Strategies for Fall Crappies?

Been having a difficult time lately catching crappie on Harris, must be doing something wrong. Fish seem to be everywhere (according to fish finder) but they just don't seem to bite, so maybe I'm in the wrong spots even though it seems there are plenty of fish around.

On Sunday morning I started early fishing for both crappie and bass. Marked fish and shad just about everywhere. I tried different depths and all sorts of lures, top to bottom, nothing but one small bass. What am I missing? Are they schooled up now or scattered? Deep or shallow? Can't figure it out :P

Ppowell, IMO , there others that say . their is still a good bite in Harris ,bass or crappie. I've not seen it. Now we can fish the hump de dump on the point at Jack. Been targeting bass lately, This is what I'm trying to understand. Imo I thank lake is compromised

The fish are there (at Harris) as demonstrated by Greggofish (local guide on Harris Greggofish Journal - Home | Facebook) on a daily basis. I even tried fishing with live shad but that can be a pain (catching bait) and even if I get bait finding fish that want to eat is difficult. Maybe I should switch to Jordan, I stay at Harris because it's a 15 minute drive vs 45 minutes :)

Fish for one or the other at a time. Mixing bass with crappie fishing you may be giving in on crappie to easy. Pick your type of of fishing. Tight lining or trolling. Got to be you if others are catching and you aren't. Slow down and try different speeds, Jigs verses live bait. I know nothing about your lakes but but fish have to eat sometime. Good luck and I hope you figure it out. :popcorn

Sometimes it is worth the drive. Tillery is 25 minutes from the house but I usually go to High Rock which is 75 minutes.

few years ago jordan had big crappie dieoff and everyone overfished harris. with no slot and no limits crappie became decimated at Harris. Lake still has not recovered and probably will not unless limits are imposed.

Dinkydow I'd have to disagree with that theory, I believe the crappie population in Harris is very healthy. The amount of shad in the lake borders on ridiculous, and crappie are prolific spawners. Even if they were hit hard they would rebound quickly. My experience has shown there are plenty of crappie, and white perch. Usually if I can't get the crappie at least the perch bite since they eat anything you put in front of them. Even they are hard to come by right now.

I seem to struggle every October on Harris after the turnover and fish scatter all over the lake. I was thinking I was missing some fundamental piece of information that everyone else knew but me :) I'll just keep pounding away until I figure it out.

Something is going on down there and the fishing has been terrible and I thought after Jordan back up things may get a little better but for me it hasn't

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Originally Posted by billyniten

Something is going on down there and the fishing has been terrible and I thought after Jordan back up things may get a little better but for me it hasn't

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Water at Jordan is still a little warm. Some cold rains and daytime temps staying low, it will get better.

Went on a Harris night stalk last week. Fished about 4 hours in about 13'. Caught 23 keepers between 9" and 12" (mostly 10+). First two hours were slow due to the moonlight having the shad scattered. As soon as the moon set, more shad showed up and things picked up. The bite was still good when I left, but had to leave due to an early appointment the next day.
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I've been livescoping Gaston lake the last couple of weeks. The bite is tough. I catch plenty but considering I'm putting the bait so close to the school that some fish get snagged i should be catching more fish. I never realized crappie were this finicky.

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Originally Posted by jcwaterboy

Went on a Harris night stalk last week. Fished about 4 hours in about 13'. Caught 23 keepers between 9" and 12" (mostly 10+). First two hours were slow due to the moonlight having the shad scattered. As soon as the moon set, more shad showed up and things picked up. The bite was still good when I left, but had to leave due to an early appointment the next day.

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Nicely done! Wish I was a night person...

So I discovered the way to catch bass on Harris is to go crappie fishing :dono


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PPOWEL, I've also found that a great way to catch bass on Gaston is to go crappie fishing. In fact, some of the largest bass I have ever seen were right beside my boat pulling a struggling Crappie off a small jig.

I can tell you this... I am in the same boat (what a pun!). I have fished Harris for Crappie for a couple of years now, sometimes a couple of times a week, and cant buy a bite.
I have decent electronics, and can find em, but cant catch em. I even went to the dock at Holleman's, dropped a camera in the water, and watched the crappie stare at my jigs. I tried everything to get them to bite, but they would not. They would hover around it, and stare at it, but they would not bite it. I suspect that's what is happening out on the lake. I was surprised to see as many, and different types of fish right at the fishing dock in 6 feet of water.

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Originally Posted by clodhopper

I can tell you this... I am in the same boat (what a pun!). I have fished Harris for Crappie for a couple of years now, sometimes a couple of times a week, and cant buy a bite.
I have decent electronics, and can find em, but cant catch em. I even went to the dock at Holleman's, dropped a camera in the water, and watched the crappie stare at my jigs. I tried everything to get them to bite, but they would not. They would hover around it, and stare at it, but they would not bite it. I suspect that's what is happening out on the lake. I was surprised to see as many, and different types of fish right at the fishing dock in 6 feet of water.

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Sometimes I can catch'em on every cast so they don't have lock-jaw all the time. Late spring, early summer seems the best time for me at least, caught so many one time my son was asking to go home because he's "tired of catching fish" I thought I would never hear those words uttered. Rest of the year it's like playing the lottery.

As a livescope user I can relate to fish that gather around the bait but do not commit to a bite. One thing I do is vigorously twitch my jig up and out of the school for about maybe 5 vertical feet then let it free fall back down. Since I can see the fish, it actually starts to pull the fish out of a ball and into a more vertically oriented school that now your bait falls through. Competition takes over from there and fish will start to feed.

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Originally Posted by mustfish

As a livescope user I can relate to fish that gather around the bait but do not commit to a bite. One thing I do is vigorously twitch my jig up and out of the school for about maybe 5 vertical feet then let it free fall back down. Since I can see the fish, it actually starts to pull the fish out of a ball and into a more vertically oriented school that now your bait falls through. Competition takes over from there and fish will start to feed.

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Thanks for this reply! This is the kind of info I need! I believe presentation, especially with jigs, is more important than color or style, and I think that's the part I am failing on.

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Dynamite work great! Crappie will make you work hard for them. Maybe you need ugly jigs! :dono

I'll also add this, if you have never tried the 2.5" gulp minnows that come in the sealed package then give them a try. Around $5 at Walmart. I try traditional jig bodies almost every time I fish but I usually end up fishing Gulps instead of regular jigs. They are very tender on the hook but they catch fish even when a live minnow won't.

Shearon Harris has been a head scratcher this year for sure for both bass and crappie. I would agree that there are plenty of fish there too... and I am bound and determined to figure it out though.
Heck, to add insult to injury... it's even been hard to catch white perch that typically worry you to death when you're crappie fishin'. I do love catchin' and eatin' white perch too.