Cedar Creek report

[Michael D]

Fished Cedar Creek on Saturday, May, 20. Weather was cloudy in the morning until about 10:30 and then mostly sunny until about 4, then the clouds came back the rest of the day. The lake was very busy and there was alot of boats that were moving quite a bit. Still plenty of room for everyone though. Fishing was good when the clouds were around and slowed a bit when it was mostly sunny.Water temp ranged from 65-70. Bluegill could be had with crickets or with popeyes with wax worms or just about with any of your favorite bluegill baits. We caught several nice sized bluegill in about 3-6 feet deep in about 10-15 feet of water. Also caught many small one too. Released all fish we caught. Crappie were caught by fishing jigs about 7-8 feet deep in about 16-25 feet of water. All the crappie were small (7"-8") and thin. We caught probably about 70 - 80 of them. We caught several bass that we 12" - 14". The bass were caught early in the morning while fishiing with minnows. We quit fishing with minnows about 10 a.m. We fish with mainly jigs or popeyes tipped with wax worms. We fished with 1/16oz chart curly tailed jigs with a bb sized split shot about 6" above the jig. The crappie bite was very light, so one had to watch his line closely. Just something I noticed at the ramp; there are alot of very impatient people. Everyone needs to remember to that there are some people who may not be to experienced putting in or taking out a boat, but remember everyone will get better with practice. Remember everyone was a rookie at one time or the other. Maybe instead of complaining and showing disgust, people should either offer to help or just sit and wait your turn. Slow down and relax; besides that is what fishing is all about. Get out and fish whenever you can.

[CrappiePappy]

I've noticed the jig/Roadrunner bite from the Crappie, is very light also !! Now, put a minner or bug out there .... and they'll grab it and go - but, the artificials ... they just seem to kinda make the line "shake/vibrate" ever so slightly. And, as clear as that lake is, it was a surprise to me that they seemed to like to suspend just a foot or so below the visibility depth.

Did you happen to notice any schools of small Shad ?? Last years 'breeders" were about 7-8" long. They should have spawned already. I hate it that they're in there, but what is done is done. I just hope the Crappie can sustain themselves on the little'uns. Don't sound good, that the 7-8" Crappie you caught were "thin". I'm thinkin the larger Crappie must stay a bit deeper, like in the 10-15ft depth range ... and hang out around the bases of the submerged Cedars & other trees.

Everyone's in a rush, nowadays ..... it's just the nature of people today. Don't expect them to offer to help ... with people suing people at the drop of a hat, many people don't want to take the chance of getting involved or "helping". They're afraid that if they mess up .... they'll end up in a lawsuit. I find the best course of action, is to let the "impatient" ones go ahead of me ... I'm not in all that big a hurry, anyway. ........... cp

[Michael D]

Yes, I did see some shad. I saw them around the Sims ramp and by the area around the Hwy 1770 bridge. I am no fish biologist, but I know that with the shad in the lake that the bass will feed on them, instead of the small bluegill and crappie. This is not going to be good for the crappie population. They crappie will probably become thin and "stunted". I think with everyone I have talked to this year that there is already evidence of this. I expect that since this is slated to be a trophy bass lake, I seriously doubt that the KDFW will do anything that will hurt and even might hurt the bass fishing. Maybe the catfish will get large enough to help thin out the small crappie and bluegills.

[Michael D]

Fished Cedar Creek again on Sunday, May 28, 2006. Weather was mostly sunny. Water temperature was from 80 to 83; that's an increase of about 10 to 15 degrees in just a week. Bluegill fishing was very good on crickets fished under corks about 6 foot deep and with pop-eyes with wax worms casting out and letting them drift back in to the boat. We caught several bluegills that were 8"(we actually measured just out of curiousity). We could have easily caught our limit of these nice ones, but we release all we catch. They were full of eggs; looked like were ready to pop. Also caught a few crappie on jigs and on pop-eyes about 12 feet deep in the creek channels. All the crappie were once again small and thin. We also picked up 3 nice channel cats (12" to 15") while fishing with pop-eyes around trees about 6-8 feet deep. Talked to several people who were bass fishing and it was slow. We fished from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fishing was best early of course, sun and heat of the day slowed the bite. We took all the sun and heat we could take by noon anyway. Just a note, this lake seems to have or is starting to have a problem with people just joy riding and swimming. This may not be a new problem because this is my first year fishing at this lake I may just be seeing it for the first time. We saw several people swimming at the Hwy 1770 bridge and we also saw some who were swimming behind their boats in the middle of the lake. So, keep and eye open when running on the lake. We don't expect people to be swimming here, but they are. Just watch out for them and be careful. Weather supposed to be cooler next week-end. Plan on going again next week-end and will post another report then. Might try to see if I can find some of those nice shellcracker.