Lake Wapello

[harpenter]

Hey guys, I live in the Quad Cities (IL side). A few buddies and I are taking a weekend retreat to Lake Wapello next weekend. I know it's well known for big bass, but what's the Crappie fishing like? Any tips or setups that work better there?

Thanks in advance

[harpenter]

2 days until we leave. Trying one last time to find anyone who knows good spots at Wapello.

[harpenter]

Well, we're back. Overall it was a great trip, but the Crappie fishing was non exsistent. We didn't end up with a single keeper crappie all weekend. We did get some nice bluegills & a ton of bass though. We talked to a few other boats out there and nobody was catching any crappie. One guy came in with 3 keepers and he said that's the most he'd gotten all week.

Oh yeah, we had one curious button buck that followed us down the shore for about an hour. He came out in the water when we were bass fishing and got w/in about 15' of us.

[Fortunato]

Thanks for the report, Harp! Those are some nice bluegills. I've never been to Wapello, but it looks like it might be worth a trip.

I haven't had any luck with crappies lately either. Fished Big Timber area of Mississippi on Sat and Belva Deer on Sun. Nothing but undersized bass. Crappie are in deep water now and it's been difficult to get them to bite.

Again, thanks for the report. Keep em coming!

[Hef]

I will offer up a tip. The crappie ARE in the shallow water and will be there all summer. The hotter the air temperature the better. I consistently catch shallow water crappie all summer. The key is to find standing timber. If you find the timber, you will find the crappie. Try vertical jigging the timber. You will also be able to catch them in deep standing timber. I found this out a couple of years ago and now summer is my most productive time to catch crappie. Good luck!