
Lake Level: 553.08' ~ 76,000 cfps
Weather Conditions: Moderate to Strong Winds, 5-16 mph SSE. Would have been difficult to fish had I been anywhere else.


Today I changed things up a bit and fished Wheeler for winter crappie. Based on a recommendation, I tried somewhere new today and launched at Arrowhead in Mooresville and fished the Arrowhead Slough. I'm glad I did.


It took me a little while to hone in on how to fish this area. It is basically expansive mud flats along the refuge with a narrow deep slough running right down the center. Reminds me of the Big Sandy River back home. Along the sides of the slough are numerous blown down tree tops extending outwards into the slough.


The day started off slowly as I tried various water depths along the slough. As the day warmed and I worked my way into deeper water, the action heated up. I finally found the crappie in a tree top extending out to about 10-12 FOW. I began working a minnow and cork in the 4-10 FOW depth fishing about 3-6 feet deep. BINGO.


These fish were HUNGRY! I immediately began getting hits and lots of action. I caught several but struggle with the hook set. These fish were con artists and stole almost every minnow I threw at them.


Over time, I managed to put several in the boat and caught several nice bluegill as well. I moved on down to another big tree top and got even better results. I played a bit with vertical jigging to try to discourage bait stealing and picked up a few that way. Not as effective as minnows, but still put a few fish in the boat.


The overall size of the crappie were pretty small. Possible that I wasn't fishing deep enough to catch bigger fish, but fishing any deeper with the wind would have been tough with jigging and corks. I pulled in a herring and realized a school of them had moved in so I took the opportunity to change over to a casting road runner type of jig and caught 12 herring. I kept these for future catfish bait. Never pass up an opportunity for catfish bait!


At the end of the day, I exhausted 4 dozen minnows and had to resort to jigs for the last few fish. I ended the day with 49 total fish: 28 crappie with 15 keepers, 9 bluegill with 3 keepers, and the 12 herring. I caught all but about 3 fish from the same two tree tops. It was an awesome day and I'm definitely going back!