Reply With QuoteNice looking set-up. How do you like the tipsavers? Your reasons are the same as mine for not frequenting Mackintosh.
Mike
Take a kid outdoors!
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Lake Mackintosh Report 6-18-11
Hit the lake this morning alone. Got the boat launched and was making my way at idle speed towards the bridge, reach over to turn the Lowrance on......missing. Look up front for the trolling motor mounted Lowrance......missing. I remembered that lastnight after returning from Jordan I took them off the boat and brought them in the house. Doh So, with no electronics I set off on a blind voyage for crappie.
Although I live within 10 mins. of the ramp I rarely fish this lake. It's a nice lake, I just despise the ramp fees, having to be off the water at a certain time, lake closed certain days, etc. but for a quick morning trip it's an alright place to go.
There was a nice breeze and plenty of boats on the water as I got under the Huffman Mill bridge and headed towards the other side of the lake. I decided to try some brush piles that I thought I could locate without the Lowrance so I tightlined some jigs off the front and guessed at how fast I was trolling. Within a few minutes 3 of the 4 rods went down, all 8 inch fish and paper thin. I sat over that brush for an hour or so and must've caught 40 fish all the same size and so thin you could almost see through them.
By now the sun was beaming pretty hard and I decided to try for some bluegill. Mackintosh has a real nice overhang of trees/shrubs that give the fish a nice 3-4 ft. area of shade off the bank. Water was down a bit so it made flippin' under the bushes pretty easy. The gills were under just about every bush, and all it took was a 1/32 lead head tipped with a redworm and I was in business. Couldn't keep count on the gills but between the crappie early this morning and the gills later on, I'm almost positive 100 fish went in and out the boat today.
It was pretty funny watching all the bass boats look at me like I was alien with all the rods out over that brush pile this morning. Other than MacCrappie from the site here, I've never seen anyone spider rigging for crappie on this lake. Probably because it's not a real good lake to fish for big crappie to start with. (my opinion).
I'm not sure if it's overpopulated or just no food but over the last 10 years of me living in this area I've yet to catch a crappie over 12 inches in this lake. 99.9% of the fish are 6-8 1/2 inches and paper thin regardless of the time of year you catch them. I know they are in there somewhere but I've just never caught any. Even during the spawn when they are on the banks, it's been 8 inch fish.
On a side note, I took a picture of the boat with the front Tbar and back trolling bar along with my tip savers I picked up from Monk lastweek. The boat is turning out to be just about perfect for everything I need it to do. The tipsavers sure make a difference when traveling on the water and storing the rods going to and from the lake.
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Nice looking set-up. How do you like the tipsavers? Your reasons are the same as mine for not frequenting Mackintosh.
Mike
Take a kid outdoors!
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Mike,Originally Posted by mikefish
I'm loving the tip savers. Makes a world of difference transporting the longer rods. Keeps things out the floor and prevents all the lines from being tangled. Well, most of the time anyways.I'm glad to know I'm not alone when it comes to Mackintosh. I always say to myself, "I'm not going back over there to crappie fish", then I end up doing it again. LOL.
Minnow
Nice set up on your new boat. You are deAd on your report on Mac, but my kids love it. There is an area on the lake Zi call the catchers mitt that produces hundreds of white bass and crappie this time of year. Very few worth keePing, but the smiles are worth it. Sometimes , I hate to admit it, I go just to get my confidence up after a non productive trip to a bigger name lake. Overall its a good lake to take kids.
Grab it, and Growl
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Manley,
You're right, you can sure stack up some numbers of fish fairly fast on this lake and the kids have a ball doing it. Guess in the end, that's what it's really about anyways.
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I've fished Mac several times with my father and the same results as you guys. Have any of you tried down towards the dam where it is electronic only? I've always wondered if this is where the big ones go.
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I'll let you guys in on a secret....I live on the creek that they damed up to make Mackintosh. (hence my username).....below the dam on Alamance Creek there are some HUGE crappie, this creek feeds the Haw River, which in turn as you all know feeds Jordan Lake. HOWEVER, access to this creek is VERY limited and the only "Main" access was blocked off by landowners a few years ago. Back 5-10 years ago, access was a simple as dropping a jon boat in and using a trolling motor to make a 30 min ride up the creek to below the dam.
Now, the electric side of Mackintosh hasn't produced a dang thing for me over the years other than some very nice Largemouth and nice Catfish. The creek is where it's at, but, like I said, access is limited. One option that is overlooked is access to the Haw River. Haw River has some HUGE crappie in the spring below the dams in Alamance County. Since the kayak folks pushed for access through the dams one might be able to access these places we used to have to rough it through the bushes to get to. I really don't know.
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nice boat pictures. we need 2 put both trackers on water this week
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Good reports.
I PRACTICE CATCH & FRY---WHEN I CAN FISH AND CATCH:D
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