Where I fished last year...

[mattcombs]

So, where did you fish last year and how successful were you? Here's my list:

Cedar Creek Lake: 3 times, 1 very succesful crappie day, 2 so-so. Also caught a few fingerling bass that I'm sure will grow up to be nice ones.

Lake Cumberland: 1 time. Attempted fishing for stipers at night with lights. Didn't catch a thing.

Lake Cherokee, TN: 1 time. Stayed there for 3 days, caught a total of 2 stripers (worth the trip... one was HUGE), 1 6" smallie, 1 6" largemouth, and a little catfish. Caught the two stripers and the other two bass on the first day, so I should've came home. :/

Lake Cumberland Headwaters, London Dock, London, KY: Well, this trip was more of a "boat try-out," because my Dad had just bought a new Bass Tracker. I think we caught a total of 3 fish in about 5 hours, one of those being a small catfish caught on a bobber with a worm, but I saw A HUGE BASS. I'd say the thing was about 5-6 pounds. It came up to the top right next to me at the back of the boat (I tried to snag it :D). Then I began wildly throwing spinnerbaits where it had went back under, with no luck. I also saw a gar in there about the length of my arm, if you are in to that stuff. But as I said, it was more of a joyride day.

Bert T. Combs Lake, Manchester, KY: Oh yes, my good ol' hometown lake. A complete, and udder, waste of space, in my opinion. I have fished there for years and I have caught nothing other than a few bluegill. I've seen a lot of people catch trout there before on corn, but I'm not much for trout. I even went out one night on a john boat setting trot lines there, and didn't catch A THING. I also got a hit from a nice bass there early in the year last year, but I didn't get a good hookset on it. He gave me a good jerk, anyway. If you like trout, you should try it (but I'm sure there are better), but anything else, forget about it.

Beulah Lake, Jackson Co, KY: I went there once in March. Basically just getting out to do something with my friends. We caught a couple of trout accidentally with worms laying on the bottom, but we didn't have trout permits, so we threw them back. That's all we caught there.

My Dad and some of our family also went to Green River in August (I didn't go), and they caught about 50 crappie in a couple of hours. Of course, they were just standing on my uncle's pontoon at his slip and fishing off of it. He has christmas trees tied to cement blocks around his slip, so I guess it wasn't really fair, but Green River sure has crappie in it, anyway!

So, how much luck did everyone else have last year?

[CrappiePappy]

I didn't get to fish much, due to work & weather.

Cedar Creek - lots of small Crappie on Roadrunners, jigs, and waxworms. I did find out that Cedar Creek has Blacknose Crappie in it. If the "meathogs" can be stopped from taking out buckets/stringers full of undersized Crappie, I think Cedar Creek can become a decent Crappie lake.

Taylorsville - a few nice Crappie, and lots of small Hybrids & White Bass ... mostly on tube jigs & Roadrunners (casting) or a marabou jig trailing behind a crankbait (trolling).

Herrington - fished one night in June with two other friends ... caught several nice Bass on crankbait, plastic craw. Caught one catfish about 5lbs on crankbait. Lost crankbait to gar. My friends caught several nice Bass on plastic craws & worms. Biggest Bass caught were around the 4lb mark.

Watts Bar Lake (Tenn) - fished 2005 Spring Fling Crappie tournament in 35mph winds ... didn't do well. Returned in Oct with two friends ... caught around 30 or so nice Crappie that weekend, mostly 1-1.5lb fish. Went back in Nov with a friend & his wife ... caught about the same as the Oct trip. Most all fish were caught on Panfish Assassins & Roadrunners, casting open water over stumpbeds.

I am hoping to fish more often, and in a few more lakes, in 2006.

Keep the great info flowing, and thanks for being a part of Crappie.com !! ... luck2ya'll ......... cp

[mattcombs]

crappiepappy: I LOVE CEDAR CREEK. That would probably be my favorite lake I have ever fished, even though I didn't do all that great there last year. Good news is, KDFWR seems to have decreased the size limit on crap's to 9", which is a plus for the fishing at Cedar. I probably caught 20 fish within a 1/2" of the 12" mark last year (in 3 trips).

By the way, I have an EXCELLENT topo map my dad got from http://anglergraphics.com/. This map not only shows all the lake and the dropoffs, it also shows the locations of all the man-made structure located in the lake. There are several man-made spawning beds near the middle of the lake that I hope to be hitting up soon. Might check that out if you're interested in a good, moderately priced map.

And yes, you should fish more. It's very good for you.