Smithville 5/29 and 5/30

[APKape]

I hit the lake a little after 5:00pm on Saturday. Waited 30 minutes to put the boat in at the W Bridge launch; busy day. Didn't fish much, just decided to explore the lake to see what's, what. Tried to see if I could find the illusive summer crappie. I toddled around all over the upper part of the Little Platte arm. I tried to find Rodney's (brushman) honey hole up at Honker's Cove. Not sure, but I think the HB side imaging found it. I'll have to put him through the third degree to see if he'll give it up.

I decided to hit the lake early today, and so did everyone else (pic 1). Camp grounds were loaded and the pleasure boaters were up early. I fished the lake hard today and tried the main lake brush piles first. Figured the water temp was in the 80's. Wanted to see if the crappie were doing their summer thing yet. The first brush piles I tried were at the golf course (pic 2). There are two sets of piles: one that sits in 15' of water and the other at 25' (depending on the lake levels). These are some good piles. I've picked up more than my fair share of keepers here. I like these piles because they are set at different depths. Seems like when the fish aren't biting at one depth, I'll move to the other and I start catching fish. Well, today I wasn't that lucking. I saw fish on the sonar, but didn't get one bite.

My next spot was the W Bridge on the Camp Branch side of the lake (pic 3). Figured if all else fails, hit the bridge to catch some fish...except for today. Not a bite. I moved off to hit some brush piles on the north side of the rip raps. The Park's Dept either set a lot of piles out there this spring, or I've never really noticed them. There are a lot of piles out here. Would have been nice if I caught something. Got one nibble, and that's it.

My last spot was the trees right before the lake Y's off to head up to Oil Creek (pic 4). This spot's been good for me in summers past. Today, not so much. I only caught about 10 or so fish, 2 being keepers. I did see something interesting though. When I was fishing the mouth of the cove (the right most circle), I noticed a strange cloud in the water. It kinda looked like when you get real shallow, kick your trolling motor on, then a cloud of mud forms. It looked like that but this cloud was red/orange/brown in color and I was in 15’ of water. The funny thing about this "cloud", it moved. I fished around the "cloud" and was catching some crappie. When I pulled the crappie in, their stomachs were bulging. Do we have some type of freshwater krill, shrimp, or invertebrate that I'm not aware of? When I looked around, I noticed that there were quite a few of these large clouds around me. Don't know what they were, but if anyone has any insight I sure would like to know.

Anyway, not a good day for fishing but a beautiful day to be on the lake. If you made it out today, I'd like to hear how you did. Post a report.

[blackdogs]

We hit the water at 6:15 and got off at 11 am, becuz of all the boats. Put in at Little Platte and hit trees in the coves, working North. 2 keeprs and 10 shorts. Sat under W bridge, caught 3 more keepers and about 30 shorts. Then went North, on the East side, and tried the trees in a couple coves...only caught a sunburn.

[toolmaker]

I need to get my hands on some maps that show the lake depth and channels.
Anyone know where to pick one up at?

apkape,
Those are some cool maps you post with.
Thanks for your reports.

[blackdogs]

Burtons Bait shop has a waterproof one.

[APKape]

The maps I use are from Navionics Hotmaps Explorer (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...equestid=89668) The first thing it states before you can even open it is that this is not used for navigation. It's a lake aid. Basically, a disclaimer.

In my previous posts last year, I used the map from Burton's.

[Double D]

Nice report Alex, sorry the fishing sucked. I caught 2 keepers Sat in the area you had marked Fri I think. It was new water that I dont guess Ive ever paid attention to.

[toolmaker]

Thanks for the map info.
I can see a hand held gps purchase in the near future.
Hmmmm........Fathers day is coming soon.

[KCcrappie]

I went tonight and caught just one keeper, 14 incher up north on Little Platte side. very slow. Wish I could catch a bunch this size.

[brushman]

well alex, did ok in honker cove friday am but went back sunday and they were gone.only caught a few 10s. so i moved up to roberts creek and fised the north bank as yu are going in , and fished the standing timber 8-20fow dropping about 10ft and caught 7 in about two hours, 3 which went about 13 and 0ne 14incher.

[TnRidge]

Alex , I saw that same type of brown cloud in the water as I was catching fish during the week . I figured it may have been some type of plankton bloom , attracting the baitfish and the crappie .
Maybe Jake can fill us in ?