Thread: best crappie waters within 3 hrs of north GA?

I have the crappie fishing bug (if not the experience), and am looking for places to fish for crappie. I'm mostly a bass and bream guy, but recently have been wanting to learn to catch crappie. I use a kayak with a trolling motor, and I have sonar. I have a lot of jigs and soft baits for crappie, and some good rods. Just need some more places to fish. I am lucky to be able to fish during the week when jet skis and rec boaters are mostly off the big lakes.

I live very close to lake Lanier, ramp is only 20 minutes. I also fish Lathem res, the Etowah, and sometimes the 'hooch. I won't eat fish from Lanier (e coli) or the Etowah (mercury), but I mostly catch 'n release anyway. I know Lathem has decent crappie, but I have not been able to find them yet (I found the bass).

I don't want GPS coordinates to your honey holes (unless you want to share LOL). I just want some recommended lakes and rivers I can go and fish with a decent chance of finding crappie. I also hunt in middle GA, Taylor county, so between here and there during the next couple months expands my range south.

Dock shooting is something I need to learn, but have neglected entirely because there ain't no docks on Lathem where I fish a lot. I do have the perfect rods for that, and it sounds fun as heck - right up my alley. I kinda forgot about C. Elliot, ain't been there in ages. Not far at all, and worth a drive. Stone Mountain? Ain't been there since I was a kid, and Indians attacked the train, and scalped some poor woman!

I am going back to Lathem in the morning, and then Wed morn over to Lanier around a nearby park, where it's free to park and launch, and the grapevine says the fishing is good. I'll not be dock shooting, but just getting the lay of the lake around there, and maybe getting in on some of the fabled fall topwater bass bite.

A guy on GON had a good day on Blackshear, another lake I should go try: Murdered the PAN!! | GON Forum