I also ventured up to the Bay today. I gotta start looking North for you. We turned south to freeway bay and then trolled all over. I Got 2 walleye and Ken got 2 Wipers. After a couple fishless hours we decided to drift toward the North Marina area and try for a few Crappie. We limited on crappie and called it a day. The crappie were definitely willing and scrappy. Fun day even if we couldn’t seem to find many walleye or wipers. BTW I was using one of your wobble jigs in tandem with another jig. The wobble jig with a red and chartreuse body out performed the other jig 2-1. Not sure if its the enticing wiggle. It worked
**Nice mixed bag. Lotsa good eatin’.
Glad the trinkets worked for you. I use the wobble jigs a lot as the bottom jig head for a tandem. Besides the extra action they seem to be less prone to hang up.
You gotta try some of the spinner added wobbles…the “Pistol Pats”. They really get the walleyes…and other species too.
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I really do have to come over and re-stock on some of your hand made goodies. Yep the crappie saved a rather slow fishing day. We did see Albino trout and his rig just didnt know who it was or we could have hollered. My buddy was pretty excited about the crappie. He never saw crappie that big. I had a double at one time lots of fun.
Looks like everyone had a better day than I did. Only one slab crappie for me. On the plus side, it’s better than I did last time.
I see that you were using a fly rod.
I tied up some white woolly buggers on size 14 hooks and used them last year with good results.
I also tie them on small jig hooks which work well.
These hooks are bare wire without lead heads. I use a small gold bead at the eye.
Give some of them a try.
**It is not so much what you fish with as where you fish and how you fish. Having good sonar and a basic knowledge of the lake and the fish is a good start. You can’t ketch 'em where they ain’t.
Crappies are an ideal target for flyrods. But you have to have the right line to make sure your flies are in the right zone the majority of the time. They are a suspending fish and you either have to fish right on them or slightly above them. And sometimes they want a lot of action…other times not so much.
Most of the folks who score well either know the lake well…or know how to crowd in on others who do.
As a general rule, almost anything white will work. But sometimes a touch of red…or blue…can give your fly added appeal. And don’t forget black. For some reason crappies hit dark patterns pretty well at times.
If you are using a floating line, add a small split shot. If you are using a sinking line don’t work with too much line out. Make shorter casts and don’t let the flies drag bottom.
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I figure I just wasn’t in the right area. I stayed more along the south east corner rather than joining the boat party by the north marina.
**There are several areas around the lake where crappies seemed programmed to convene for the spring fling. But that area around the north marina, and inside the marina (during high water) has traditionally been money. In years when the water is near full pool by May there will be lots of crappies in and around the brush in the NE corner and off the campgrounds.
There is also good crappie catchin’ to be had inside the channel at the south marina…and along the edges of the channel heading west on the outside.
If you work north from the south marina try to find enough depth (5-8 ft.) to hold crappies and then make S turns going north until you find a good area. Sometimes you can fish for hours without any action and then start catching crappie every cast.
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Yeah I usually have Tuesday off but next week mama trout has dr appointments so my free day will be Monday.