How would YOU fish for crappie in THIS particular reservoir?

reservoir is 80 acres. typical farm reservoir having a deep (10'-17') ditch around the outer perimiter, while the remaining area is 5' to 8' deep. the water stays very clear, thus coon-tail moss is growing everywhere, as is other stuff like green slime. the only place one can use a trolling motor is in the ditch.

this particular reservoir is full of crappie, many being over 2#'s as i have caught them there for years.

the moss, etc. just seems to be getting worse each year.

so, how would you fish this place?

thanks

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Originally Posted by slaters#1

reservoir is 80 acres. typical farm reservoir having a deep (10'-17') ditch around the outer perimiter, while the remaining area is 5' to 8' deep. the water stays very clear, thus coon-tail moss is growing everywhere, as is other stuff like green slime. the only place one can use a trolling motor is in the ditch.

this particular reservoir is full of crappie, many being over 2#'s as i have caught them there for years.

the moss, etc. just seems to be getting worse each year.

so, how would you fish this place?

thanks

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If that moss is not algae, grass carp might eat it. You can buy sterile carp, just to be sure they don't destroy the habitat, and introduce them into the pond and see what happens. At worst, they will die off starting in about 5 years. Most places that would sell sterile grass carp have marine biologists on their staff, you could take that moss to them and find out if the carp will eat is, tell them the size of the pond, and they can then recommend how many carp you might need.

You could also buy the stuff people use to kill algae or even all vegetation in ponds, but I suspect that would also kill off the fry that do eat algae, like crappies! I am certainly no expert though... People who do supply fish for ponds would likely be a lot more help, that's where I would look after checking on line. Google "ponds + algae"...

lou,

thanks for the response. i have a farm reservoir like the one i mentioned above. 60 acres, clear water, and same weeds, etc. i spent 2500.00 on white amur (grass eating fish) for mine. they did eat some of the vegetation, but as they age they eat less, so now the weeds are back. the fella that owns this 80 acres has spent a couple thousand as well, and he obviously needs to spend more. he told me chemicals are a non-starter, so will not be considered.

so, back to the original question. if one knew crappie were all over this reservoir, how would one go about catching them?

thanks

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Originally Posted by slaters#1

lou,

thanks for the response. i have a farm reservoir like the one i mentioned above. 60 acres, clear water, and same weeds, etc. i spent 2500.00 on white amur (grass eating fish) for mine. they did eat some of the vegetation, but as they age they eat less, so now the weeds are back. the fella that owns this 80 acres has spent a couple thousand as well, and he obviously needs to spend more. he told me chemicals are a non-starter, so will not be considered.

so, back to the original question. if one knew crappie were all over this reservoir, how would one go about catching them?

thanks

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"white amur" = grass carp, it's a just nice name for them since so many people have an aversion to carp. Perhaps you should consider some grass carp that can breed. That way they'll keep it cleared, if not Charlie Berwer sliders or NightProwlers weedless jigs would help. He is not showing his weedless jigs on his site, but he has them.

Home - NightProwler64 Custom Crappie Jigs

Not sure that helps, but....

The very first thing I'd do is create structure. Doesn't matter if you have some already, you dont have enough, no one does.

Get in those ditches where it drops from 5' to 8'-10', and sink piles of bamboo or christmas trees, whatver you can get a hold of and make these piles big. two christmas trees will hold fish, but not many and not for long. 8 are better! Create MULTIPLE structure piles in that water and then some in the deeper water too.

Catching them in the shallow water only really happens cinsitently in the spawn when they are easy to catch anyway, that waters not the problem. The "problem" comes when its really hot or really cold. When that happens they leave that shallow water and probably fan out in all that grass which they use as stucture. Create wooden structure in key spots and thank me later.

Honestly, 80 acres with depth at the edges hardly seems worth using a boat, unless the bank is impassible. I fish a similar pond that does have easy access and I usually walk all the way around twice. I use a Bobby Garland Stroll'R on a 1/16th oz. jighead and try to bring it in just above the grass/weeds, letting it pause and fall over deeper areas (often inducing a strike). But, sometimes the fish are deeper or won't come out of the grass, so on that second pass I'll switch to a bladed head to get a little more depth and I just have to plan on swinging in that jig waste high to pull the snotgrass off most every cast. It's a pain in the rear and can get pretty frustrating, but you have to remember that a fisherman's best quality is patience, followed closely by perseverance! :D

As much as I hate fishing weedy lakes, I would fish it early and late in the year when the mess is gone. Then fish somewhere else the rest of the time, here in southern IN, we have a lot of smaller lakes that get over run with weeds. They have good size panfish growth, but I avoid them once the sun warms the water. Doesn't help you much

I'm with Kman on this one. Several structures in the deeper water to hold fish in key locations. Structure that will create plenty of shade is a good idea. And create opennings in the weeds by laying a lot of wood,(slab wood works) on the bottom, creating an area that is difficult for the weeds to grow for a few years. This will create openning amongst the weeds, which in turn will create edges, and we all know how crappie love edges. If you lay the wood on the bottom in specific shapes you can create points and corners in the weeds. Do this close to the bamboo/porcupine/ tree structures you are going to create and you should have good fishing all summer. If you are not going to create places to hold fish then I would start looking for any irregularity in the grass/weeds and any minor changes along the drop. Also, if there is an inflow, be sure to look around it during the warm water months. The inflows will often be a bit cooler then the still lake water and it will continuously bring in food.

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Originally Posted by slabsrus

Also, if there is an inflow, be sure to look around it during the warm water months. The inflows will often be a bit cooler then the still lake water and it will continuously bring in food.

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Second that. A good many of the fish I catch in my similar pond come from an end where water (sometimes) runs into the pond. I especially target that area after a rain when the water is flowing in fairly consistently. It's both a little deeper there, and the fish will stack up for an opportunistic meal.