fish still biting

[Eager Beaver]

I went fishing again yesterday and had good luck yet. I caught about 75 all together and brought 42 home. They ranged from 10-1/2 to 13 inches. I am still fishing off the boat slips which range from the bank out to over 24 ft of water. When the Marina put these slips out this year he put them over our tree piles that was in the Marina. The tree piles run from about 10ft out to about 18 ft. I have been walking along the dock and just fishing around the pontoons. I am using just a hook and minnow with a small #7 weight and dropping it to the bottom if it will make it. You have to watch your line because they will take it on the way down. If I get it on the bottom I will hold it there for a short time and if no bites, then I will start reeling up slow and they will hit it around 4 or 5 cranks up from the bottom. The water temp is 79 in the cove where the Marina is and 78 out on the main lake where it is 68 ft deep. It doesn't look like they have started into the Fall Pattern here yet. Had to go fishing instead of talking fishing.

[CrappiePappy]

looks like you are using a modified version of what I call Vertical Casting .... have you tried using a 1/32oz or 1/16oz hair/marabou jig, and doing the same thing ??

The fact that you are using a #7 sinker, would mean that the minnow would probably be falling slowly ... giving the impression of a dying or injured baitfish - good tactic !! And it's probably the reason for getting "hits on the fall". The slow rising retrieve imitates much the same, and presents an easy meal (slow moving escapee) ... plus, it rises thru the zone, where the fish are suspending, and stays in that zone long enough for the fish to see it and react to it.

Congrats on a fine catch .......... luck2ya ....cp

[Mike Sutton]

Thanks for the good report Eager Beaver. What is the Fall Pattern? I've not really fished for crappie in the fall before, mostly in the Spring but I'm trying expand my horizons. Do they go back into the shallows in the Fall?

Mike

[CrappiePappy]

I don't know if this particular pattern holds true in other lakes/states - but, this seems to be the "norm", in the lakes I fish in Ky & Tn.....
White Crappie are deep now, for the most part, in the Ky lakes I normally fish ... generally around the 18-20ft depths (if allowed to go that deep by the thermocline). They will generally be around standing timber, in the 20+ feet of water depths ... or along the main channels of the main lake, suspended under Shad schools or holding on submerged timber. They will generally stay in the deeper depths, as the cooler weather drops lake water temps ... and rise in the water column. By Nov, I'm usually catching them in standing timber in deep water ... but, only about 8ft down from the surface. This has been my experience with White Crappie, in the lakes here in KY, over many years.
Black Crappie, on the other hand, seem to follow the Shad back into the coves, when the Fall weather starts coming on. Our Oct trips to Watts Bar have usually resulted in a mass majority of our catch being Black Crappie. And they have, for the most part, been in coves & bays ... and around docks and submerged timber/brush. They suspend under the docks, or above the submerged wood, waiting for the schools of Shad to come thru.

Now - these are two different types of lakes, to be sure ... and there are both Black and White Crappie in them both --- it just seems to me that they react a little differently to the changing seasons. When we fished Watts Bar in early April, we saw a larger catch rate of Black Crappie -- yet, when we've fished it in mid May, the numbers of White Crappie are greatly increased. We haven't caught many White Crappie from Watts Bar, in the Fall ... probably because we target the shallower areas where the Black Crappie tend to be. They're both heavy predators on Shad, so I don't know if that, in and of itself, is a main factor ... but, I do know that water temps can, and will, seperate the two; as far as when and where they'll go. That was very well documented by the KY Lake Crappie Tagging Study (at least in as far as the Spring movements are concerned .... and I suspect similar results would have been found, if the study had included the Fall period)

As I said - these are just my observations, and within my limited area (of lakes I fish, and my "expertise"). Take them at face value :D .... luck2ya ...cp

[Eager Beaver]

CP- I usually just use a hook and minnow on this lake thru the summer and fall. They will take a 1/16th maribou jig but they like the minnow better. I use jigs on other lakes around here, but they just prefer the minnow. If they stop biting the minnow then I will try a jig and put a nibble or 2 on it.
MS- The Crappie here are usually out along a ledge or creek channel around wood. In the Fall they start moving back to shallower water over tree piles in about 10-15 ft of water. I am rather lucky on the lake that I fish the most because they don't move that far in the fall. My 2 best spots range from 6ft out to 35ft with tree piles ranging from 11ft to around 18ft. These hold fish from late spring until early winter. I start Ice Fishing in 10ft water as soon as we get about 4-5 inches of Ice on the lake. The longer we get into winter the deeper the fish go until they will be back out to the Creek channels and ledges by the time the ice comes off the lake in the spring time. Then they will start moving shallow again and set up outside of spawning area's.

[Mike Sutton]

Thanks for the input from both of you. I look forward to trying to Fall fishing!!!