Prospecting for Crappy on Lewis-smith lake. (Cullman AL)

[thudpucker]

When you guys go to a new lake to catch Crappy...do you troll around looking for some particular bottom feature?
I'm down in the Cullman end of the lake.

What do you use for lure when you troll ?

I've tried a number of things, Road Runner's, a spinner with a plastic worm on behind, buzz baits, a real small spinner bait (Beetle spin) and just sorta motor mooching with a small white/sparkles plastic minnow.

I catch Black Bass and Stripers on the plastic stuff and the Road Runner.

Crappy and Cat Fish is really what I'm after though.

It's hot summer now, the lake is pretty clear because we've not had any rain or storms in awhile.
Are the Crappy going to be down deep? There's places in that lake that are nearly 100' deep. How deep should I be looking for the Crappy?
I see fish on the finder all the time, usually 10-30 deep.

They sure dont bite though. Most fish I get are from casting plastic Worms in the shallow water or trolling around the Docks.
Its sure frustrating.
C'mon back and help me out. I know there must be plenty of Crappy left in that lake.

[Fisherman_Wantabe]

When you guys go to a new lake to catch Crappy...do you troll around looking for some particular bottom feature?
I'm down in the Cullman end of the lake.

What do you use for lure when you troll ?

I've tried a number of things, Road Runner's, a spinner with a plastic worm on behind, buzz baits, a real small spinner bait (Beetle spin) and just sorta motor mooching with a small white/sparkles plastic minnow.

I catch Black Bass and Stripers on the plastic stuff and the Road Runner.

Crappy and Cat Fish is really what I'm after though.

It's hot summer now, the lake is pretty clear because we've not had any rain or storms in awhile.
Are the Crappy going to be down deep? There's places in that lake that are nearly 100' deep. How deep should I be looking for the Crappy?
I see fish on the finder all the time, usually 10-30 deep.

They sure dont bite though. Most fish I get are from casting plastic Worms in the shallow water or trolling around the Docks.
Its sure frustrating.
C'mon back and help me out. I know there must be plenty of Crappy left in that lake.

Good luck on Smith Lake TOO much water there I have never had much luck with that lake. But I have talk to a FEW that have not many. I've been told you have to fish real deep for them on Smith Lake 25' to 35' in 45' to 55' of water. Sorry that's all I know on Smith Lake great lake to go to and play. Also stripe fishing is good there.

[thudpucker]

I haven't found anybody locally that fishes for Crappy on Smith.
I see limb lines and occasionally some Jugs, but I thin those are for Cat's.

I've never seen any sign of Bream around the shorelines near the overhanging brush.
Being a transplant to the South, I may not be seeing what I'm looking at though.

I see minnows coming clear out of the water in fright flight. I'm assuming something is chasing them from below. That Bogey is more likely to be Crappy than Bass, unsless its a Striper. Bass, from what I've read will only go a short distance, less than a body length to get a Minnow. Where Crappy will chase Minnows as a Herd in a stampede. (I've read this)

Out in the Gulf, fishing for Dolphin with a Chartruse Jig, I've seen the Dolphin cluster around the Jig in a flash.
The Jig would dissapear and then re-appear as short distance away as the Dolphin take it, drop it, and another takes it. Like Chickens fighting for a Bug.

I would think Crappy would be the same as the Dolphin. Food is scarce down there. They must all see the Jig as it decends but only one in a million will get hooked on it.
Minnows on the other hand are a natural food and they would grab for it with malice aforethought.

But WHERE to look for the Crappy? How Deep? What are all those Fish symbols showing on my Depth sounder? Which one's a Crappy?
Crappy come in tightly packed herds. So the largest of the four sizes of Fish Icon's I see is probably a Herd of fish. Bait fish or Crappy?
I guess all these questions are the reason we call it Fishing, instead of Gathering!

[BULLFROG-1]

I don't know about the fishen in Cullman Al ... but i use to love to eat the buffet at jacks!!! And that mexican eatery at the other end of the shopping center had some awesome food tooooooooooo!

[plantdr]

Try driftin minnows thru the fish you mark. Fisherman wantabe is probably right on about depth. I would also suggest setting up off a point or mouth of a creek , or under a bridge and night fishing with a light in the water. I have never fished the lake so I am just guessing. Good Luck.

[thudpucker]

Back to smith lake to get skunked again.

The last several days has been Hot hot hot. The Sun overhead and the clear water below makes for Poor catching. I got burnt Red, but not even a smell of a fish in the boat.
I did spend a lot of time looking for old Houses, High spots, cliffs and other under-water structures. There's one off Goat island's north point that looks like a Guy standing in a boat fishing. Its an old Farmhouse and the Brick Chimney is still standing.

The water's down a bit but the fish were all holding at 15-25' deep, and only in some places.
I saw a bunch of Bait Balls. A million little fish all wrapped up in a ball at the surface.
I cast into them, around them, dragged some plastic, feathers and spoons under the ball's , but never got a look. It's just me! I'm the problem!

That was 10 gallons of gas in two days. I had a great time, but no fish. I never put on the Catfish or Bass stuff. Just Crappie.
I trolled diving plugs through the marked fish. Over the Marked fish.
It was pretty difficult to get under the marked fish. Even with a .5 Oz weight.

Water Skiiers, Tube's, jet ski's, and guys out for speed, were out in abundance. The water around the point was so bad I left it to them and moved over by the steep rocks. I doubt if they impacted the fish at all.

Some of the Bass fishermen had a few in the boat but no boat had more than three.
Those Hi-pressure, Blue-bird days are not good for catching at all, but not bad for fishing though. Its just so depressing....

[oldwun]

We used to live on Smith. I watched them build the lake. i loved it until they put those darn striper's in there. It used to be one of the best spotted bass lakes in the country. Once the striper's took off so did I. I used to catch crappie starting at Speegles and trolling towards Ryans creek We sunk a lot of brush in the old days. I am not sure how it is now.

[T_om]

My Uncle owned a home on the lake. Like Oldwun said above, it used to be THE prime spotted bass lake... I never fished for crappie there.

My wife and I spent our honeymoon at my Uncle's place on Smith. That was in 1968.

Tom

[thudpucker]

Smith's still a pretty lake.
I was shocked to learn that Alabama has NO natural lakes. They are all man-made.
Amazing!

I saw a big fossil on the cliffs. A 10,000 year old worm of some kind.
So I sat down and ate a sandwich with him and asked his opinion on things in the lake.
He wasnt much of a conversationalist though.

Maybe a Crank bait?
What kind of Crank Bait and what size would you use for trolling for Crappie?
Go easy on me now, remember I'm a Yankee and I might not know what your talking about if you dont use the proper names.

[T_om]

Trolling small cranks in Smith used to be a good way to catch some really nice spotted bass. Spots generally like smaller baits than largemouth black bass.

We would use a big deep-diver like the old Helldivers, take the hooks off, and use it to pull small Rapalas down deep. There weren't any small deep divers in those days.

Tom