Crappie biting ?

[bassmanic1]

Anyone in Southern IN had any luck with crappie ? With all the rain most lakes are muddy and thats sure to slow the bite down some . The last time I went we had to get the minnow right in thier face before we would get bit . Hopefully Sunday I can get out on the water and see .
Tight lines

[InFisherStan]

I went out this past weekend and caught a few keepers the was just slow and far between the little ones.

[Moose1am]

I have not been out fishing yet. May go soon. I need to get my fishing license online and then I'll be ready to go. I have minnows already.

Water is up so I'll be checking the shallows with a slip float and jig or minnow.

Right now my plan is to fish the extreem shallows near drop offs and known fishing catching areas from the past.

I'll make a report if I catch anything worth talking about.

[skeeter 190]

I fished Hardy Sunday water temp was 52,looked for crappies most the day no luck.Bass fished about an hour caught two on white spinner bait 13 and 15 in.should have bass fished sooner i guess.

[raporter]

Despite the high water I caught about a dozen on Patoka today. Jig under a bobber at 10' and countdown 10 on the drop and then a sloooow retrieve. Black and chartruese tube with crappie nibbles. Don't think it is going to be a very good spring.

[mperry]

I was also at Hardy Sunday and had no luck on crappie. Caught a few little bass but that was it. The highest water temp I found was 55 deg. Thought maybe this weekend they might turn on but looks like more rain and cooler temps towards the end of the week.

[MissinTheFishin]

I went to Patoka and Beaver lake. Caught maybe a dozen or so keep size and about that in little guys.
They are biting very very slow.
Was using black flick tails on a 1/8th oz jig head under bobbers fishing about 3 feet deep.

It was so nice getting out on the water

[Moose1am]

I talked to Patoka Larry today on the phone for a while. He said to start at 10 ft. LOL And you said you caught your fish at 10 ft.

Now that's amazing to me.

I have read that the lakes bottom can be clear near the bottom foot or two and muddy above that.

I wish I still could fit into my wet suit and scuba dive where people have fished recently (after they are done) and check out what the bottom looks like.

Back in 1978 when I was still fitting into my wet suit I wanted to dive at Patoka Lake but found out that it was not allowed. That's a shame too. People can water ski and ride jet skie but not scuba dive in that clear water. So I guess an underwater camera is the next best thing.

I would love to have new scuba gear and a underwater electric sled to get around there quickly.

I read where Buck Perry from Fishing Facts Magazine use to dive at Dale Hollow lake to see where and what the fish were doing. He learned all about structure fishing.

My limited diving experience has verified what Buck said.

If anyone has one of them fancy underwater cameras they could easily verify what the bottom looks like and if it clears up or not.

I talked to PL today and he said that the entire Patoka Lake Old Patoka River section of the lake was muddy. From Kings Bridge all the way to Hwy 145 on the lake. He just drove by the lake in these area and has not got his boat out yet. He's working overtime and real busy this year.

Water level is way higher than I have ever seen it. It was very high back in 1996. That was the year where we had major flooding on the lakes (strip pits) that I fish these days.

[skeeter 190]

Anyone in Southern IN had any luck with crappie ? With all the rain most lakes are muddy and thats sure to slow the bite down some . The last time I went we had to get the minnow right in thier face before we would get bit . Hopefully Sunday I can get out on the water and see .
Tight lines

I went to back to Hardy wed. we caught 35 crappies kept 31 shallow water ,jig and minnow, water temp was 62

[Moose1am]

I have been talking to several guys that fished the Patoka Lake Crappie USA tournament this last Saturday.

Most of the big fish were caught in the warmer waters of the lake. There was one fish over 2.5 lb caught and another that went about 1.74lbs.

Now those are nice Patoka Lake Slabs.

I heard that there were a few boats up above Kings Bridge fishing the Old River section of the lake above this bridge. The lake is 14 ft above summer pool and about 18 ft above the guide line for the lake in early April.

Reports of big fish being caught up on the banks where the buck brush is flooded to 6 or 7 ft depths.

Crappie USA should get the information about the results posted on their web site but the guy doing that has ISP problems right now and can't get the report uploaded to their sight. Hopefully that will get done and we can read the details and find out all the results.

I know it was one cold day and I heard it was windy as well.

Water temperatures and small portable boats to get upriver may have been the key to catching the big ones.

But remember that not all the big fish are up river. They may be there now but not all the lake warms up at the same time. And not all the fish are in the early warming water. There will be big fish spawning later in the clear and deeper parts of the main lake. The various crappie may spawn over a two week period. I have found fish with eggs in them in JUNE before. I have heard some say that the crappie reabsorb their eggs if they don't spawn. Well I think that they expel their eggs and then either the eggs don't get fertilized or they may even eat their own eggs. But I don't think that it's physically possible for the eggs to be absorbed inside the body of the fish. It would be easier to just eat the egg and absorb the nutrients though the stomach and intestines as they do with any other food source. But in reality I think that they just expel the eggs and leave them to mother nature. Remember the females don't attend to the eggs. That is the male crappies job. I have read that females will lay eggs on old logs or other horizontal surfaces if the right bottom material it not present. I have also found crappie in November in Southern IN with smaller egg inside them. But these are eggs that are developing and will be with the crappie until the next spring when they are expelled.

[raporter]

Moose I was at the weighin and heard several say they fished above Walls but didn't hear anyone mention above Kings bridge. You are right about using a small boat as you couldn't get a boat under the bridge. The local team from Birdeye and Ferdinand won the semi pro with a catch of over 8 pounds. There were 70+ teams entered and only 30+ weighed in their catch. You had to be tough to stay out there all day as it was a really miserable day.

[Moose1am]

Those local boys almost won last spring but one of their big fish died before the weigh in. I try to keep an eye on those two guys to see where they fish. I go though Birdseye on my way to the lake. I wish I knew were they live as I would stop by and see if they want to go fishing with me. LOL
Must be nice to live so close to the lake and be able to fish it often without spending a fortune on gas.

One of these days I am going to get motivated to drive up to the Kings Bridge by road and see what that place is like. I have seen satellite views of it.

I wish I could see the lake from a birdseye view above.

Maybe one day I can hook up with Larry and we can ride up there. I feel very uncomfortable going up in that part of the lake with my boat. I almost turned my boat over one time as I ran the port side over the top of a tree. I got stuck on that tree and could not back off. So I had to give it a lot of gas and take a chance of tipping over or getting off the tree. My engine kept kicking up and I could not back off the tree top. That tree top was about 3" below the surface and I ran smack up on top of it. I was stuck with the tree about midway down the lenght of my boat and starboard of my boat's centerline. I don't want to have to go through that again. Not only was I endanger of flipping over sideways but I could have torn a hole in the bottom of my boat. Luckly the tree top was rotten and it didn't dig into my boat's bottom.

Now if I knew that all the trees were at least 5ft below the surface that would be great, but there will always be one or two taller tree tops that are just below the surface.

I have been up there when the lake is at 532 ft or winter pool and then you can see the old river channel as it curves though the area. But even then it's hard to follow the channel without getting out of the channel and onto the flats surrounding the channel. That channel is very narrow and twisting as you head upstream from Dumpling Creek.

Moose I was at the weighin and heard several say they fished above Walls but didn't hear anyone mention above Kings bridge. You are right about using a small boat as you couldn't get a boat under the bridge. The local team from Birdeye and Ferdinand won the semi pro with a catch of over 8 pounds. There were 70+ teams entered and only 30+ weighed in their catch. You had to be tough to stay out there all day as it was a really miserable day.