Need advice from an experienced fisherman

[gummy460]

So I am fishing a lake that is known to be an AMAZING crappie lake. 2 weeks in a row my wife and I went we they in were pre spawn and we caught them in mass when they were 8-9 feet deep.

Now this is where I need your advice please. My problem is the crappies are in spawn or close to it. They have moved to shallow waters and the is the lake is absolutely chocked with weeds and anything less than 6 foot of water and you can not throw anything without it instantly getting weeded. I cant get to these fish, what can I do?

[Yaker]

Kayak,float tube,wade,telescoping rod,fish from the bank........

[gummy460]

I have no trouble accessing the places, its getting my bait to the fish without it getting just loaded with weeds

[Yaker]

Oh,ok,I suppose there may be places a bait just can't get through ,perhaps you can fish the immediate edge of the weeds.i would try to parallel the weeds,and toss some jigs or my favorite beetle spins tipped with any good crappie plastic.you may be able to entice them to grab a minnow under a slip,cast it parallel to the weed edge and let the minnow do its thing.
I wouldn't give up,if there are crappie in there,I sure would do my best to get at them.can you dap a weedless tube down into the weeds?

[trypman1]

Fish the holes in the pads with a drop shot rig. 1/4oz weight below a jig or minnow. Drop down slowly and hold on. A pointed worm weight will work fine. Use a long rod or pole.

[crappie wrangler]

I agree, vertical jigging holes in the vegetation or at the edge of it is the ticket. Straight down and straight up.

[Crestliner08]

I'm assuming you are casting to these fish which is causing you the problem when you retrieve. Try a slip bobber and marabou jig. Drop it in holes in the weeds and hang on!

[hdhntr]

I wade for spawning crappie, favorite way to fish, use a long pole, dip a small jig into any holes in weeds or even on outside edge and hang on! depends on shore, use hunting boots mostly but can pull out a wader if need be or even just water shoes if they are tight and won't stick in mud.

[yobuck]

Well I don't know much about crappie fishing either. So about a year ago I hired a guy to go with me on my boat.
First I wanted him to critique my boat as for setup, and also teach me some basics. This guy was born and raised
at Okeechobee, and was about as basic as it gets. His own boat is an airboat which limits the type fishing he does.
So he fishes the heavy cover all year until it gets real hot, then he simply stops fishing.
When he got on my boat he had 3 telescopic jig poles, a small box with jigs, and are you ready for this? a long handled rake.
The rake was a homade device with 3 prongs about 6" long and about a 10' long handle.
He would run the boat right up into the weeds, then reach out and make a few holes in the weeds to drop the jigs into.
Sometimes a fish would get tangled in the weeds and he used the rake to dig them out.
He also had (the touch) which I still don't have, but I'm slowly improving.
He told me to build myself a rake, which ive done. He also told me to get a foot controlled motor, which I haven't done.
I didn't want a cumbersome device like his, that was a storage problem on my boat.
So I went to West marine and bought the best 10' telescopic boat hook they had.
Then a trip to the garden section at Home Depot, and bought a hand held 4 prong scratcher type weeding device.
I removed the hook section from the pole by drilling out the pop rivets, removed the wood handle from the scratcher, and
epoxied it into the end of the hook device. Then I simply re pop riveted it back together.
So now I have a folding 10' rake/boat hook, that ive used to make holes, recover numerous jigs that get hung up, and even get myself off the bottom when the boat gets stuck.
So build a rake and go find some weeds to try it on, and then thank a home grown Florida rednecker. lol

[KnightShadow10]

Read anything Whitey Outlaw has out on his style of fishing...