LOZ - Smalls

[Ice Cream Mantz3jhe]

Hello everyone. First time poster - long time lurker.

We crappie fish Spring and Fall - LOZ 23-28MM

We've hung 20+ PVC trees from the condo dock in three different clusters
(15 / 45 / 60ft).
.
We do very well from these trees vertical jigging tubes / black chartruse w nibble. Average size has been very good.

this past weekend was our first for this season and the count was very good but size terrible. Only one in 7 or 8 was a keeper. Someone said the bigger crappie are still in the channel chasing shad. I've never seen so many shad.

Will the bigger ones move back under these condo docks with cooler water temps? We're headed down again this weekend. I'm going to run by this Lyon's Bluff (Palisades) to see if we can stick a few of these bluff fish.
(white Lund / Honda).

Thanks for all the help / information.

[old fuzzy]

welcome to cdc great place to hang out,,,,with that water depth around your dock i would think they would start showing up ,but as long as they can find a easy meal in the big shad balls it may take some cold weather to get them there,,,1 other thing how long has the pvc been soaking,by that i mean has it been there long enough to get the algae coating it takes to attract the smaller things that then draw in the crappies,, fuzzy

[PineappleSlap]

we had the same problem this last weekend. caught 50+ over the weekend but only 16 keepers.

36mm.

[Ice Cream Mantz3jhe]

12 of the PVC trees have been in since June '07 - another 10 since Jan '08.
(trunk = 3 inch diameter / 5ft long branches = .75 diameter 5ft long - 12 per tree) These are hung from the dock starting at 15 ft.

They are covered w algae. Last Fall the original 12 produced many good sized crappie. I caught over 60 last weekend in just a few hours but only cleaned 9.

There is more shad this year than I seen in the past. Should fatten up these little guys.

[BuckCreekMike]

I fish near the Gravois normally, but me and a few buddies experienced the same thing. We caught a decent ammount of fish, but more dinks than I have ever experienced at LOZ. We probably caught 40-50 fish, but only about 14-15 keepers ( I actually only keep if they are over 10", so we could have maybe had more). We caught them everywhere from the way back of a major creek in water no deeper than 4' to 18' deep around the main lake on brushpiles.

[old fuzzy]

almost every one i have talked to has said the same thing,,lots of shorts,,,but look out next year,,,,with the shad and other thing to munch on those little fellers should do nothing but grow up,,,then hang on,,,,

[bugman]

I've had the same experience the last couple of times out but it is somewhat normal for this time of year,the big fish get kinda hard o find till the water temp levels out.....be patient the slabs will thumpin when the water temp drops below 60When it gets in the 40 degree range look out those big docks will be the place to be on loz.

[LOZcrappie]

Same here off our docks, Ice Cream. Many more dinks that I've been accustomed to in the past. We use PVC and trees off of our docks. Lots of dinks lately.

Like Bugs said, the docks in winter are great if you can get out of the wind enough to stay warm.

[Jackpot]

I was thinking this past weekend would have been better given the activity two weeks ago. Was really looking forward to the weekend. But, I had the same experience with the small ones. Plenty of fish, but most of the keepers were barely legal. I guess it keeps you coming back.

Mike
"Jackpot"

[BuckCreekMike]

Bugman, when you say "big docks" are you referring to the big condo/resort docks? Do you always have to mark brush or structure to catch crappie off a dock, or are you wasting your time fishing a "barren" dock? We have only had our place at LOZ for about two years, and the first year or more I foolishly spent most of my time going after green carp, me and about 700 other guys every weekend. I also imagine being there during the week would be a lot more productive than just being able to go on weekends.