frustration

[David Waters]

what a frustrating day. A friend of mine and I decided to take our second trip to Grenada yesterday. Watched the weather and it was calling for sunny and 70. Perfect! The winds were to be 5-10 which is not too bad. Left the house at 4am to travel 3 hours. Get there only to find wind about 15-20 directly out of the west, and in a couple of hours must have been 25-30 with higher gusts. We finally left the lake about 11:30 after waves were breaking over the bow. Grenada is a nasty lake in the wind. Nasty. It has me quite frustrated at the moment. We left there with only one strike in 4 hours, and it was a stripe. There were 8 or 9 boats there and the ones I talked to blanked. I counted 7 boats all fishing in one little area behind the bridge to get out of the wind, and I never saw anyone put a fish in the boat. I know someone was catching them, but it certainly wasn't us. I looked at my buddy and said as we left "I use to think I was a pretty good crappie fisherman, but I feel Grenada has kicked me in the balls.......... .twice"

This makes two trips to Grenada and we have only boated 2 crappie. The water temp was 49-51. Fished water from 2 feet to 14 feet. The lake has dropped a considerable amount from 3 weeks ago. South greysport landing nearly sunk a local guys bass boat.

Let me ask everyone a question. Early March, a muddy water lake, prespawn, water dropping. How do you think the crappie are responding?

Grenada isn't dropping real fast, but just real steady. I know fish pull out to deeper water and channels and cuts, but do you think they do so getting ready for spawn? The local lakes here are deep and clear. Then they muddy up, the fish go shallow. All the fish go shallow. BUt if the lake is muddy all the time, I don't know how they will react to dropping water.

I first started fishing some stickups in about 8-9 feet, which was 14 feet 3 weeks ago. Found a few deeper holes. Saw a man running a trotline take a 3 pound crappie off his line and give it to a local fisherman. That means the crappie were there. I fished slowly to shallower water, eventually fishing brushpiles in 2-5 feet that were out of the water. Fished with cork and minnow, verticle jigged, cork and jig casking, tighlined jigs, minnows, tubes. The only thing I needed was a trotline, I guess.

We ate lunch and headed for Cedar, where the wind was stronger but we knew a couple of places to get out of it and tighline. Caught 29 fish in 2 hours. Came home wind burnt and a chapped butt.

[Cane Pole]

Sounds like u been fishing David......Join the rest of us...If things were perfect, then we would not need condoms....LMAO

[whizkids]

Let me ask everyone a question. Early March, a muddy water lake, prespawn, water dropping. How do you think the crappie are responding?
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I hope they have cable. NCAA basketball is good under those conditions.

Seriously. They are everywhere. Some will still be deep, some may be on the bank on a sunny afternoon. Was the rain colder or warmer than the lake water. If the water is getting into the low 50's they crappie should be staging in the mouths of major creeks or maybe just inside. They are like people, everyone doesn't react the same way to a certain situation.

Will Rogers said " Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

[Moose1am]

Dave:

This situation is perfect for fishing long sloping points. For even as the water falls the fish can find a prefered depth on a point that slopes down from shallow water to deeper. Water. Find a point that goes all the way from shallow water into the deepest area ( or just plenty of deep water for a sanctuary environment) and you may have found a good spot.

Too much wind can effect event the best of us. Having a big boat that can handle the high winds is one thing. I wish I knew more about how fish respond to dropping water levels. I bet that Richard Williams or Jerry Blake can answer this question better than I. But I do know that Jerry likes to fish points on his lakes in Ark. And Richard this month in the Crappie World Magazine has some nice tips on fishing in muddy water.

what a frustrating day. A friend of mine and I decided to take our second trip to Grenada yesterday. Watched the weather and it was calling for sunny and 70. Perfect! The winds were to be 5-10 which is not too bad. Left the house at 4am to travel 3 hours. Get there only to find wind about 15-20 directly out of the west, and in a couple of hours must have been 25-30 with higher gusts. We finally left the lake about 11:30 after waves were breaking over the bow. Grenada is a nasty lake in the wind. Nasty. It has me quite frustrated at the moment. We left there with only one strike in 4 hours, and it was a stripe. There were 8 or 9 boats there and the ones I talked to blanked. I counted 7 boats all fishing in one little area behind the bridge to get out of the wind, and I never saw anyone put a fish in the boat. I know someone was catching them, but it certainly wasn't us. I looked at my buddy and said as we left "I use to think I was a pretty good crappie fisherman, but I feel Grenada has kicked me in the balls.......... .twice"

This makes two trips to Grenada and we have only boated 2 crappie. The water temp was 49-51. Fished water from 2 feet to 14 feet. The lake has dropped a considerable amount from 3 weeks ago. South greysport landing nearly sunk a local guys bass boat.

Let me ask everyone a question. Early March, a muddy water lake, prespawn, water dropping. How do you think the crappie are responding?

Grenada isn't dropping real fast, but just real steady. I know fish pull out to deeper water and channels and cuts, but do you think they do so getting ready for spawn? The local lakes here are deep and clear. Then they muddy up, the fish go shallow. All the fish go shallow. BUt if the lake is muddy all the time, I don't know how they will react to dropping water.

I first started fishing some stickups in about 8-9 feet, which was 14 feet 3 weeks ago. Found a few deeper holes. Saw a man running a trotline take a 3 pound crappie off his line and give it to a local fisherman. That means the crappie were there. I fished slowly to shallower water, eventually fishing brushpiles in 2-5 feet that were out of the water. Fished with cork and minnow, verticle jigged, cork and jig casking, tighlined jigs, minnows, tubes. The only thing I needed was a trotline, I guess.

We ate lunch and headed for Cedar, where the wind was stronger but we knew a couple of places to get out of it and tighline. Caught 29 fish in 2 hours. Came home wind burnt and a chapped butt.

[Moose1am]

Hey it's Crappie CONDOS not Condoms. LOL

Sounds like u been fishing David......Join the rest of us...If things were perfect, then we would not need condoms....LMAO

[David Waters]

going to look at a boat Wednesday. It is a 20.5 Stratos with a 200 merc. Looks real nice in the pictures. You can mount a lot of rod holders on a 21 foot boat.

I am the kind of person that learns everything the hard way. I have to experience it, and usually bad experiences teach me faster than good experiences. I know there are fish in Grenada. I know there are great fish in that lake. The frustration really comes from the long drives to find a lake with 2 foot swells. I have only fished in one specific area so far, but am learning the area even though I am not catching a lot of fish. I am pre fishing this lake for a CrappieUSA tournament on the 26th. I hope the lake warms up before then. I have found some key places that I know fish had to be, just not turned on I guess. I know you have to put it right in front of their faces this time of year. ANd use bright colors in the muddy water.

[waxworm]

The lake will be much easier on you in three weeks. People from out of state can't realize how brutal the corps lakes are in MS this time of year until they come see for themselves. Arkabutla and Grenada are so shallow and silted in that they get too muddy to fish when the water is drawn down by the corps. Enid and Sardis are better right now, but they will be the most crowded. Everybody is just trying to rush the bite right now. It will come in a few weeks. I would spend my time looking for brush and structure right at the waterline to revisit during the tournament when the water is higher and the fish are shallow, and not worry so much about not catching any right now. If you know where a brushpile is that nobody else can see you will be at an advantage. Believe me, you might see some blowhards on the message boards - but nobody else is catching any on the main lake at Grenada right now either.

[David Waters]

Thanks you very much. You made me feel a lot better. I did exactly as you said. I found brush and ditches. Most likely brush everyone else knows about, but brush none the less. That lake was brutal. And to add insult to injury, this commercial fisherman pulls a 3 pounder off his trotline right in front of us.

I had a dream the other night that I was going over the bridge at Greysport with my bare rump hanging out the window and shooting the lake a bird with both hands. Don't really know what that dream means, but frustration has to be in there somewhere.

[David Waters]

a question for you Waxworm. Is there a good boat launch on the North West end of the lake, around Turkey Creek? I have a friend there in Grenada who fishes alot in that area and I want to get there without running accross a lake with 3 foot swells. That end of the lake would have been the best to fish to get out of that wind. And, is there any stadning timbre/stickups on that end of the lake?

[big "E"]

All the old timers around here say that falling water is the best.I haven't seen a clear connection yet as I haven't been at it as long as some , but they swear by it.Rising water on the other hand is suppossed to be a no no , go figure.