Boys, they have been elusive for me the past few times out. I'm goin pretty regular but have not found 'em in a while. I think the thermocline is about 18 feet on Ouachita and am contemplating trying a small downrigger to get the bandits down to that depth.

I've been trollin' the open, deep water ranging from 12 to 45 feet in the upper reach of Ouachita and over the deeeeep (165') water at the spillway. They have my number right now and I need to turn that situation around donchano.

Been thinking of drift fishin' deep with minnows from late afternoon til midnight or thereabouts. It's drastic when I contemplate shelving the bandits for ANY reason this time of year.

Anybody got any better ideas? All help duely appreciated.

aj

I reckon not. At least now I don't feel so bad.

John I picked up some dinks this past weekend fishing 14ft of water under the light at the marina up at North Shores. I also had some divers sinking some boo for me and they told me they didnt see any crappie on my existing 50x25 condos. They said they saw some huge crappie stuck tight to cover right beside some submerged timber directly under the 46 sign. They told me the thermocline was closer to 22 feet and he said if I dint belive him to put on a wet suit and go see for myself. We had a cocktail/dinner thing Friday night while tied up to two snags but and with the swimming we did the fish didnt bite. I did see a number of crappie with my new tv camera thing. Problem is there is no scale to tell how big there when you see em on the thing. The last few nightstalks we have been on have stunk and I have yet to do anything with the bandits up there other than other than constantly remove grass.

Next time we have a stalk I will give you a heads up and perhaps you can come join a few of us crappie.com guys.

Thanks for the invite, Gooch! That would be fun.

I'm going in the morning and will be on the water at dawn, probably out of Denby. I plan to fish shallow (relative) first and then move to the channels and suspend goodies 14-18 feet (thanks for the info) drift fishing or slow trolling and see what happens.

It has been three weeks since I went diving so I can see where the thermocline would be at 22 feet. It doesn't take much in the way of triple-digit numbers to make it happen either.

I need a crappie fix! <><

aj