Thread: Carl Blackwell archives

There are a lot of possibilities, Redge.
1. Too many smaller fish caught and kept during the last several years.
2. Lots and lots of saugeyes, hybrids, and catfish eating the crappie fry, since the water was so low and the fry had no cover for several years.
3. Cormorants and pelicans. There have been a lot of crappie that have stab wounds from the cormorants.
4. The great shad spawn this past year has them stuffed to the gills and not in a hungry mode.
5. The vagaries of fish reproduction.

The good news is that last spring's spawn should have had a much greater survival rate, since the brush was flooded, giving more cover for the fry. We may see some excellent fishing when that crop reaches adulthood.

I have caught fair size crappies in the past. I'm still scratching my head on the reports I hear from 2 yrs ago.I'm thinking we need a return of big baskets.

Speaking of big baskets and 2 years ago. Key6, were you there 2 years ago when two young men had a BIG wire basket tied to the rail at CB? They had cut off the lid, so they could just drop their fish into the basket. When they had filled the basket with their limits, one of the young men untied it and attempted to lift it up. The weight was so heavy that the clip separated and the basket sank to the bottom. They tried to snag it for several hours, bringing up one of the large signs that someone had ripped off the wall and thrown into the lake and several trees loaded with jigs. Strangely enough, the crappie kept biting, even with all the commotion.

Fished LCB the last couple of days without much luck. Fished from boat yesterday along dam and in a few coves picking up maybe 20 fish but of them 20 only 5 were 10"+. Lots of fish on structure in several areas but nothing shallower then 20' held much of anything. Water temp was 39.8 when I started and by 2 it had warmed to 41. Shad were thick along dam and in several coves starting from 30' going all the way up to 15'. Fished the heavy schools and no luck. What I did catch came off a 1/16 ounce blk/yellow hair jig with SlabSlobber. Tried plastics big and small and no luck. They didnt want your bait moving at all and the bites were very very lite. Went back out today but fished the fish house instead of pulling boat out for a few hours and caught 6 fish with only 2 being 9/10" and the rest were 7" maybe. I caught all on the Micro Minnow today with a 1/48 head. Today was similar to yesterday...the fish didnt want any movement on the bait and the bites were extremly light. Guys using minnows have been outfishing the jig fisherman but even with minnows its still very slow.
Slow fishing has allowed for some good visiting with fellow anglers so its been ok. If you are from the city or anywhere far away i would make a call to a friend to get latest report before driving to LCB right now. Several guys have been making the journey only to leave with no fish or at most 15-20 depending on if a few others share their catch with them. The water is up a little and very very dirty and from what I heard, seen and snagged, there is a lot of brush on the outside. Multiple people have dropped at 3 or 4 different times and its brush on top of brush on top of brush in areas so be ready to get hung up for a bit until you get a good idea where the new brush is.

Glad to see this post SC. Problem we got right now is Too much water, IMO. At least you're getting your thump on. Can't wait to see what spring brings us!

Originally Posted by Bigskyfisherman

There are a lot of possibilities, Redge.
1. Too many smaller fish caught and kept during the last several years.
2. Lots and lots of saugeyes, hybrids, and catfish eating the crappie fry, since the water was so low and the fry had no cover for several years.
3. Cormorants and pelicans. There have been a lot of crappie that have stab wounds from the cormorants.
4. The great shad spawn this past year has them stuffed to the gills and not in a hungry mode.
5. The vagaries of fish reproduction.

The good news is that last spring's spawn should have had a much greater survival rate, since the brush was flooded, giving more cover for the fry. We may see some excellent fishing when that crop reaches adulthood.

I think the answer is pretty simple. . . . .when you go there every single day and keep every single fish it might be safe to say you might have a few bad years. It's not a bad thing to throw your fish back where you found them and tell the beggar next to you to catch his own. Ten crappie are more than enough to feed two adults.

My thoughts on why the fishing is nowhere near what it was two years ago Is due to the lake level. Two and three years ago this lake was extremly low. Numerous coves in the lake had dried up or was only knee deep. Turkey Hollow was not much over 7' deep. The ramp to the fish house was at such an incline it made it hard for some to go up it. One of the only coves left at that point was the cove leading into the fish house and it had everything crappie wanted. Structure. Depth. Shad. But now all the other coves are like that too. Turkey Hollow has depths up to 23' deep in spots. Same with other coves now too. Another factor i believe is affecting it is the weather. Temps have been bouncing everywhere. 2 years ago crappiepappa left a ice breaking tool out there because almost daily the ice was 1-2" thick. The entire lake was froze over at times. Not like that this year of last year. And the amount of shad in this lake is unreal. Every cove is full. Main lake is full. There is shad everywhere. Everyone has their own ideas on why the fishing is slow and i am sure its a combination of all of them together but I think the lake being back to normal level is the biggest factor hurting the fish house.

Yeh. I just tied up 32 new jigs blue black green black polar flash and a jig I call the moneymaker. It worked good this year. I caught 7 crappie Tuesday. In about 3 hrs.its tough