Crappie report, Chickamauga

I knew that it was going to happen sooner or later, but I finally left the tailwaters in order to see if I remembered how to catch a crappie. It is just like riding a bicycle. For the first 30 minutes or so of our 3 hour trip, I wanted to scout an area that we normally find White bass after the spawn, but apparently, they are still doing their spring fling.

I usually won’t fish for crappie until after the spawn and most of the crappie fishermen have given up until next spring. Grin. So I went to a spawning bank that I have fished for years and we were lucky enough to catch a few. We caught 12 keepers, mostly males in full tuxedos but we also caught maybe 4-5 females. No giants this trip, but good eating size. 10-11.5”.

Jay fished with BG Lights Out color and I fished with what I think that Bobby Garland calls purple Mist. I could be wrong with that name. We both used 1/24 oz jigs in 4 feet of water or less. We were slow rolling the jig.

Additionally, we landed a yellow perch, 1 bluegill, 1 Smallmouth, and 3 LM bass. Maybe 10 short crappie as well. We knew that the wind was going to get up and it did around 10:30 so we terminated at 11.