Thread: Reelfoot/Shenengo

A buddy and I just got back from Reelfoot lake in Tennessee. We had a blast and did pretty well. I'm glad I didn't take my boat down there. It would have been nice to have the extras, but man is that lake full of stumps. We must have hit 12 of them in the three days we were there.

Anyone been on Shenengo lately? I am planning on getting on it Sunday. Anyone know what the water temp is? The weather looks good for a few days coming up. I got the bug bad down south, and just have to give it a try.

Mark

Water temp is 44 warm degrees. Water is milky color and alot of junk floating around. Water is 2 1/2 feet high. Fishing is real slow. Been up the last 2 days and can't find them, tried shallow, deep and in between. This past cold front sure did get them off their feed. You know it's not real good when you have a nice day like today and I only saw 2 other fisherman in the morning. Fished from the train bridge at Clark down to Parkers Landing and caught 3 decent ones today a one very large one yesterday, all 4 fish came out of 17 fow.

I fished yesterday late afternoon. The conditions are as stated above. I only saw 1 other fisherman and it was very slow. I picked up 5 nice fish but it took awhile. I think it will be a few days of stabile weather before it picks up. Gary

I'm going Sunday morning. If I get my pontoon ready me and buddy will take it out. Where is the best place to fish at this time of year. I never started for crappie this early, always doing the trout thing. Could you put a pontoon in at Parker, never been there before. Stump Jumper did you get my reply? I know I was not much help.

You can put a pontoon at Parkers BUT the road leading to the launch is in bad shape a lot of pot holes and ruts. If you get there late parking may be a problem. Fished for 5 hours today and 1 crappie. Fished from where the river comes into the lake at Orangeville to 846 bridge.

Talked to alot people today and the fish weren't hitting down at Parkers and surrounding area. Came off the water at noon and didn't see anyone fishing from shore just a few boats. Saw alot of runnin and gunnin today. No one stayed very long in one spot. Did hear that some fish were caught last night near the swim beach drifting. Pretty hard to drift when there is no wind.

Doski; thanks I got your replie, you are a gentleman, I appreciate all of your suggestions and offer to help, I will be talking to you. I have fished Shenango hard since thursdayfrom shore locations with minimal luck. Not many people on thursday or friday on shore or on boats. I spoke to 6 different boats this morning and they had no luck, 1 boat was targeting bass the others crappie. The water was down from thursday by about 12" but it still is high and there is a lot of floating debris. The color is still off but better than thursday. The water temp from my feeling appeared to be very cold I would guess low 40's. I must have been lucky on thursday with 5 nice crappie because I only caught 1 on friday and only 1 perch today. I have targeted different times of the day early morning until 10:30, late afternoon until almost dark and the same results. I have been at this for longer than I like to admit and this year is very late for a start at the crappie. I think we need another week of warmer weather and some warm rain before we will see the fish become more cooperative. Any other observations please post and we can maybe come up with a pattern? Good luck, Gary

Yeah, Stump Jumper me and three buddies went Sunday morning, we started early fished hard and caught nothing. Went right out of RC and ended going up the river for a ride fishing here and there. We got out of the water around noon, not one person we talked to caught anything. Had a good time though. We will be able to dock at rc by May 15th.

Been fishing shenango lake for a long time. Over the years, i've found it very tough to catch fish there for about three weeks of april. No kidding. Just last week i checked 15 spots and none had fish on them. That was in four diffrent areas of the lake too. They'll move up after this warm spell but they wont bunch up for another week or so. Then it's clobber time.:D In the meantime, i'll go fish the linesville stump area at Pymy or Rt. 88 stumpfield at Mosquito. Better chance to put some fish in the boat there and a better chance at catching a variety of fish. May get a little crowded on the weekends but the fish move in there before the fish move up at shenango. We did pretty good at Linesville over the weekend. Caught a couple big walleye, 25 and 24" and some crappies that were all over 10". Also hammered the perch and gills on a microspoon fished tightline tipped with a waxworm or maggots. Hope to get over to squito this week and drift the stumps.

Chaunc, I agree with you about the next week or so should see an increase in fish activity. Before the last big cold snap, the crappie started a little, but have stopped and regressed since. Shenango is funny, early on in March and most of April, you can have a great day and just catch fish and the next you just can't find them. But that's why they call it fishing. This last weekend my cousin who lives on Mosquito said it was very slow even for the walleye, and there were large numbers of fishermen. I try to keep good logs of my fishing over the yearsand as far as I can tell we are off by about 2-3 weeks, but that can change quickly with weather conditions. One thing is certain, 'it will get better with a little more time.' Good luck guys! Doski, I can't wait to get that toon docked at Rc's, it just seems like it will be so much fun and convenient. Keep in touch. Gary

Had some better luck today, went out for 1.5 hours and caught 13- 10"-12" crappie and 1- 24" pike. These fish were caught in 2' to 6' of water near wood. I fished the same place yesterday and zero, my buddy fished there this morning and zero. Just goes to show you Shenango crappie are here today and gone today early on. Gary U