2023 Cedar Creek Spring Opener

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 61 - 77 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 63 Degrees
Lake Level: 576.54
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny. Winds West 7-12 mph

I headed over to Cedar Creek this morning to kick off crappie season.  I put in at Britton Bridge and hit my normal spots.  For the most part, tree falls and bushes from prior years looked rough and dilapidated.  Most are now unfishable and some good spots on the levee had been cut down by utility crews.  I had to look for some new stuff... Water was a little low and this actually helped to spot some structure that would soon be submerged. 

I managed to find some new deeper water stuff and started off by jigging white and chartreuse tipped with a minnow and had good luck.  As the day warmed up, I slowly began working the shallows with minnows and bobber and picked up scattered fish.  For the most part, I was catching substantial numbers, but the fish were very small.  

I fished my typical spots around Britton Bridge area and caught over 40 fish, but only 12 keepers.  Most were males, which is a good sign spawn is just starting.  Every tactic I used (vertical jigging, casting jigs, minnows under bobber) produced fish.  Had a great day and glad its Crappie Season!

Starting Spring Crappie Right

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temperature: 42 - 62 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 55 Degrees
Lake Level: 580.6
Weather Conditions: Partly Cloudy. Winds N-NE 3-10 mph

I decided to take the day off of work today and start my spring crappie season at Cedar Creek.  Glad I did!

I fished minnows under a bobber today in the shallows and caught every fish in the bushes/log jams/tree tops, etc in about 3-8 FOW.  I fished all my typical spots.  Fish were a bit scattered, but they are in the pre-spawn pattern with males beginning to stake out bed locations.  Males are starting to get their spawning colors.  

I caught almost exclusively males today.  Had a lot of stolen minnows and caught about half of the fish in the blow down in the bend of the small end of the river.  I picked up 2-4 in just about every place I stopped.

I caught my limit fish #30 right around 3:30 and stopped to recount.  That's when I realized that I had kept every single fish I had caught today - ZERO shorts.  Never had that happen before!  I think I started the day with four dozen minnows.  Had ONE minnow left when I finished with a limit!

I call that a success!

Kicking Off 2020 Spring Crappie Season

Location: Cedar Creek Reservoir - Alabama

Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 70 degrees AM - 82 degrees afternoon
Water Temperature: 68 - 72 degrees
Lake Level: 582.12' - Very high for conditions and muddy.
Weather Conditions: Moderate Winds from South,SW 10-16 MPH . Sunny to overcast.

Today was my first day on the water for spring crappie.  I figured it may be a bit early but the 80+ degree weather this week had me itching to give it a try.  I launched at Britton Bridge and fished log jams, tree tops, cyprus trees, and bushes all in about 3ft to 8ft of water.  My main goal today was to see if the fish had moved into the bushes. 

I picked up a good mixed bag today with 1 white bass, 7 yellow bass, 6 largemouth bass, and 6 crappie.  Only 3 of the crappie were big enough to keep. All fish were caught on minnows under a bobber. My first crappie of the season was a beautiful black nose.

It seems all but one of the crappie were males and were just beginning to move up in the shallows.  I think we are a week plus before the shallow fishing gets good.  The surprise of the day was finding the live cyprus trees in 3-5ft of water and finding fish holding to them on the north bank east of Britton bridge.  I will definitely be back to this area.

I cleaned the 3 keeper crappie and we ate them for dinner.  Sure was nice to enjoy fresh fish again!

Location: Cedar Creek Reservoir - Alabama

Time: 7:45 AM - 5:00 PM
Air Temperature: Cold - 30 degrees in AM - 50 degree high
Water Temperature: 59 Degrees
Lake Level: 578.91
Weather Conditions: 6-8 MPH

Fished with Doug and Douglas Ainsworth today.  We used the same tactics as Doug and I did on 3-30-18, but started on the gravel shore immediately.  It was slow here and the fish were not on the bank like they were a few days ago, but the water also came up about 2 feet.  There is much more water in the bushed and brush now.  

We moved on and fished the north shore back towards the dam and picked up a few in pockets around brush, tree tops, dead snags, beaver dams, and log jams.  We were picking up more fish in the brush than we were last week.  We caught 4-5 more bass and a couple of short crappie.  

We fished 2' to 6' deep in 3' to 8' of water with minnows under a cork.  Ended up keeping 11 crappie total.  Good day.  Fish are either in a pre-spawn or early spawn pattern.  

 

Location: Cedar Creek Reservoir - Alabama

Time: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Air Temperature: 60's
Water Temperature: 59 Degrees
Lake Level: 576.82 - A little lower than desired
Weather Conditions:

Fished with Doug Ainsworth today.  We fished the north coast from the center of the boat landing back to the large bay towards the dam.  We fished brush, tree tops, beds, docks, and gravel banks.  We only picked up one crappie in the bay where we launched the boat on the west bank.  We fished many bays and pockets as a guy at the gas station had described.  We started off slow.

We moved to the big bay westward and continued to fish pockets and brush. We began catching shoal's bass by throwing a minnow up on the ledge and letting it slowly fall over.  We finally picked up a couple crappie in the bay by the west road.  We fished along the north shore of that bay with the gravel bank around the drop off and some dead snags.  We picked up several fish in this area. 

We ended up keeping 8 crappie and threw 2-4 back that were shorts.  Minnows under a bobber 2' to 6' deep in 3' to 8' of water seemed to be the successful trend.  We ended up throwing back about 10 fish total which were a mix between bass and crappie.  Bushes did not produce well.  I believe the water is still just a bit shallow for bushes, but it appears we are in a pre-spawn pattern.  

A man walked in from the road and quickly caught 18 along the gravel bank we were fishing and kept 9.  He said he had did the same earlier in the week, too.  He knew his stuff and threw a small jig on a spinning reel.  

Fishing did not pick up until mid-day.  Much better fishing as the day went on and warmed.  We started using a "Quick Fish" technique.  After 10 minutes with no fish, move on!

Very good day and we learned a lot about the area that will help in the upcoming spawn weeks.

 

 

Location: 2nd Creek - Wheeler Lake - Alabama

Time: Morning - Mid Afternoon
Air Temperature: 36 - 72 degrees
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 555.65'
Weather Conditions: 3 - 8 MPH South East Wind. Cool morning.

Perfect Day! Fished almost solely around 2nd creek bay, drop off, and bridge. Had luck with every technique. Marked brush piles in westward bay and bay mouth drop off. First day spider-rigging. Fished both jigs and minnows with jigs extremely out performing minnows. Biting all colors, but good luck on /Bobby Garland Money Milk and orange with glitter. Brush piles paid off the best. Even caught some on casting jigs over piles. Trolled brush mainly but also bounced bottom under bridge with some luck. Kept 8 crappie, 6 bluegill, 2 yellow bass, and 1 white bass. Seems to be pre-spawn pattern with spawn coming on very soon.