spring frustrations

[bama647]

is anyone else having trouble getting on the crappie this spring? this is my first spring going after them and im having a terrible time getting any decent numbers. i go out and get 2 or 3 keepers and maybe 4 or 5 throw backs. im about ready to give up until november. i was doin decent until the weather warmed up but now im really having a tough time. im using all the same baits i was in the fall/winter. been fishing shallow stump rows and slews with grassy or rock bottoms. i keep hearing what a great year this is for crappie but im not seeing it. there must be something im missing? maybe being a new guy i just have to pay my dues,thats what ive been telling myself anyway.ive been casting jigs mostly if anyone has any ideas id appreciate it thanks.

[jlaughlin72]

If you are fishing the shallow, I would try casting as far as you can along grasslines or around laydowns at the bank. In my experiences with them, you tend to spook the fish off when you try and get close to them, unless the water is muddy. On this trip, we had only caught a few jigging straight down or casting a few feet from the boat to the grass, then we started casting about 30 feet ahead of us fishing about 18 inches deep, and we loaded the boat. Use the smallest float that you can find that will support the weight of the jig you are using. And keep trying diffent color combinations til you find something they like.

[slowpole]

My God that looks like about 100 fish! man that's awesome

[JuDGe]

Are you fishing from a boat or the bank?


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[bobberdown]

Bama647: That's why you can't find any fish. jlaughlin72 has all them on that board. LOL. jlaughlin I seem to have miss the invite to the fry??

[bama647]

im fishing from a boat.

[wrwest]

Dang, that is some crappie fishin....

[jlaughlin72]

I guess I should have mentioned that trip was year before last. Before the hurricanes hit down here. That pic was one of 5 that we made(roughly 450 fish in 5 trips), all basically with the same result, all fishing from a boat. We HAD to cast as far from us as we could to keep from spooking them. If you got within 15 foot of them they would swim off and not bite. That place still hasn't recovered yet. We tried last year with no luck, and again this year, with only 1 crappie being caught. Here is a pic of a different trip included in those 5.

[skiptomylu]

Really nice haul there! How many of you fishing? I would think if it was only 2 of you then you were in a very liberal state for keeping fish like LA. Here on Toledo Bend we have a 50 per person limit, but I don't think cleaning that many is something I wan to do now that I am an older guy.

My wife and I use to bring a lot of fish home like that when we were much younger, like back in 1978-1980. I use to have a couple of great spots that we could boat 60-70 fish in about an hour. However I don't even try the old spots because I am too lazy to run that far, LOL!

Days like this are really special for the memories, but now I am totally happy with a few hours out and keeping less. Heck I still have not cooked all the fish from last year and probably will give them away since I have about 20 pounds in the freezer now in the last couple of weeks.

For you guys having trouble finding a good mess try trolling with your troll motor in water 4'-11' trying to get into the stagging fish. I have been doing good enough for me using a 10' pole and having like 15'-20' of line out trolling a 1/16 oz. jig. Probably going to go this morning, a little later for a couple of hours.

[jlaughlin72]

Skip, there were two of us on most of the trips, one time 3.