watts bar crappie

[hydrabass]

Does anybody on this board crappie fish watts bar lake in east tennessee , been thinking about trying it out . Just need a little direction on what areas of the lake are the best to fish .

Thanks

[fishin3]

I havenot got to go yet. But think the water is up about a foot over winter pool or was at last report. Check out the TWRA page and they post the lakes by region. Look under region 3. It is updated about ever Tuesday. Good luck and if I get to go I will post something probably on the Tennessee board. You might want to try posting on there too.

[Castoff]

http://tva.gov/river/lakeinfo/index.htm

Click the lake and subject; you can get more information than you ever wanted on reservoir conditions.
In the past I have found Watts Bar more productive than any other east Tennessee lake. I do consider though that it is downstream of a major metropolitan area.....thus yuck.

[harmonhunter]

was on the bar today the bite is fair had 28 keepers but fished all day wind was unexplainable fish were 5 ft deep holding on any wood i could find going back sunday will report backhad 17 keepers last fri i think in the next 10 days the spawn will be close get out there it will be gone before the wind quits blowin dave

[hydrabass]

I'm new to this site , fishin3 how do you get to this tennessee board, probably the stuff coming from the metro area , i quess your ( castoff ) talking about fort loundon , isn't as bad as what could be coming from the clinch , i have been known to eat crappie fron the fort ,and dave are you casting or trolling , i will troll but i would rather cast a jig or a fly , hey whatever it takes .

[CrappiePappy]

I'm new to this site , fishin3 how do you get to this tennessee board, probably the stuff coming from the metro area , i quess your ( castoff ) talking about fort loundon , isn't as bad as what could be coming from the clinch , i have been known to eat crappie fron the fort ,and dave are you casting or trolling , i will troll but i would rather cast a jig or a fly , hey whatever it takes .

To get to Tenn forum ... left click on the Crappie.com logo, at the top left of this page - on the "directory page", look for the "State Message Boards for Crappie.com" line - left click on that ... the States Forum list will come up.

I've eaten Crappie from WB for over 15 years ... they've never been listed in the Consumption Advisory for WB. Several other species have been listed as containing PCB's/Mercury ... but I don't fish for them, or eat them (if I do fish for them).

Watts Bar is a large lake ... with sparse, natural submerged cover. After fishing the Spring tournies there for the last 5 yrs ... I've discovered two things: The Black Crappie are caught early to mid April - shooting deep water docks ... the White Crappie are caught in late April/early May - around shoreline wood, and shallow water docks. Drifting in front of docks, using minnows/float, is an alternative way to fish ... and is effective, if fish haven't moved under docks or have pulled back out from under them. Docks in bays/creeks may have brushpiles in front of them.

Trolling isn't done much on WB, that I've witnessed. Most anglers either shoot docks, or cast jigs to shoreline wood/brushpiles/downed trees/around docks.
I use 1/32 - 1/16oz weedless jigheads ... tubes & Panfish Assassins (for docks and visable wood cover) -- 1/32 & 1/16oz Roadrunners (over submerged wood on flats). This is mostly for the April timeframe & Black Crappie. Most of my White Crappie have come on minnow/float, tightlined minnows, and minnow/jigs ... later in April, to mid May. Depends on water depth and cover depth, as to which version I use.

When are you planning on going ?? Where are you planning on lodging ?? I may be down there in a couple of weeks. I'll post a report when I return.
(for further info ... use search feature, advanced search - (key word) Spring Fling ... (user) Crappiepappy ... "search all open forums". This will give you links to past posts about the previous Spring Fling tournaments on WB ... and the conditions/results.) ........ luck2ya .... cp

[fishin3]

Ditto what CP said.:D

[hydrabass]

Thanks for all the imfo. crappiepappy , i may try to go tomorrow after church and try them out.I've just in the last couple of years gotten back into crappie fishing . A friend of mine started taking me to weiss about 3 years ago and got my attention back on the little critters , and now i try to go there about 3 or 4 times a year .