Fall Whim

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:45 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temperature: 54 - 88 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 75 Degrees
Lake Level: 579.81
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny. Winds North 0-7 mph

I decided on a whim today to head over to Cedar Creek and crappie fish.  Why is this a whim, you ask? Well, I typically hang up my crappie rods (quite literally, I have a very nice rod rack) from May until late November.  I usually chase catfish during summer and fall months.  However, I had a hunch I might could catch some crappie on submerged brush and there was a taste of fall in the air, so I gave it a go.

And limited out!

I concentrated entirely on the east side of Britton Bridge and mostly around the bay where the powerlines cross.  All caught on white and chartreuse tipped with a tuffie or a slip bobber with a tuffie in 12-14 FOW. Caught 49 total and took my 30 fish limit home.

It was an all-around perfect day.  Think I will try it again very soon!

Hottest Crappie on the Face of the Earth

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Air Temperature: 81 - 95 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 83 degrees
Lake Level: 580.74
Weather Conditions: Sunny - Hot.  Winds  SSE 5-11 mph.

Last fall at a wedding, Lance and I talked about getting together to fish one day this year.  He came down with the family and after a short discussion, we decided to try something I've never done - Summer Time Crappie.

I must admit, I'm a crappie idealist.  I fish when they are very patternable and predictable.  That's what makes the winter and spring bite so attractive.  I usually catfish all summer long, but crappie have to eat and they can be caught all year long if you know how they behave, where to look, and how to fish them.  I'm definitely not a summer crappie expert, but I was up for the challenge.

It's a long drive out to Cedar Creek, so we didn't get on the water until close to 8:30 AM.  Out of simple curiosity, I started out in a couple shallow spots I normally fish during the spawn.  I didn't expect to get bites, but crappie follow the bait fish and bait fish relate to structure and will go shallow.  However, no bites, as expected.

Pretty quickly, we defaulted back to classic summer approach: Finding fish over submerged structure just off of drop off areas and underwater features.  We set up in 12-14 FOW over some marked structure and turned the LiveScope on.  There were crappie hanging on there like ornaments on a tree.  We went after them with a single pole, single jig approach vertical fishing.  They were particularly suspended in about 8 FOW in and above the structure.  The fish immediately showed interest, but were very finicky to approach and slow to commit to the bite.  However, with a slow presentation and a little patience, we hooked up on the fish. They didn't seem to favor any one color over another.  They were picky in general, but I'd say we caught a fair even amount on white/chartreuse, orange/black, red/chartreuse, and minnow tipped and untipped.  

We fished about 4 marked areas and put about 10 keepers in the boat by lunch. We lost 2-3 top water trying to hoss them into the boat instead of using the net... I knew better, but laziness gets the best of me from time to time 😆.

After lunch, we headed to the far side of the lake to fish some other marked structure, but when we got there, the wind had picked up and shifted in a manner that made vertical jigging next to impossible.  We couldn't hold structure or catch any fish, but the water was super clear and we did identify a lot of sunken tree stumps and structure that we marked for next spring's use.  

We headed back to re-fish our morning spots, but the heat was brutal and the fish had slowed tremendously in the heat of the day.  We pulled about 3 more keepers out and called it a day at 2:30.  

We ended up catching 2 channel cats on jigs too.  We finished the day with 13 keeper crappie and 2 catfish.  Should have had 15-16 keepers had we been using the net.

Although we didn't bring home big numbers, I absolutely would call today a success.  I'd never fished crappie in 95 degree heat and 83 degree water, but we found fish and put fish in the boat and learned a lot in the process.  Lance and I had a great time fishing and catching up.  Hot day, but absolutely worth the effort.  Looking forward to doing it again next spring and I'll definitely be more open to summer crappie in the future.

2021 Spring Crappie Finale

 Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Air Temperature: 61 - 78 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 580.24
Weather Conditions: Mostly Cloudy. Winds N-NW 6-12 mph

Doug and I took a day off today and hit the water for one last time for our spring crappie season.  It was a bit chilly and the cloud cover never lifted for long,

We started off fishing near the boat landing on the south shore.  The wind would soon get up and make the south shore tough, so we tried there in then shallows first with minnows and a bobber.  We struck out in our first 2-3 shallow stops, so we knew we needed to do something different.  

We decided to target deep water fully submerged structure like we had success with a couple weeks back.  We started on the east end of the lake on the big south bay in the bend of the river and quickly caught a few with the livescope and vertical jigging.  One we hit a couple locations here, we headed down to the far north west side of the lake and fished the narrow channel in the deep water we found fishing earlier in the year.  Once again, today we caught fish on ever single stop where we concentrated on submerged structure and jigging with the livescope.  The difference today was that we were pulling up good fish whereas a couple weeks earlier, only small, immature fish were in the deep structure.  

I don't believe we took any pictures today, but had a solid day.   Especially considering we had to completely change tactics.  We ended the day catching 20 crappie with 9 big enough to keep and one drum.  Once again, I was surprised to see 5-6 still hold eggs at the end of April.  Also surprised fish caught in 15-20 FOW over suspended structure hadn't moved up to lay.

Overall, I had a solid 2020/2021 crappie season averaging 24 crappie per trip and 12 large enough to keep each time.  Very solid improvement in progress over the past few years.  I'm changing over to catfish now and will pick up the long poles again in November.

Trying Out New Toys. Oh, and catfish...

Location: Shoals Creek, Wilson Lake

Time: 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temperature: 55 Degrees in AM, High of 70 Degrees
Water Temperature: 52 Degrees

Lake Level: 506.97 ft - Looks like it hasn't really started to fall yet on Wilson.
Weather Conditions: Moderate winds from the South 12-14 MPH

Today was an excellent day! I haven't been fishing a lot lately - only a little goofing off while putting out crappie beds, but nothing very serious.  Today, however, I set out to spot some fish and put them in the boat with the help of a new gift from my amazing wife.

After more than a year of lusting over a new GPS Chartplotter/Sonar Unit, my wife surprised me with a new Lowrance 9" Elite-Ti.  I've spent several evenings after work installing and setting it up, but today was the trial run.  All I can say is WOW.  This thing is amazing!

I put in over at Shoals Creek today and rode around playing with the new fish finder while scouting for a place to drop two new crappie beds.  I ended up dropping two cane brush piles in a location that I believe will do well. The images this new Lowrance unit took are unreal.  

After dropping of the my cane brush piles, I scouted the lake some more and found an area that used to be an old marina, but it looks like it was destroyed and part of it sank.  I couldn't tell initially if what I was looking at was debris or fish or a mix of both, but I changed my settings and realized there were suspended fish stacked among the debris. I dropped a line with a minnow and jig bottom bouncer and reeled up to where the fish were suspended and quickly realized I was on the catfish.  I spent an hour or two trolling this area and racked up around 15 blue catfish.  They were a little on the small side, but it was fun pulling these suspended catfish in.

After I had my share of catfish, I moved over the the rock bluff area to see if I could find some sunken beds or structure that might be holding some crappie.  I managed to find a blowdown holding some stacked fish that appeared to be a classic crappie signature, so I dropped a marker and circled back.  I quickly got some bites and withing just a few minuted I had pulled two crappie of the blowdown.

I've learned so much about these sonar units in the past few months, that I decided to adjust the settings on my downscan trolling motor unit.  Its a small, cheap unit, but after some adjusting, it was preforming very well.  In the image below, you can actually see the one of the crappie strike my bait and see me reel it towards the surface.

Below are a few other random screen shots I took today that had notable structure.  It is amazing to me to see how much information you can really gather about what is below when you have traditional sonar, downscan, and sidescan all working at the same time.

To end my day, I headed under the bridge to scan the pillars to see if they were holding any fish.  I was once again amazed at the results.

As you can see, the pillars were definitely holding fish!  I targeted one of these suspended schools and quickly picked up 3-4 white bass and a couple drum.  

Overall, today was very impressive.  I think I caught about 15 catfish, 2 crappie, 3-4 white bass, 4-5 drum, and a bluegill.  I wasn't counting, but I think those are close numbers. I can't speak highly enough about the Lowrance Elite-Ti unit.  I would highly recommend it or any Lowrance product.  I can only imagine how this will change my fishing approach as I continue to learn how to use all of its functions and get better at deciphering what it gives me.  I can't wait to get back out there again.