Bottom feeders

[Ketchn]

The lowly bottom feeder , poor things , everyone downs them . But to be sure we need clean up crews ,just like we need buzzards. Lobsters ,crabs ,catfish and many other species of marine critters make a living on the bottom of the water body and in many cases taste great on the table .
I could go on about how often they get a bad word and how many things in life have reference to bottom feeders and bottom dwellers but as most of you know it is a common thing to hear .
Now onto the fish that are not really "bottom feeders" but in fact do their part when needed to keep the bottom clean . Some on this list are well known predators and I have managed lots of species on the bottom when they were not the intended target .
I managed large mouths lots of times on cut bait and shrimp while catfishing and even managed a nice hybrid on chicken liver on the bottom one time . Mind you I am not talking about while the bait was sinking , I am talking about sitting on the bottom a while and then get a bite from a fish that most would say isn't a "bottom feeder" .
So here we go with crappie and how they also bottom feed sometimes and to be sure will clean the bottom of items that are a food source if that's where the food source is .Winter time crappie will move along the bottom and sit on the bottom and pick up dead and dying shad in lots of spots and to be sure some of them are taking the bait right off the bottom .
I enjoy the winter bite deep on the bottom when they troll thru in their clean the bottom of the dying shad run. It occurs daily in some spots and in several cases has a distinctive time it occurs as the struggling shad move thru on the warmer water search . As those shad take their last breaths and fall to the bottom they are quickly consumed by multiple species of fish and if its a larger school of shad lots of crappie will follow.
the winter bite is on at my favorite old fishing dock and to be sure a crowd is there every day filling up buckets with crappie . I got out there with a few buds yesterday am early and enjoyed the smack down about an inch off the bottom in 15 foot of water .
have a nice holiday and stay tuned ….

[Speck Detector]

Still getting after it I see, that cooler looks like it's time to heat the grease...

[Crestliner08]

Excellent! Report & pictures.

[skeetbum]

Good post, And some good info.

[StantheMan2567]

Great catch, I catch a lot of Crappie near the bottom also.


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[trypman1]

Bouncing jigs on bottom works well during the winter!

[dhaire]

Ketch—sure wish we had a fishing Dock here on Lake Austin. Or Travis, LBJ, or Decker.


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[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

CRAPPIE DO NOT FEED DOWN CAUSE THEY EYES ARE ON TOP OF THERE HEADS.....
That's a fact cause they said it.....
L.....O......L
Nice catches Brother....

[wolfhnd]

CRAPPIE DO NOT FEED DOWN CAUSE THEY EYES ARE ON TOP OF THERE HEADS.....
That's a fact cause they said it.....
L.....O......L
Nice catches Brother....

You suppose they swim upside down

[whiskerwhipper]

I caught a crappie on cutbait fished stationary on the bottom.