2021 Cedar Creek Guys Trip

Cedar Creek Reservoir Guys Trip
April 15 - 18, 2021

Daniel McGovern
Ronny Watkins
Eric Watkins

We started what I hope is a new tradition this year.  Back around Christmas, I pitched an idea to have a spring crappie fishing trip to my dad and brother-in-law and they were all it.  We coordinated a few days vacation in mid-April centered around the spawn and made it a plan.

Dad came up on Wednesday afternoon and we did some grocery shopping a packing.  Daniel came up on Thursday morning and we hit the road for a 11:30 AM target time.

April 15 2021

We booked a cabin from BCDA Elliott Branch (http://www.bearcreeklakes.com/elliott-branch.html) and checked in right on time.  This was my first time dealing with the BCDA cabins and I was a little nervous about the location and amenities, but once we got there, we realized it was the perfect setup.  The cabins are very nice and had absolutely everything we needed.  We got everything unpacked and settled in and made some sandwiches and prepared to hit the water. 

We stopped by CJ's and got some tuffies and made it to Britton Bridge landing at 1:00 PM.  We set about to fish my normal places and techniques starting with the south side of the bank near the boat landing.  The temperature was in the mid 60's with a high of 67 and the winds were about 10 MPH from the N/NW.  It was sunny and beautiful and the water temperature was around 68 in the shallows.  We began floating tuffies under a bobber in the shallows and BOOM! crappie on the 1st cast! 

We fished heavy around the landing, levee, pumphouse, and on the blow down past the bridge all evening and had a solid day.  We finished with 29 crappie caught with 14 being keepers.  We also caught a bluegill, rock bass, and largemouth.  Very good day considering we launched a 1:00.

We headed back to the cabin and I cleaned fish while Daniel and Dad cooked dinner.  Daniel made some smash burgers and hot dogs that rocked.  After dinner, we were all exhausted and hit the sack early.

April 16 2021

We were all up around 6 AM and cooked sausage, biscuits, and eggs for breakfast.  We headed back out shortly after 7:00AM on Friday and started off with the same tactics as the day before.  However, the temperature had dropped substantially overnight and a cold front was blowing in.  The water temperature dropped about 5 degrees overnight with the lows getting down into the 40's and cloud cover set in for the entire day.  The high was only about 64 degrees.  This made our tactics from the day before much less effective.  We pulled a couple out of the shallows, but it started off very slow.  The fish we were catching were also much smaller.  We moved around a great deal and the fish were scattered.  We caught a few early, but went into a tremendous dry spell through the middle of the day.  

It was pretty obvious that the fish had pull back some from the shallows.  We couldn't find them in the deeper blowdowns on the bank either.  By middle afternoon, we decided to change our approach entirely and we found some submerged structure in the little bay where I normally fish with the blowdown past the bridge.  This structure was completely submerged in about 8-12 FOW.  We set up the Livescope and switched over to jigs.  The crappie started hitting immediately!  It seemed the key to the colder weather with the cold front moving in.  

We ended the day with 16 crappie caught and 10 keepers.  Daniel caught one bluegill big enough to keep.  We also caught 2 largemouth and one rock bass. While it was much slower, we still had a great time and had a good game plan ready for Saturday morning.

We went back to the cabin and I cleaned fish again while Dad and Daniel cooked.  We fried some of the fish we caught from the previously day and was absolutely stuffed! 

April 17 2021

We got up about 6:30AM and cooked another fabulous breakfast - deer tenderloin, sausage, biscuits, and eggs.  We hit the water shortly after 7:30AM and started the day with a plan to fish deeper water and fully submerged structure.  This day was much like the previous with heavy cloud cover and highs in the mid 60's.  The water temperature never recovered and stayed around 63 to 64 degrees.  

We started out were we finished the previous day past the bridge fishing structure in 8-12 FOW with jigs and we were immediately getting bites.  We pulled several out but overall, the size of the fish was very small.  We motored around the mouths of the bays and coves scanning and marking structure.  

We were all amazed that every single submerged structure spot we marked and fished held crappie.  We probably did this 10 different times and caught fish every time.  However, all fish coming out of deep structure were very small.  We realized later in the afternoon while fishing out towards the dam end of the lake that the small fish must be immature and would not move up to spawn.  Therefore, they had no need to leave the deeper structure.  

This would be our final afternoon of fishing, so we hit up the boat docks and some of the most promising shallow spots and managed to pull in a few keepers.  The bigger fish wanted to be shallow, but the wind got up to around 10 MPH NW and the combination of the cooler water and the muddy, windy wave action made shallows tough.  Still, we had a much more successful day that the previous since we had come into it with a better game plan.  We ended the day with 22 crappie, but only 4 keepers. Daniel also caught a nice channel catfish under the boat docks and we kept that one too.  

We headed back to the cabin and I cleaned fish while Dad and Daniel cooked.  Daniel cooked some killer ribeye steaks on charcoal.  

April 18 2021

Week took Sunday as a day of rest and cooked a good sausage, egg, and toast breakfast and packed up and got ready for checkout.  Overall, I believe we caught 65 crappie with 28 of them keepers.  We also had a mixed bag of other fish (bluegill, largemouth, rock bass, catfish). We had an outstanding time and a much needed break.  I can't wait to hit it again next year.

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.

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.

Garmin Livescope - First Day on the Water

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:30 PMAir Temperature: 37 - 58 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 42 degrees
Lake Level: 551.63' ~ 85,000 cfps
Weather Conditions: Light winds, 5 mph NNE.


Today was the inaugural Livescope day. It was perfect.


I set out to repeat my tactics from the last couple trips to Arrowhead, but to focus on learning the Livescoope this trip. Immediately when the transducer pole was deployed, I was getting good images. I worked to dial in the setting for the first hour to hour and a half. I was mainly playing with the gain controls and found for muddy water, mid 50's on gain was a good setting. I normally use minnows and corks, but for the purpose of today's tests, I went with a single pole, single jig setup for vertical jigging so I could target specific fish and cover.


I was absolutely amazed to see the fish on the livescope system. You can clearly see schools of fish swimming together coming on and off screen. You can see the panfish coming in and out of structure. I was astonished to see the fish behavior and to watch the fish swim up to the jig, follow its motion, and decide to strike or pass.


My setup was perfect and all the work I had done on the installation and rewiring worked perfectly. If I had any criticism, I'd like to see the pole mount to be a little more rigid, but that is a minor picky point. Overall, it was perfect.


I fished two blow downs almost exclusively with the single pole, single jig method and as floored to see how quick I was putting fish in the boat. I didn't have my counters ready and lost count on the first few fish, but ended up catching at least 27 crappie with at least 19 being big enough to keep. I only caught one fish other than a crappie and that was a nice white bass.


Action slowed as the day went on, and I could see the crappie had moved below the structure and was hanging tight to the bottom. At this point in the day, I was ready to leave, but being able to see where the fish moved allowed me to know how to change my technique.


I was concerned how my new battery setup would work, but I only lost 0.1 volt over 5 hours, so that was perfect. I can't wait to get out there again. My initial impression is simple amazement.

LIVEACTION!

Well, after about 3 years of want, lust, and unhealthy desire, I finally made a commitment to her and bought my darling Lowe boat a Garmin Livescope!

All jokes aside, I managed to save up the money and while I was at it, I figured I'd address some of my boat electrical issues alongside the install.

I was able to find the Garmin 93SV unit bundled with the Livescope black box and transducer as package deal from mygreenoutdoors.com.  Kevin is the owner and made an impression by actually texting me and carrying out a conversation about the system when I was shopping around.  Garmin marked the chartplotter units down to $599 for the holidays and the $1,400 Livescope system had a $200 mail-in rebate, so it was a deal I couldn't pass up.

I decided while I was at it, I'd rewire the electrical circuits in the boat.  Since I bought the boat, all electronics were wired to the cranking battery.  It came this way from the factory and I added to the circuit on the cranking battery when I installed the Lowrance units previously.  This resulted in having a significant amp draw on the cranking battery and I'm constantly having issues running the cranking battery down when using electronics on the water.

I decided to install a dedicated battery for all electronics.  In doing so, I wanted to also install a new fuse box to clean up the wiring.  It's a birdnest from the factory.

I decided to put in this 12 circuit fuse box.

I bought a new Diehard Gold 29MH for my electronics battery.  This massive battery has a 210 minute reserve, which was my driving reason for buying it.  Finding a place for the new battery was a challenge.  There isn't any more room in the back of the boat and I didn't need the additional weight in the rear.  I found that there was a hollow spot to the starboard of the front livewell that was directly in front of the steering console.  I cut open the firewall from the front storage compartment and the hollow area was the perfect size and shape to house this battery. Additionally, the location in relation to the steering console made it perfect for running wire to the console.

The new Garmin black box is really the brains and processor of the Livescope system.  I needed a safe place to mount this that was out of the way and secure.  I found that the deck stiffening struts under the front deck made a perfect place for a shelf, so I cut a piece of lightweight aluminum to fit the area and mounted the black box.

 

Next, I mounted the screen.  I made a mounting bracket that lifted the screen up and over the trolling metal foot well.  I think installed a ram mount and mounted the screen.  I was able to pass the power wires through the existing plastic panel where the trolling motor plugs in and feed the transducer cable under the foot pedal.  I installed the 54UHD transducer for side/down imaging and traditional sonar on the trolling motor.

Now that the major components were in place, I began the rewiring process.  I removed all electrical circuits off the factory fuse box and carefully labeled them all.  I installed the new fuse box under the console and reinstalled all circuits to the new, labeled fuse box.  Any circuits that needed new wire were ran with 14 AWG. I made sure that all holes drilled through the boat were lined with protective rubber grommets.  4 AWG battery leads were installed between the fuse box and the battery.  I also installed a new 5 amp on board charger.  I didn't want the cord getting in the way, so hid it behind a panel and wired a female recessed receptacle so I could simple plug in an extension cord when ready to charge the battery.  This installation was slick. Once everything was wired, I tested all the switches and circuits and everything worked perfectly.

 

Now that all the wiring was finished, all that was left was to install the Livescope transducer.  I wanted the transducer pole mounted such that it could be independently pointed and was not reliant on trolling motor direction.  I used 1" CPVC for the pole mount.  I used reducers to step down to a 3/4" PEX and slid the 3/4" PEX through greased 1" to act as a sleeve for the swivel motion.  I epoxied the PEX connections.  I installed a 1" coupling to the bottom of the pole because the Livescope perspective mount bracket fit that coupling diameter perfectly.  Once all assembled, I sanded the CPVC and applied paint.  I used a couple Scotty ball mounts and a couple U-bolts to attached the pole to the boat.  I made a vinyl arrow sticker to mark the direction the transducer is pointing.  Below is the final result.

 

I think with every expense accounted for, I have about $2,700 in the complete finished install.  I'm very pleased with the entire project and it came out very clean and professional.  Now to get it in the water and try it out!