Thread: jiggingman 2020 johnaton creek area

My last trip resulted in one fish. Your mileage may vary.

PM M.R. Dux, I do know he fishes there and blood river for sure.

Originally Posted by Quailtail

My last trip resulted in one fish. Your mileage may vary.

It’s kind of a self fulfilling prophecy at this point. People have a tough day and blame the carp and the lakes. We had a couple lean years where several years of nonexistent spawns lined up, but the lakes are on the mend now. I have no financial interest in the lakes at all beyond tournament fishing, no incentive to promote the lakes whatsoever. In fact, it would benefit me a lot more to just not post or say the fishing sucks. But the truth is I fish these lakes 100-125 days a year and can count the number of days I didn’t catch a 20 fish limit on one hand and even those days few days I didn’t still had around 15 keepers. Also had a bunch of days that I caught and released 40 or more keepers. The thing I learned in those lean years was I wasn’t nearly as good of a fisherman as I thought I was when we had some great years where several excellent spawns lined up. Had to learn where the fish really wanted to be and how to eliminate water, not just fish patterns or spots that worked in the past and hope for the best. We aren’t back to the point yet where anyone that can hit the water with a jig is going to catch fish like 2012-2017 but fishing is a lot better than it was a couple years ago and getting better every day.

As to the original post, Jonathan is always a good place to fish but that doesn’t mean every day or trip will be easy. I haven’t fished over there much this year but here are a few pictures from this time of year last year.

I agree with what PAB said.

I fish the Jonathan area dozens of times each year. I talk to dozens of folks who both hire me or ask me questions at the ramp, cleaning station,etc. Many of those fishermen are convinced KY or Barkley lakes have no crappie because of Asian carp, global warming, whatever. They show up prepared to fish the exact same way they did with their Dad/Grandad 40 years ago. When they fish like that for a few days, they tell everybody within earshot there are no crappie. Many do that while watching me or others clean nice catches.

I had a guy from north of our area talk to me several days while I was cleaning client fish last spring. I had seen his boat so I already knew the answer to the questions I was was going to ask. As he whined to any who would listen about no crappie, I asked him where he was fishing and not catching crappie? He said they were fishing bushes in Little Jonathan. How deep is the water? He said 1-2 feet. How are you fishing? They were casting bobbers with minnow rigs. Are you aware the crappie are in structure in 8-12 feet of water? Do you have side/down image? Yes. Do you know how to use it? Yes, of course. Why don't you take some time and use your electronics to find structure in 8-12 feet of water? OH NO! That would take too much of our fishing time!!
I shook my head as he got ready to load up his boat to go back home and tell everybody he knew there are no crappie in KY Lake.

If you plan on coming to the Jonathan Creek area and fish like Granddad did in the 60s, you are going to be sadly disappointed. If you are coming for one day, you might get lucky and hit a prefect weather day with the crappie biting. More than likely you are going to need a few days to figure out where the fish are and how to catch them. Asking questions at the cleaning station or bait shop will probably leave you disappointed. Time on the water with good electronics are your friend.

In the last two years, I have probably had 40-50 people catch their personal best crappie fishing with me. Many were here to begin their fishing vacations and learn some things that might help them later.

When I find myself heading to a lake I've never fished or haven't fished recently, you can find me with a lake map and my Helix 12 in my lap in my recliner, studying every piece of info I can find. I look at the lake maps then mark the kind of places that I commonly catch fish using the tactics I am best at here on KY and Barkley. Most of the time that is going to put me in a good place to start. In 2019, I had never fished Rend Lake in IL but we had signed up to fish the Crappie Masters tourney there in early May. My 1st time on the water there was in practice for the event. We fished several spots and caught several nice fish but not the kind it would take to finish with a check. I had found an unusual spot of unknown structure that we fished late in the day before the event. It held good fish. We stayed in that one area the entire day by ourselves. Several tourney boats went back and forth within sight of us. We finished 5th that day, fishing a spot I found sitting in my recliner with my Helix 12 hooked to an AC adapter.

I've heard from several tournament fishermen that KY and Barkley lakes have more man-made structure than any lake they have ever fished. There are no secrets when that structure hit the lake bottom. Find it and you can fish it.

We have had 2-3 good spawns in a row and there are a ton of small keeper sized crappie available for next spring. Some of our absolute best crappie fishing is after the spawn when the fish start back to deeper water. I'll never say you won't catch some shallow crappie here but your chances are much better looking at deeper structure----year round.