Thread: Reelfoot Lake (help needed )

Originally Posted by Eagle 1

Always wanted to fish there .Want to book now . What guide ,what month , where to stay , bring boat or not , bait to use , do you catch both red ear /bluegills ? Any other information's you want to throw out .

Used to fish there many years ago so I may be of a little help. In my opinion, the only bad months are the heat of summer months. Right now would be the time to go. All the way until real cold weather sets in. The lake will be less crowded, and the fish will be on the shad bite. I'm a little confused about the question about bluegill/redear, since this site mainly discusses Crappie so I'll try to answer both.

You can bring your own boat but keep in mind this is a shallow lake with lots of stumps so keep your speed down. I have never hired a guide and always caught fish, but Bluebank offers guides and lodging.
as far as bait for Crappie, tuffy minnows are a cain't miss bait but any kind of soft plastic worked slowly among the Cypress trees will work. I prefer Mr. Twister in a 2" with 1/16 oz or less jig head. Color doesn't matter to me but chartruese, white, or smoke will catch fish. The crappie will be on the outside edge of the Cypress trees, and I have caught fish all over this lake. Location does not matter.

As far as Bluegill/Redear, April is the time. The Redear will come shallow first and by the first week of May, the Bluegill will be on fire. Once again, location does not matter as they are all over the lake and plentiful. Red worms with a bobber is the closest to a sure thing, but I used the same 2" Mr. Twister as for Crappie but fished shallower. You will get Crappie as well as sunfish that way.

as far as lodging, I mentioned Bluebank, but there are other lodges as well. Perhaps someone reading this can add a favorite guide. If you choose to bring your own boat and go guideless, you can put in at the State Park and head for the upper Blue Basin. Fish are everywhere just go real slow and expect to ride up a stump or two. There are a few canals/ditches cut through the trees and it can get a little confusing when the suns starts setting so bring a lake map and a compass to find your way back.

Back when I was a kid Saturday morning cartoons would end then the tv was turned to WKNO. TWRA had a show about hunting and fishing. Kinda like the Bill Dance show. A few were taken from Reelfoot lake. They'd fish the reeds, lily pads and stumps for bream. They would throw a few crickets in the water then their line in the area. Said the smaller fish would go after the surface crickets while the bigger ones waited below.

Originally Posted by Eagle 1

Always wanted to fish there .Want to book now . What guide ,what month , where to stay , bring boat or not , bait to use , do you catch both red ear /bluegills ? Any other information's you want to throw out .

Hey Coach, if you’re wanting to catch crappie, hit up Chase Petty. If you’re wanting to catch catch bluegill I’d say Billy Blakley


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Folks that have fished there say to rent a boat, stayed at the state park right next to the launch and you can hear them smack a stump every 100y or so, not a place for my pontoon lol. lot of catfish from the bank was pulling the camper when we stayed.

My wife and I stayed at cypress point resort the room comes with a boat a skinning station and free bait everyday it’s right on the water walk down to your personal flat bottom and tell the man what bait I want either minnows or crickets it was all in the room package we caught several crappie under the bridges as a matter of fact we got married by the Justice of the peace on the pier at the state park had a good time up there but CYPRESS POINT RESORT is a nice place with everything you need


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Sadly, Cypress point resort was destroyed by the 12/10/21 tornado.

Originally Posted by bwilso

Used to fish there many years ago so I may be of a little help. In my opinion, the only bad months are the heat of summer months. Right now would be the time to go. All the way until real cold weather sets in. The lake will be less crowded, and the fish will be on the shad bite. I'm a little confused about the question about bluegill/redear, since this site mainly discusses Crappie so I'll try to answer both.

You can bring your own boat but keep in mind this is a shallow lake with lots of stumps so keep your speed down. I have never hired a guide and always caught fish, but Bluebank offers guides and lodging.
as far as bait for Crappie, tuffy minnows are a cain't miss bait but any kind of soft plastic worked slowly among the Cypress trees will work. I prefer Mr. Twister in a 2" with 1/16 oz or less jig head. Color doesn't matter to me but chartruese, white, or smoke will catch fish. The crappie will be on the outside edge of the Cypress trees, and I have caught fish all over this lake. Location does not matter.

As far as Bluegill/Redear, April is the time. The Redear will come shallow first and by the first week of May, the Bluegill will be on fire. Once again, location does not matter as they are all over the lake and plentiful. Red worms with a bobber is the closest to a sure thing, but I used the same 2" Mr. Twister as for Crappie but fished shallower. You will get Crappie as well as sunfish that way.

as far as lodging, I mentioned Bluebank, but there are other lodges as well. Perhaps someone reading this can add a favorite guide. If you choose to bring your own boat and go guideless, you can put in at the State Park and head for the upper Blue Basin. Fish are everywhere just go real slow and expect to ride up a stump or two. There are a few canals/ditches cut through the trees and it can get a little confusing when the suns starts setting so bring a lake map and a compass to find your way back.

great info. are you referring to the Mister Twister Curly tail jigs? Thanks.

Yes, I used the 2" Mister Twister Curly Tails in Chartreuse and caught fish every time. Any brand will work, I just was partial to the MT's. The Bluegills and Redears are big enough that they have no problem with the curly tails.