Back in the brush

Took the boat out with H yesterday afternoon to see if the crappie had returned to the brush and bridge on Joe Pool. The lake is currently 5 foot high, with more rain due.

The answer was yes in both cases, with large numbers on the scope in the brush piles and on the bridge pillars.

It was a very light bite. Most of the time the only indication of a bite would be line movement or an increase in weight on the line as you raised the jig.

Unfortunately most of what we caught were in the 4-8 inch range, with an occasional 10 inch. The bite was slow compared to the number of fish present. Still don't know where the bigger fish are located, as almost all caught in the slips, on the brush and the bridge pillars are in the 4-6 in range.

Part of the catching problem yesterday was the wind. It was from the SE so you could not avoid it. It made it hard to keep the line tight and hard for spot lock to stay on point.

But it was still a fun day.

Uummm....I wish I had the time to come dissect this lake.... Here, further south than you I'm still finding really good fish a rocks through from where they were spawning..... Kinda hard for me to believe they're all done and back deep there.....
Dunno but here like there lots of dinks out deeper.... May wanna check some 8 to 12fow areas near spawning areas.....
The wind has been crazy here also....

The water between the rocks where they normally spawn and the sliprs are in that range. We did not have a normal spawn on the rocks behind the dock where my slips are located this year. It was very light, unless all the activity took place after 9 pm each night.

Normally we find plenty of keepers in the 10-11 inch range on the slips, at the bridge and on brush piles the year around. i don't know what has happened during the last month that has caused only the 4=8 inch crappie to be present in the normal haunts with all the larger crappie missing.

Up to last week I was catching large numbers of small crappie in the slips. Very few keepers but lots of action. The rise in water level of over 5 feet probably account for the slower catch rate this past week but does not explain why so few of the larger crappie are present.

I intend to check out some of the creeks again this coming week to see if they are back in the creeks. I also intend to check out the deeper water up at the dam if the wind will allow that.

Yes it's been a run around down here also and the normal locations are just not as hot and out of time of year pass..... Definitely something has affected these fish and I'm not sure it was just that late freeze we had.....