Smithville 7/19

[APKape]

Tough fishing again, but better than yesterday. Started out at 9:00 and went to 1:00. Decided to try my old springtime haunts. Water temp started out 77 then ended up at 80 at 1:00 pm. Water clarity was a little more than a foot. Fished with tub jigs, black/chart, blue/white, black/green/chart. When I fished 10'+ deep, black/chart and black/green/chart was the best. When I fished 8' or shallower, blue/white was the key.

Now to the map. Area 1 and 5 were the best. These areas were 25' deep and were close to deep water and the river channel. Fish were 10' to 15' deep. Fish were keeper size here. Landed one 18" crappie at area 5. Area 3 and 4 were in about 20' of water with fish more shallow, 8' to 12'. Only caught dinks. There are a few large trees south of the old Trimble Lake at area 6 that I tried for the first time. It was 24' deep and fish were 10' or so deep. Only caught dinks.

For your white bass anglers, at area 2 I always see fish hitting the surface here in the morning. This area is 4' to 15' deep. They are always on the south shoreline. Kinda fun to see them break the surface in large schools and throwing a line in the middle of them to see if you hook anything. Nothing like catching one of them scrappy things on ultra-light tackle.

Had a new person in boat today. My brother finally decided to buy a fishing license and try his had at the crappie. Seems like the whole family enjoys the fish fry’s I put on, so my bro decided to help out with the Sunday lunch hunt. He hasn't been fishing for about 20 years. He did pretty good. In the morning he was out fishing me. He got real excited when I caught that 18". After that I had to fight the tree the fish came from and his jig when he wanted to catch the next 18 inch that was surly waiting in the exact same spot. That's OK, we both had fun.

Anyway, got the day off tomorrow and can't think of a better way to spend it than at the lake. I was thinking about fishing the Camp Branch side of the lake. I haven't had much luck on that side of the lake this year, but haven't ventured very far up there either. If anyone has any reports on either side of the lake, I'd appreciate hearing how everyone else has been doing.

[Joedog]

Alex, that's one cool map....where'd you find it?

Did you get a chance to put that 18" on a scale?

Good fishing and good report!

--Joe

[got crappie]

Wow way to go Alex 18 inch is a monster. Dave

[jackb]

Alex, the Sat and Sun reports were great, especially the maps! As usual for you, a very thorough post. Thank you.

[beagle man]

good job on the fishing guys, sounds like a fun time for sure, man big ole crappie there, bet it fun to feel the tug on the ole jig pole, congrats.

[APKape]

Alex, that's one cool map....where'd you find it?

Did you get a chance to put that 18" on a scale?

Good fishing and good report!

--Joe

Joe, I picked the map up at Burton's Bait Shop in Smithville. I scanned sections of the map into my computer in Adobe and converted the file to JPEG. The map was $5-6 and Burton will let you come in each year to mark off the new brush pile spots. He also has the GPS coordinates on his website.

My scale broke, so I don't know how much he weighs. He was a monster. I look forward to finding his brother sometime up at Smithville.

[APKape]

Wow way to go Alex 18 inch is a monster. Dave

Thanks Dave. Let me know if you can't see the maps. I will email them to you each time I post.

[APKape]

good job on the fishing guys, sounds like a fun time for sure, man big ole crappie there, bet it fun to feel the tug on the ole jig pole, congrats.

Mr. Beagle he was somthing to pull in. He didn't fight. It felt like I was hooked on a log till he put up a little scrap toward the surface.

[dmac]

Alec great job on the fish and report. My Nephew was with me and he caught a 18"" it weighed 3lb 2 oz. Beautiful fish wish I could catch one like that. Dave

[APKape]

Alec great job on the fish and report. My Nephew was with me and he caught a 18"" it weighed 3lb 2 oz. Beautiful fish wish I could catch one like that. Dave

Dave, nice to hear from you. Glad to hear that your nephew landed one of
Smithville's finest. I was on the lake today and didn't see you at your ususal walleye spots. Since we talked, I've met a few CDC members at Smithville that commented on your walleye pics.

Did you get an email from RailRoadWorker? He was going to try and get in touch with you since you were both in the same industry.