Is it just me...........?

[Crappie Attitude]

Or are there others out there that feel "Spring" crappie fishing is highly over-rated?

Frankly, I can catch fish pretty consitently most any time of year, but in the Spring that is not the case. The fish seem to be FAR more finicky in the Spring and very suceptible to cold fronts.

The angler pressure is about 10,000 fold what it is most of the rest of the year as well.

Not to mention the fact that if you and every dog is fishing hard during the spawn, it's gonna take it's toll on the resource. I've seen it happen on Truman lake here in MO. I wouldn't even have a problem if they shut 'er down except for catch and release from about 4/25-5/10 here in MO. Wouldn't bother me a bit.

How you feel about it?

[Jerry Blake]

The lakes around here don't get that much pressure - not even in the spring. When the crappie are in the shallows around visible structure it makes it easy to locate them - probably why "Crappie Season" is only in the spring for a lot of people.

I don't fish spawning beds much when I'm guiding but we do real well on the "staging beds" on points near the spawning areas and we find the crappie their to be very aggressive, pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn.

They can get finicky in the shallows but man, when they are hitting like they are pissed at the jig and taking off like they have a rocket strapped to their, uh.... backs and you're way up in the buckbrush or reaching behind a big willow stump - what a rush!

When they get finicky in the shallows I go down to a 1/48th ounce hair jig and make it fall reeeeaal slow or even hold it still about a foot under the surface and -

!!!BAM!!!

Yep, I like the spawn - do get tired of cleaning fish on some days when we kept over 30 in the morning that I've already cleaned, have another 30 or so to clean from the afternoon trip and it's getting dark and I haven't been on land in daylight in several days, like April 25th of this year.

Morning trip:



Same day - Afternoon Trip:

But I love it anyway!

Of course, I love to fish for them year around - it's a challenge to figure out what they are up to and what it's going to take to put a mess in the livewell.

[Moose1am]

Do what the owners of the fishing camps up in Ontario Canada do. Hire a young kid to clean the fish for you. LOL

[Jerry Blake]

Come on Moose, OSHA would be all over my butt with both feet! Plus there's withholding, insurance, benifits and all that BS. I'll just clean them myself - I really don't mind it - would rather be cleaning them than not!

[Larry-Southern Indiana]

Damn Jerry....After reading your reply I wanted to grab a rod and give it a yank. Then I remembered I'm in the basement and there ain't enought room to yank it up without hitting the ceiling and maybe breaking a rod. That BAM!! got my blood flowing :D and then when I finally came to my senses from daydreaming of past trips I realized it's 19 degrees outside with a wind chill of 4 above. We wound up with 18" to 24" of snow and freezing rain in this area from last night.

Larry

The lakes around here don't get that much pressure - not even in the spring. When the crappie are in the shallows around visible structure it makes it easy to locate them - probably why "Crappie Season" is only in the spring for a lot of people.

I don't fish spawning beds much when I'm guiding but we do real well on the "staging beds" on points near the spawning areas and we find the crappie their to be very aggressive, pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn.

They can get finicky in the shallows but man, when they are hitting like they are pissed at the jig and taking off like they have a rocket strapped to their, uh.... backs and you're way up in the buckbrush or reaching behind a big willow stump - what a rush!

When they get finicky in the shallows I go down to a 1/48th ounce hair jig and make it fall reeeeaal slow or even hold it still about a foot under the surface and -

!!!BAM!!!

Yep, I like the spawn - do get tired of cleaning fish on some days when we kept over 30 in the morning that I've already cleaned, have another 30 or so to clean from the afternoon trip and it's getting dark and I haven't been on land in daylight in several days, like April 25th of this year.

Morning trip:



Afternoon trip:

But I love it anyway!

Of course, I love to fish for them year around - it's a challenge to figure out what they are up to and what it's going to take to put a mess in the livewell.

[Jerry Blake]

Sorry Larry, didn't mean to get you all worked up! I live for the "THUMP" and it just seems that much better in the spring when they're right up close and personal - I suspect we'll be fishing 18 to 20-feet deep after this cold weather we've been having.

The snow is melting off the main roads but it will be another day or two before I can get the boat out our road - several steep hills in the shade. Our road department doesn't have many snowplows - mostly just sand trucks and road graders.

They are calling for full sunshine here for the next few days and warming to 60 Tuesday and 63 Wednesday so we'll be getting back on the water pretty quick - Sunday is looking pretty good right now!

[labill]

Got to agree with you on that, Jerry. Arkansas crappie fishing for 14 years has spoiled me. I especially miss the wade fishing in Blue Mountain and Nimrod. Getting out of the boat and fishing the buck brush where the boaters can't reach is genuine virgin territory. There has been many times I caught a limit in less than 30 minutes (20 fish) without ever moving from my tracks. That could spoil anybody! :D And like you said, that thump is more fun than a man ought to have. At my age, I'm not sure my heart could take it, but when I get a chance I got to do it again. What a way to go! I tried it here in LA, but the 'gators are nesting or building nests and they don't like strangers in the vicinity while they do it. I decided to stay in the boat.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Bill:

I've not wade-fished for crappie but it would be fun. In the hot summertime I like to wade up some of the rivers around here - really big creeks - for smallmouth bass. The water is always nice and cool even when the lakes get warm.

I start where the floaters are putting in to go downstream and I go upstream - have it all to myself. I drag my canoe along behind with a rope tied to my belt and when we (my boys like to go along) get tired we get in the canoe and float back down to the truck.

I used to crappie fish out of a canoe too. I would kneel on a boat cushion in the back seat facing backwords and scull my way back into the buckbrush where a real boat couldn't get and have a ball.

[Slab]

Awsome pic Jerry. I want to go fishing now, after seeing those pics! Hmm, the water might just be hard enough here now, but I'm sure I'd never get that kinda catch through the ice.

[Moose1am]

Up here we don't have alligators but we have cotton mouth water mossicans and they can bite and do a lot of damge. I remember when I was much younger and we went to KY lake I would take the boat back in the back end of the bays and fish those buck brush. I saw quite a few snakes hanging in the limbs. Not sure what kind of snake they were but I would not want to be wading in that thick stuff and see a snake close buy. I don't think that the snakes would attach unless I got way too close or stepped on one. They are said to be very agress but from the shows that I have been seeing on TV they don't appear to want to do much be get away from people. But they will bite if you get too close to them or grab them or step on them. They they deifnately will defend themselves.


You should see the Wally Marshall Video of him catching big slabs in the brush in shallow water while wading.

Got to agree with you on that, Jerry. Arkansas crappie fishing for 14 years has spoiled me. I especially miss the wade fishing in Blue Mountain and Nimrod. Getting out of the boat and fishing the buck brush where the boaters can't reach is genuine virgin territory. There has been many times I caught a limit in less than 30 minutes (20 fish) without ever moving from my tracks. That could spoil anybody! :D And like you said, that thump is more fun than a man ought to have. At my age, I'm not sure my heart could take it, but when I get a chance I got to do it again. What a way to go! I tried it here in LA, but the 'gators are nesting or building nests and they don't like strangers in the vicinity while they do it. I decided to stay in the boat.