Let's Stay at Elliot Branch (AGAIN!)

Cedar Creek Reservoir

April 21-24, 2023

Air Temperature: Lows around 42-57 degrees, Highs 65-75 Degrees

Lake Level: 582.63 - 581.57 - High Water

Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny, moderate winds. 

FULL YouTube Video Here:

April 21st, Friday

Lance and I had such a good time back last summer crappie fishing at Cedar Creek that we planned to come back in the spring and bring our families to stay at the cabins at Elliot's branch.  (https://bearcreeklakes.com/)

We arrived mid afternoon at set out.  Our families would join us on Saturday, so we had the afternoon to our selves to fish.  Friday would be the warmest day we would have, but it was cloudy with south winds sustained at 13-16 mph.  This made it a bit tough on us on where we could fish and we needed to concentrate on southern shores.  We were largely confined to shore bushes as the wind would make deeper jigging very difficult.  We managed to pull in a few keepers despite conditions, but had a fantastic time! I think we ended up keeping 6-7.

April 22nd, Saturday

Wind and weather conditions were much improved on Saturday.  We started the morning out on the west side of the lake fishing jigs over vertical structure.  We caught several nice ones and eventually began floating minnows as the day warmed up.  We come across one good log with several nice crappie under it.  In the afternoon, we moved east of Britton Bridge and continued to fish shallow picking up some additional nice crappie.  We kept 17 on one channel catfish.  By the time we arrived back at the cabin, we had enough fish for dinner and our families had arrived.  Let's Eat!

April 23rd, Sunday

On Sunday, we set out again in the morning to fish deeper structure with jigs tipped with minnows. The weather was much cooler and the winds shifted from the North from 6-10 mph. We headed for the power line area east of Britton Bridge.  From the minute we pulled up, the fish finder showed the structure lit up with crappie like ornaments on a Christmas tree.  It was ON!!  I didn't take a lot of photos today but most of our YouTube video footage came from today.  We absolutely slayed them and blue and white jigs were fantastic.  We caught 57 total crappie with 35 keepers.  Our families were traveling back home, so we rolled in a little early and cooked steak dinners.  What a fantastic time!!

April 24th, Monday

Lance and I both had to head back today, but we fished for a few hours before making our drive home.  I again didn't take much for photos, but we caught 17 with 9 keepers.  It was an awesome trip and I can't wait to do it again next year!

2023 Family Crappie Fishing Vacation - April 10-13 2023

Little Bear / Cedar Creek Reservoir

April 10-13, 2023

Air Temperature: Lows around 45 degrees, Highs 70-78 Degrees

Lake Level: 579.42 - 5879.9

Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny, moderate winds. 

April 10th, Monday

This year my brother-in-law, Daniel, and my Dad joined me at the cabin at Elliot's branch.  (https://bearcreeklakes.com/)

We were ready to hit the water around 1:00ish and decided to maximize fishing time, we'd just fist Little Bear this afternoon.  This was only my 2nd time on the water, but figured it was worth a shot.  The weather was gorgeous and we had a good time riding around, but we struggled to get on fish.  It was probably around 3:00 when we finally found a few scattered crappie.  We were primarily fishing treetops with minnows under a bobber, although I tried casting a jig also with no luck.  I think we ended the day with about 8 crappie caught but only 3 keepers. We called it a day and had some fantastic burgers and hotdogs for dinner 

April 11th, Tuesday

We launched at Britton Bridge at Cedar Creek around 8:30 and set out looking for crappie up in the bushes.  We had a slow morning in the shallows so decided to try fishing deeper structure.  That was the ticket.  They were biting black/yellow and white/chartreuse jigs pretty well.  We were tipping with tuffies too in most cases.  We put several good fish in the boat until it seemed all we were catching were smalls.  At this point, we moved back into the shallows and begin catching fish with minnows under a bobber as the shallows warmed up.  We picked up most of our fish in just 2 locations, but caught a few fish just  about every where we went.  We ended up catching 27 crappie with 21 of them large enough to keep.  We spent the entire day fishing around the Britton Bridge area.  It was a great day and we headed back to the cabin for a fish fry.

April 12th, Wednesday

After figuring out what worked yesterday, we decided to hit deep structure immediately.  We got on the water at about 8:00 and went to work.  It was a good plan and we immediately begin pulling in fish with jigs.  After a while, the fish got small and we moved to the shallows like we did the previous day, but fish were scattered and much difficult to find.  After a long dry spell around lunch, we decided to head toward the dam and fish some deeper structure.  Unfortunately after getting to our target area, it was covered up in boat traffic so we were forced to changed tactics again.  After only picking up a couple strays, we head to the Lost Creek area and fish boat docks and inlets.  This was a good change and produced another 5-6 keepers.  We left as the day got late and stopped at a couple spots around Britton Bridge to see if activity has picked up in some honey holes, but it had not.  We finished the day with 21 crappie with 13 large enough to keep.  Time for a steak dinner!

April 13th, Thursday

Dad decided to head back in early but Daniel and I planned to fish.  We cleaned out the cabin and checked out but as we did, a big storm system moved in.  Although we might could have waited it out or fished through, we'd had a great couple days so decided to call it and all head home.

We had a fantastic time and are already planning for next year.  I believe we ended the trip with 56 crappie caught and 37 keepers.  Dad and Daniel both took home about 4 pounds of crappie.  

Serious Wind

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 61 - 7 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 578.64
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny. Strong winds W-SW 17 mph sustained with 28 mph gusts

I almost stayed home today due to the wind, but I really wanted to get out one more time for scouting before our family trip in a couple weeks.  The wind was serious with nearly 17 mph sustained all day.  It really limited where I could fish to pretty much only the south banks.  

I started the day off on submerged structure with jigs and moved to the flats as the day warmed up and fished minnows under a bobber.  I caught fish pretty much every place I stopped but they were a bit scattered.  I fished around my normal spots around Britton Bridge area.  The hot spot of the day was the little pocket beside the dock and road to the SW of the boat landing.  I ended up catching 28 with 23 keeper crappie.  I could have easily limited out in less windy conditions, but the wind made managing my line, bobber, and hook set very difficult.  Nevertheless, it was a very good day of fishing.  I have to brag on my new shallow water anchor pole.  I put on the Minn Kota Talon a couple months ago and was amazed that it held firm even in the strong wind.  I highly recommend.  As far as the crappie, one out of every 6-8 fish were female.  Still looking good for being at beginning of the spawn.  

Slabs upon Slabs - Ending it Right.

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Air Temperature: 63 - 80 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 68 degrees
Lake Level: 580.24
Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny, perfect.  Winds  S 7-15 mph. Manageable.

I started out today thinking this could be my final spring crappie fishing trip and I can report it will be.  I'll be going out on a high note!

After blanking out and producing a big goose egg on my first two stops of the morning (old boat dock bay near Britton Bride landing and the creek under the bridge on the next southern bay), I had my doubts to the morning.  I had put in a solid hour with zero bites.

I moved to the willow tree on the east side of the Britton Bridge levee at 9:00 and immediately began pulling in SLABS! I was amazed at how many fish this tree was holding.  I think I probably caught 12-15 out of it back to back in my first pass.  I fished the little bay behind it and then moved on along the southern shores fishing typical spots and caught fish everywhere.  I also had particularly good luck in the 2nd southern bay past the levee.  I don't fish this one often, but the same fallen log where my Dad and Ronnie had good luck produced well again today.  

I fished the other southern shore areas that had produced well this year and caught steady fish in every one.  After lunch, I went back up to the willow tree and started over and consistently pulled fish out of the levee area again.

At 2:00, I caught my limit.  Technically, I didn't want to stop, so I threw the smallest crappie from my livewell back and caught one more to replace it.  I think this is my first time every culling crappie!  The fishing was so good today, once I started catching, I averaged a keeper every 10 minutes for 5 straight hours.  I ended the day by catching 31 big enough to measure and kept 30 of them for my limit.

Today's fish were BIG.  I caught 4 fish over 14 inches weighing in at up to 1.5 pounds.  

I had a fantastic spring crappie fishing and was happy to have gotten to share it with all my guests.  A big thanks to my Dad Ronny Watkins, Ronnie Pierce, Doug and Douglas Ainsworth, Kyle Macomber, James Harris, and Cameron McDonald for all making time to spend a day fishing with me this spring.  You guys truly made it more enjoyable and we will catch up again next season.