How does TVA dropping the water affect the Crappie?

I fish on Douglas for Crappie in the spring at Indian Creek and Muddy Creek. I also do some night fishing there in the summer. However I never have done much crappie fishing in the fall and winter but am going to give it a shot this year. I am trying to educate myself but cannot seem to find much information relating to the situation that Douglas is in. Most of the great crappie lakes around the country seem to stay full all year long. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to get started? Most of the brush piles are 30 feet out of the water up on the bank. There are some but not many. What do I need to be doing? Also could someone explain what "the water turning over" means and does it even do it on lakes like this one?

The water level drop will usually concentrate them in the channels, either down in the channel or along the edges. If water is still actively being drawn out of the lake at any appreciable rate, they should react to it the same as they do in rivers .... concentrating in eddy water areas, like the inside bend of a channel or the down flow side of a bridge pillar.

"Turnover" is simply the upper layer of water getting colder and sinking, which mixes the different layers of water. Cold water is denser than warm water, so the warm layer usually sets on top of the colder layer ... until the weather conditions drop the temps of the upper layer. Heavy discharging of the lake's water can sometimes negate that process, and even when it does occur ... it's not always throughout the whole lake at the same time. If it does occur, the water may turn dark & may have a "smell" to it, depending on how quickly the upper layer drops. The color & smell is due to the debris/muck on the bottom can get stirred up in the process. The mixing effect can turn the fish off for awhile, but the biggest effect is the mixing of temperature layers will destroy the thermocline (which was holding the fish from staying below it, because of lack of sufficient oxygen). The mixing effect will distribute the water temps and oxygen levels more evenly throughout the water column, which gives the fish more depth territory to roam in (unless, of course, the lake is drawn down a lot ... like Douglas is).

This is just "general" info, based on my experiences with some of my local lakes. Whether or not this is pertinent to Douglas or not ... :dono .... because I haven't fish Douglas in several decades (& never in the Fall or Winter). I'll leave it up to the Douglas locals to agree or disagree with my info.

Thank you for that post. You explained something to me very easily what many others could not. I believe I may go and try an inside bend of a channel that I know about tomorrow. That made good sense and I appreciate the info very much.

Luck2ya, man !! Post a report and let us know how you do.

I was looking on Google Maps at Douglas Lake, just to try and remember where it was we fished. Had to have been Swanns Marina, because I remember the Interstate Bridges as we came out of the creek. We fished out on the main lake just around the left corner of that creek (with the bridges to our right). It was in the Spring, but the water level had yet to come up to pool. Looked a lot like what I'm seeing on Google Maps. I was always told that people caught Crappie at Douglas in the Spring by casting jig/bobber along the shoreline ... but, we tightlined minnows out in about 15-18fow. They started biting at 8AM and quit at 11AM (when the wind would start whipping up whitecaps). We even caught some letting the wind blow us, just casting our minnow rigs out and letting them trail behind the boat ... even though the minnows couldn't have possibly been more than a couple of feet deep !!

Anyway, when looking at the Google Map, I did notice a couple of huge rock slides ... on around the point from Swann's & straight across from Douglas Lake Campground. If you're in that area it might be worth scanning over, since big rock slides like that will sometimes take trees down with them ... and even if they don't, it could be a large enough rock pile to create a eddy (since it is on the inside turn bank). Now ... I don't know, for sure ... just guessing ... so don't make any long runs or plan changes based on my words. Like I said ... it's been many decades since I've fished there, and we didn't go anywhere other than around the point from Swann's. We didn't even fish the bridge pillars :Doh:

Welcome to the board, I live in Morristown also and fish both Cherokee and Douglas. You are correct about the drastic draw down, here I am Tuesday standing in a brushpile that runs out to about 20ft deep in the summertime.
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I have not been on the lake in the boat since September, been eat up with bow hunting. Where Crappie Pappy describes above is a good place to start. I rode over there today (Douglas) and only saw a few trailers at the upper lake ramps, the water looked very silty where they are pulling it down so fast. The mid Lake was swamped with Green Carp fishermen, nothing unusual there. I may go over there in the boat tomorrow, if you go please let us know how you do, we like pictures also!!


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Crazy place for crappie to play!

Hey guys, I fished Indian Creek today from day break till about 1. I fished every way I know how and no crappies. None to speak of anyway. The drum population is doing well though....I tight lined the points, spider rigged a while, fished the inside bend of the channel, the flats, brush and nothing.....they're just not biting yet. Water temp was 57 this morning and warmed to 60. I believe the temp needs to get down below 50 for the bite to start. I had fun anyway but no one else was catching either so I would say it's not yet time.

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Originally Posted by Crappieman633

Hey guys, I fished Indian Creek today from day break till about 1. I fished every way I know how and no crappies. None to speak of anyway. The drum population is doing well though....I tight lined the points, spider rigged a while, fished the inside bend of the channel, the flats, brush and nothing.....they're just not biting yet. Water temp was 57 this morning and warmed to 60. I believe the temp needs to get down below 50 for the bite to start. I had fun anyway but no one else was catching either so I would say it's not yet time.

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Fished Sunday in that same area and caught some decent ones, see Fall Fun Morning post. Crappie and Gill bite was very light on plastics on structure about 15ft deep. The trollers were doing much better. You are correct about the Drum, they were thumping the jig with authority then would try to take the rod out of your hand. Glad you got out and gave it a shot, with the backdrop of the Smokies it is hard to beat the scenic views of Douglas in the Fall. Keep the reports coming.