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Thread: Fishing Report 6/28/04 Sunday

  1. #1
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    Default Fishing Report 6/28/04 Sunday


    Hello:
    Yesterday was on of those dog days of summer. Winds were light and out of the East and later out of the North East. Air temps reached 85 deg f for a high Sunday. Sun was bright. There were a few white clouds in the sky. Fishing Pressure for Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife was only moderate as most were attending the Thunder on the Ohio Boat Races or other Freedom Festival Activities in Evansville, IN.

    I started fishing at 10:00 AM and Finished around 7 PM. Wear your sunscreen guys to prevent sunburn and skin cancer.

    I checked out the entire lenght of Blue Grass Pit yesterday. I launched at the South Boat ramp and trolled all the way to within sight of the North Gravel Boat Ramp. I wanted to check out a bay near the North end of Blue Grass Pit. Since the winds were light all day long I was able to go fish with the trolling motor for 8 hours.

    Water temps were hot. Did not take my thermometer but the water was very warm to the touch. I estimate it was in the eighties at least. Warm bath water would be an example. I saw one guy wading in the shallow water. Remember that Swimming is not allowed at this F&W area. This guy was holding onto a 2 year old grandson and was not wearing a life jacket. Some people never learn. I told him that there was no swimming allowed and that there was a sharp drop off just a few feet from where he was wading while holding his grandson. Some people just don't understand how dangerous these stripper pits can be. His other grandson was older and wearing one of those orange coast guard life jackets that keeps your head up out of the water even if you are unconscious. Well I have to give him credit for making a good decision on that jacket. Neither of the kids wanted to get in the water.

    Back to fishing. I caught 15 White Crappie ranging that averaged 8". All came from the same two spots. There were caught along the drop offs or suspended 10 to 15 ft down out from the drops. Find some wood and a drop off and you can catch crappie all day and all night long.

    So far I have been able to find crappie in Otter Pit and BlueGrass Pit. Find the drops with wood and you will find the crappie.

    I talke to the DNR Guy (ALLEN) yesterday as he was taking survey reports each hour on Blue Grass Pit. I told him about the 13" long One Poond White Crappie that somone gave to me a few weeks back. The guy that caught the crappie said that he caught it in Blue Grass Pit and on a crankbait while bass fishing. I won't say exactly where he said that he caught it but I did fish that spot on Memorial Day Weekend and we caught about 15 to 20 small white crappie near that spot. I could not find the big crappie that day either.

    Use your depth finders to locate drops and or submerged timber in these pits. Even with old depth finders like my Humminbird LCR 8000 you can see fish relating to the structure.

    I trolled slowly. My Min-Kota Trolling Motor will move my boat at 2.2 mph on high setting (5 out of 5 power settings). I troll using the number 1 setting and then even have to stop and start the motor to go slow enought. I try to keep the jigs moving as slow as possible but I want them moving. I tie the jigs onto the fishing line using a palmar knot and leave a long 18" tag line. I then attach a Bass Pro Shop Finess Drop Shot weight to the end of the tag line. I have 4 sizes of these weights ranging from 1/16oz to 1/4 oz. I use a heavey weight to keep the line as tight as possible. I used a 12 long Graphite BnM Jig Pole and Trilene Iron Silk Line (6lb test). I used a Shakesphere untra light open faced spinning reel. I have my transducer attached to the bottom of my trolling motors head and I fish straight out from the front of the boat near the trolling motor. That way I can see the structure as I mount the depth finder screen right at the front of the boat. The pits are small enough that a GPS system is not really necessary. You can tell where you are with landmarks easily. I used Bass Pro Shop's Squirmin Squirts White Lightning Jig bodies (1.5") and 1/16oz gold hook jigs that I obtained at Walmart. I also use the small walmart slip floats made out of styrofoam and the Thrill Bobber Stops at times.

    The long pole and drop shot method works well on calm days where you can hover over a spot and move slowly. If the wind is blowing I usually fish into the wind for better boat control. If the winds blow too much I stay home or fish in a protected cove if possible.

    Remember that on bright days go with light colored lures and on dark days try darker colored lures.

    Otter Pit is 90 Acres but Blue Grass and Loon Pits are much larger.

    I saw a few boats on the water Sunday. Lots of canoes and kayaks were out Sunday enjoying the day. Also got to see some F18's and F16 flying the area as they were doing an Air Show for Thunder on the Ohio Festivities on Sunday.

    I wish I had a way of taking water temps in the water column. There is a good article in the Special Edition of Crappie World that talks about water temps and how they effect where the crappie are located. I have to read that one still.

    I sure wish that others in here would give some fishing reports also.

    Fish ON!
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  2. #2
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    Fished a natural lake in northern indiana, very eutorphic and no timber to fish at all. We trolled 1/16 and 1/8 oz jigs with white, pink, and white/pink tubes and twister tails. We caught just 6 crappie, but all were about 12" black crappie. Some other guys I know did pretty well, a livewell full, trolling the same rig earlier in the week. The fish were suspended about 6' down in 12-18' of water just off the break. They bit from dawn till about 7:00am when the sun got up over the trees then they shut down. The fish just moved deeper, but once the did, we couldn't get them to bit anymore. Not sure if I will get out next weekend or not, but next time I do, I will post the results.

  3. #3
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    Thanks for the posts guys.

    I didn't get out at all. Minor surgery on my foot and stomach (I know...they aren't related but hey once you're out might as well get everything done) I will be fishing northern Indiana all next week-end so will report when I get back. I'll be trolling as Travis did at the drop offs. One thing I have noticed in some of the lakes up there is the crappie prefer a dark lure, at times, and I'll use a black with an off color tail (red etc.).

    Bill

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    Default Trolling Crankbaits for Crappie

    To anyone that has tried this.

    Can anyone recommend some types of crankbaits that can be trolled behind a boat. I can reach 2.2 mph with just the trolling motor on my boat when there is no wind.

    This month I picked up the Special Edition of Crappie World and they discuss crank baits in the magazine article. I can remember fishing at Kentucky Lake for bass and occasionally catching a large crappie on white bomber and coach dog bombers. (1960's balsa wood baits) The new plastic baits never seemed to fish as well as those balsa wood baits did. Once in a while we even hooked into some catfish while fishing the crank baits.

    Has anyone used spoonplugs to troll in areas that are free of obstructions. I need something to get down to around 20ft in the pits that I fish. Most of the crappie are suspended from 15 ft down to 20 ft and the water is generally about 35ft to 60ft deep out in the main pit areas.


    Quote Originally Posted by Bill
    Thanks for the posts guys.

    I didn't get out at all. Minor surgery on my foot and stomach (I know...they aren't related but hey once you're out might as well get everything done) I will be fishing northern Indiana all next week-end so will report when I get back. I'll be trolling as Travis did at the drop offs. One thing I have noticed in some of the lakes up there is the crappie prefer a dark lure, at times, and I'll use a black with an off color tail (red etc.).

    Bill
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  5. #5
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    Default Funny you should ask...

    The new issue of North American Fisherman has an article on trolling for crappie using a crank bait.

    Here are their suggestions: Rapala Shad Rap or Rapala Glass Shad Rap, Salmo Bullhead or Hornet, Bomber Model 'A' , Excaliber Fat-Free Fry, Strike King Pro Model Crank, and Cotton Cordell CC Shad or Grappler Shad Jr. Most of the colors they show are shad or bleeding shad, but also a few firetiger and chart.

    My husband has used a method on Crappie Killer's (?) website where he uses the Rapala Shad Rap at the end of his long line to set depth and ties a small jig to a couple of feet of line attached to the rear split ring.
    He has since switched to trolling (we don't do it much) with a Mepps in-line spinner. - Roberta
    "Anglers are born honest,
    but they get over it." - Ed Zern

  6. #6
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    I'd say you could weigh down a mepps spinner or a small flatfish, I have caught crappie on both. You might also look into Reef Runner baits if you want deep diving. I use them for walleye, but they have a "ripshad" that would be about the right size for crappie, and they retrieve to about 14', troll to 20' or so, depending on line and speed. When we trolled this last weekend, we found we needed to troll to present the bait several feet above the fish on the locator to get them to strike, just something to try once you get started and are experimenting.

  7. #7
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    Thanks Roberta and Travis for the tips. I'm a big time supporter of trolling for crappies but ALL I've ever used are curly tails. Now I have something else to try.

    I'm guessing the crankbaits would have to be the smaller size ones? I'll be trying a number of different ways and baits to troll this week-end. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

    Bill

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Crankbait size

    Yeah, you want the small ones.

    One guy in the article uses larger line diameter to get his baits where he wants them, but he only fishes 15 feet or less. The other guy quoted lets out as much as 250 feet of line to get deeper. He said that fishing that much line requires heavy duty equipment.

    My husband bought a bait that was rated for a certain depth, say 8 -12 feet and then let out a fair amount of .line.

    I guess you can play around wth it to see what works best for you. - Roberta
    "Anglers are born honest,
    but they get over it." - Ed Zern

  9. #9
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    I went to my local Wally World (probably one of the smallest in the USA) and the Shad Raps were $5.34!!! I bought a small Bomber instead. I have some small Rebels from my "old" bass fishing days so I can try those too.

    Guess I know why I have been using curly tails...they are cheap and so am I. :D

    Bill

  10. #10
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    There are some other cranks that no one mentioned here yet, so I will put my tournament 2 cents in. We use Wally Divers, Wiggle or Wee Warts, & Bill Norman lures. The speed doesn't have to be cranked up as high to get down deep with these I mentioned, they are already fairly deep divers. Don't be afraid to use cranks up to 3" long, Crappie will hit them just fine. One other crank I should mention even, though I personally do not use them, are the Bandit 300 series. They run true & deep and have some great color patterns. If you are not getting down, try putting on an in line sinker about 2' in front of your crank. I Like trolling middle sizes Cicadia's this way too. Trial an error will be your best teachers as far as learning the speed, depth & weight coralations. If you learn how deep a certain weights run at a certain speeds, that will give you your starting blocks for which to add the depths your crankbaits normally run. Master that knowledge before hand, and you will save yourself way more crank baits than otherwise!
    :p <,"}/>{ Rippa
    Last edited by Tim The Lippa Rippa Mon; 07-01-2004 at 08:52 PM.
    Just one more cast, I promise!
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