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Crappie Wall Hanger
Weird day
After reading tear-em-ups report of the banner day yesterday I had to head out and try my luck. Hit the river at 9 am and started scouting with the sonar. Was amazed at how many fish were showing up on side imaging and excitedly started casting to them. To my surprise i couldnt get them to bite! I went verticle and picked off a few than checked another spot. Same thing here, tons of fish, very little catching. Moved all over the place and found fish everywhere. They were almost all suspended 2 or 3 feet off the bottom in 10 to 15 feet of water. For the life of me I couldnt figure them out.
Finished the day with 55 fish caught but only 5 kept ( not huge ). 49 were crappie 6 were yellow perch. Water was very clear, and warmer than I would have thought at 42 degrees
Check out these screen grabs and the schools of fish!
Crappie Wall Hanger
My instincts tell me that these were not crappie but who knows. I just have never seen crappie in schools that tight. From my experience crappie move in schools or pods of 25 fish or so and dont move around as much as these were. Most of these images were made as the schools moved past a nearly stationary boat. Crappie move but not that much unless they are making thier way from one feeding location to another.
Any guesses what these were? Shad?
Crappie Wall Hanger II
This would be my guessOriginally Posted by Zippy
Crappie.com 1K Star General
Shad Im sure we snag em alot while crappie fishing gets real excited at 1st til realize what it is lol.
Crappie Wall Hanger
So big schools of shad would be in the river this early? Gizzard shad? Have you ever foul hooked one in Jan/feb?
Crappie.com 1K Star General
Oh yea actually been thru schools that were so thick we chopped some up with prop .Sometimes they ll drive you crazy bumping into your line.
Crappie Wall Hanger
Ok cool! I didnt know that. I went back to out today and the fish were still there. I had a gopro on me and hooked it to my jig and dropped it down. Unfortunately that river is too dark to see anything below 4 feet deep. There was nothing on the sdcard except my u gly face pearing into the lens then a slow decent into darkness. Not a big fish day either, only 30 crappie and 4 largemouths. Water was getting warm at 46 at the surface on my way back. My records show it was 33 degrees this time last year.
Crappie Wall Hanger
I agree with the others on the shad. Snag a lot of the fishing in winter. This time last year I was ice fishing on 8 inches of ice.
Crappie Wall Hanger
Thanks, i think they were affecting the crappie bite in that spot where they were the thickest. No room down there for the crappie, lol
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