Shallow Lakes with heavy cover (please advise)

[cityboy]

i just go with this guy i meet wtc!!! he will always put me on fish.

[WestTennCrappie]

Digging up the past. Man i learned alot since I posted this. But still have yet to find these black crappie with any consitancy. There is no substitute for time on the water. I know now for sure the best way to catch more fish is to spend time on the water. Seems a little elementary I know, but its the single most important thing we can do. When i think about it, I learn jsut as much when I am not catching fish than i do when i am catching fish. Thats another suggestion that seems elementary too but think about this....... Every tactic, every single tactic we use to catch fish is based on instinct. We take advantage of the fishes natural instict to catch them. Its the most basic of all instincts that we take advantage of to catch them. Fish gotta eat, and fish gotta breed. So we say find the forage, or find the "nesting" spots. Fishing is all very basic at its core. And thus what I/we need to do is spend more time concentrating on the basics. IE more time on water, knowing that we can learn an equal amount by not catching fish as we can by catching fish. Reelfoot is still different. Bait fish..... well let me tell you about bait fish. Unless the crappie are targeting only one specific kind of baitfish then Reelfoot crappie just dont care as much about them. They are everywhere. Hmmmm. Maybe thats it. Figure the specific bait fish the fish are after, learn the baitfishes habits, and find the fish. I do know that Reelfoot became such a great crappie lake (numbers) due to the pin minnow population explosion. Cant remember the article or where I found it but pin minnows became very populated in this lake in a short period of time and it caused the crappie population to increase drasticaly as well.

One thing I have learned about the black crappie here is that they DO relate to the lilly pads or remnants of the pads or other weeds 12 months out of the year and as a general rule they will be in water less than 4ft deep 12 months out of the year. Amazing. Amazing that these fish rarely venture out deeper than 4ft regardless of water temp or weather conditions. And this lake has a high population of crappie and at least 40% are black crappie. I think now that i really look at this situation I see where the difficulty really is. There is much more 0-5ft water than there is 6-16ft water. And 99% of the black crappie are in that shallow stuff. Thats the thing about Reelfoot. Eliminating the deep water is easy. Eliminating the shallow water is impossible.

Well this definately turned into a journal entry. More like a blog with me talking to myself. It helps my process.........

Still..... All thoughts on the subject are very much appreciated.

[Crappielover]

I really enjoyed reading and hearing your thoughts about how to fish a shallow lake. I fish in Florida where almost all of our lakes are shallow. I get frustrated with the lack of literature for fishing Florida/shallow lakes. Thanks for allowing us to hear your insights.

[rnvinc]

Small planer boards could cover a lot of slow trolled shallow water down the edges of the lily pad fields....works for finding shallow gills also...

This would also keep the boat far enough away in deeper water so as to not spook the fish as readily....

[kycreekboy]

Great reading in this thread. West Tenn. I wish I could help you. You have given a very interesting description of the waters you fish. I'd like to try Reelfoot someday.

[talltimber]

Small planer boards could cover a lot of slow trolled shallow water down the edges of the lily pad fields....works for finding shallow gills also...

This would also keep the boat far enough away in deeper water so as to not spook the fish as readily....

I take it you've never fished Reelfoot? If you have, I'd like to know how that worked out for you.

[rnvinc]

I take it you've never fished Reelfoot? If you have, I'd like to know how that worked out for you.

1 time...many..many years ago....

I seem to remember some stretches of lily pads that went on for 100-200 yds....

That's a lot of water to cover 1 cast at a time.....

Rickie

[chaunc]

1 time...many..many years ago....

I seem to remember some stretches of lily pads that went on for 100-200 yds....

That's a lot of water to cover 1 cast at a time.....

Rickie

And thats what makes it so difficult to fish them. Those pad stems are murder on any kind of line. The fish will wrap you around them constantly. Dont know how you got boards to weave thru those pads without getting hung every few feet but if you have a way, would you please share it with us. I'd say we'd all like that help.

[Turtlebait]

I either over looked it or you didn't say what the water color looked like.In swallow clear lakes the water color will take on the look of the bottom.A clear dark lake that looks deep thats only 3 to 6ft. or more is fished different then one that looks stained or even muddy at those depths.Forget your long pole on the dark clear ones unless your fishing though thick duck weed,casting 1/16,1/32 or less in the clear ones.Clear Swallow stained muddy looking lakes are harder to fish,I cast open water with no seen cover on top.
The fish in either the clear dark or stained looking water on clear days can see a fisherman in his boat a mile away.Reaching down moving your long pole around stumps or even the arm movement from a cast will spook fish 50 to 70 foot in front of you.I like bright sunny days the best and use the sun to my advantage.

[frank lawhead]

The crappie angler magazine had a article --The guide fished shallow at reelfoot the year around