Thread: 5-18-23 Fishing Report

I had today off work & thought I'd go try Buggs (Kerr Lake), but before I got 2 miles from the house, the weather forecast over the radio said it was going to be breezy with winds from the northeast. Wind from that direction blew out my best spots at Buggs, so I considered turning around and going to Jordan. Same thing with the places I intended to hit at Jordan. Gusty winds & choppy water are a bad mix for a kayak. I headed for Holt Lake in Butner instead, because it is a lot smaller, I might be able to find some protected water, and it's not as far from the house.

My plan was to drift jigs in search of post-spawn crappie. I figured the crappie wouldn't be schooled up yet, but once I found the right depth, I should be able to catch some in similar depths. I set out a couple Bobby Garland Baby Shad Swim'R on 1/16 oz. tungsten jigheads. First fish was a decent shellcracker, but nowhere near as big as they get out there. It hit in 6' of water was released unharmed. No crappie caught at that depth. Downwind into a protected cove didn't produce crappie, though I pulled the hook on something at 12' deep. Finally caught a short (10") crappie at the same depth and thought I was onto something. Not so much.

I paddled back up the lake to a deeper, protected area & focused on that 12' depth. Plus, I added Slab Sauce to my jigs to get any advantage possible. Bingo! The crappie were scattered and holding between 9'-14'. They wouldn't touch it if the jig was faster than .5 MPH or if it was bouncing from waves, which really limited the productive water I could cover. I only ended up landing 15 crappie, lost 6 or 7, and had many short strikes. Made me wish I'd brought crankbaits to pull, which wouldn't be so negatively affected by the wind. Also caught some junior bass, a pair of white bass, a bull bream. None of the crappie was over 11", so all were released to fight again. It was a fun way to spend the day, even if no keepers wanted to play. I hope this report helps somebody.

Jim

Good report and yes a very windy day. Thanks for sharing