Fall crappie

Thought I would share about my Saturday trip from this weekend. Wanted to start looking for crappie because I had the itch to stink up the skillet a bit. Fished a creek that is typically a bit cooler than the lake temp and found 79-80 degree water to fish. Method was minnows and some small shad under a slip bobber. Keyed in on structure in 20+ foot of water. Managed 9 keepers and probably 20-25 more dinks. Caught fish up creek in 18 foot of water between 12-15 foot deep then moved out of the creek to deeper water and found several in 35 foot of water between 20-22 foot deep. Action was pretty consistent all day. Hoping for a good fall crappie season and looking promising so far in less than ideal water!! Good luck fellas.

[QUOTE=luvtohunt;571121]Thought I would share about my Saturday trip from this weekend. Wanted to start looking for crappie because I had the itch to stink up the skillet a bit. Fished a creek that is typically a bit cooler than the lake temp and found 79-80 degree water to fish. Method was minnows and some small shad under a slip bobber. Keyed in on structure in 20+ foot of water. Managed 9 keepers and probably 20-25 more dinks. Caught fish up creek in 18 foot of water between 12-15 foot deep then moved out of the creek to deeper water and found several in 35 foot of water between 20-22 foot deep. Action was pretty consistent all day. Hoping for a good fall crappie season and looking promising so far in less than ideal water!! Good luck fellas.[/QUOTE]

Were you fishing structure? And if so, was it structure you could see above the waterline?

Fished fallen timber mostly

[QUOTE=luvtohunt;571121]Thought I would share about my Saturday trip from this weekend. Wanted to start looking for crappie because I had the itch to stink up the skillet a bit. Fished a creek that is typically a bit cooler than the lake temp and found 79-80 degree water to fish. Method was minnows and some small shad under a slip bobber. Keyed in on structure in 20+ foot of water. Managed 9 keepers and probably 20-25 more dinks. Caught fish up creek in 18 foot of water between 12-15 foot deep then moved out of the creek to deeper water and found several in 35 foot of water between 20-22 foot deep. Action was pretty consistent all day. Hoping for a good fall crappie season and looking promising so far in less than ideal water!! Good luck fellas.[/QUOTE]
What lake?

Sorry forgot the lake part. I was on lake Cumberland

Update with more trip info. Hit the water again for a rainy day of fishing Sunday. Planned to fish the same areas as before but conditions were different. Water had fallen another 2-3 feet and was 4 degrees cooler. Found fish but had to work harder. Bounced around much more as fish were more scattered. Ended up with a decent mess though!! Same technique, small shad under a slip bobber. Good luck fellas!!!

[QUOTE=luvtohunt;571121]Thought I would share about my Saturday trip from this weekend. Wanted to start looking for crappie because I had the itch to stink up the skillet a bit. Fished a creek that is typically a bit cooler than the lake temp and found 79-80 degree water to fish. Method was minnows and some small shad under a slip bobber. Keyed in on structure in 20+ foot of water. Managed 9 keepers and probably 20-25 more dinks. Caught fish up creek in 18 foot of water between 12-15 foot deep then moved out of the creek to deeper water and found several in 35 foot of water between 20-22 foot deep. Action was pretty consistent all day. Hoping for a good fall crappie season and looking promising so far in less than ideal water!! Good luck fellas.[/QUOTE]

Hey buddy. Thanks for the info. Shared it with my dad and he gave it a try yesterday but didnt have any success. We grew up ky lake crappie fishing and it is just so much different at Cumberland. Could you give me an idea of what end of the lake you are? And are you towards the back of creeks? Like big creeks or little creeks? We have had moments of success but for the most part not really. I kind of think it is mental for me as in no confidence.

I prefer the back of the big creeks like wolfe it is as close to what i have confidence in as the lake will mimic but dad doesnt like to go that far and he hits the closer smaller creeks that have timber probably mid creek.

He also has make shift pvc trees around his dock area and still nothing. Idk. Any info would be appreciated. It is hard to find good info at Cumberland for anything non striper. Ie crappie and walleye. Idk if it is a tight lipped secret or what but we love to eat crappie and i think the lake is loaded with them. Thx bg

I’m no crappie pro but most of my time is spent in larger creeks up in the upper half of the creek. I try to focus in on isolated structure on true channel side of the creek. Right now most of the fish I’m catching are still fairly deep in 25 feet of water down between 12-18 feet deep. The slip bobber really helps me find the fish as I can adjust the depth to find fish. I do occasionally fish the standing stuff that is all over Cumberland now but usually with a jig, slowly rolling it through the cover. I know a lot of guys that spend time in Wolfe and Faubush catching nice crappie but I spend more time on the other end of the lake either in fishing creek or up in the North/Soutforks of the river. I have caught good crappie in White Oak creek as well but it seems numbers are harder to get there. Quality is usually good though. I fished yesterday and couldn’t really get back on good fish. The water temp was good but I guess the water coming up and getting trashy may have had something to do with it. I did come away with a nice mess thankfully. The bite on a jig is still pretty subtle almost as if they are short striking a lot of times so I will stick with a float and shad/minnow until they move up a little more shallow. Hope this helps u some and good luck!!

Thank you. Sounds like we are a ways from you. Greasy creek. We will get this figured out eventually. The eating is to good not too! GL appreciate your post!