Reply With QuoteGot to be the tee shirt.
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Senior Member
Launched from Painters Creek about 10:00 and fished up the creek for about an hour and a half. We caught some dinks but decided to go over to Walls Lake.
Once again it was about a 25:1 ratio. I wish the DNR would take off the 3 fish limit on my boat!! Only three keepers and once again they were all over 12 inches.
Very gusty winds most of the day and the front rolled in earlier than forecast and we got a little bit of rain.
All the keepers were caught in 13 feet of water.
Crappie Nibbles? I'm not sure. I did catch more than the other two in the boat but I'm not sure if it was the result of tipping the hook with the nibble or something else. It could be my coffee mug and t-shirts that proclaim I'm the world's best fisherman.
Very little sleep last night and I'm tuckered out. Tyme for a bourbon or is that a bourbon for Tyme?
Senior Member
Got to be the tee shirt.
Senior Member
I fished out of walls and went up the creek. caught give or take 40 crappie and only 2 or 3 that actually were big enough to keep. Kept my limit of 25 anyway, i'm sure it's not hurting anything. Caught them anywhere from 2-7 feet deep.
Quick question. How do you guys fish real deep? What kind of line tie/stop works the best? I am using spincasting reels and I know they differ slightly from spinning reels. Thanks!
Senior Member
Quick question. How do you guys fish real deep? What kind of line tie/stop works the best? I am using spincasting reels and I know they differ slightly from spinning reels. Thanks![/QUOTE]
I'll take a shot at answering your last questions.
First off fishing in Walls or Dumpling creek right now is good. Fish are shallow. Some are still deep because all the crappie don't spawn at the same time. I've read that the older and bigger females spawn sooner and deeper than the others. I don't know that for sure. But it does make sense to me that the biggest female are the strongest and can fight for the best spots to spawn.
Fishing deep will work right now but it works best in the hot summer months and the cold winter months as the fish are schooled up and in deeper water at this time.
Fishing deep with drop shot rigs. You should be able to use a spinning rod and reel easily for drop shoting for crappie.
There are many ways to do this but I'll just talk about how I've done this over the last 50 years.Anything that can get a jig or minnow down into the deep brush piles or ledges will work on any particular day.
Right now I use mono fishing line that is hard for the fish to see. Patoka lake is pretty clear and so using thin mono that has a Refractive Index that's close to the Refractive Index of water is key in very clear shallow water with lots of sunlight. But in deeper water the line is not as visible due to the lack of sunlight in the depths.
I tie a Loop Knot about 18" up from the end of my line. I tied the knot to have the loop about 1" long. I can then slip the loop though the eye of a hook and then pass the body of the hook back though the loop to secure the hook to the loop. I add about 1/4 to 1/2 oz lead to the end of the line. Any lead sinker will work. I like to use the "FINNESSE Drop Shot Sinkers" from Bass Pro Shop. I get them online from BPS. They have a loop of thin wire embedded into the top of the lead. The fishing line can be put into the base of the wire's loop and slip up into the top of the loop to secure the line to the loop of wire. The wire loop get's really close together at the top and it's open at the bottom. Just put the tag end of the fishing line into the opening of the wire loop and pull it up into the top of the wire loop to secure it. I tie a overhand knot to the end of the fishing line to keep it from slipping though the wire loop. But that's not really necessary.
Add a 1/16 oz jig of your favorite color and type to the line instead of a hook. Oh. I use the thin wire Aberdeen type hooks in size 2 to 4. Make sure that the eye on the hook is big enough to pass a loop of mono fishing line though it easily. I like the hooks with the larger eyes on the end of the hook. The closed in of the loop in the line is what I pass though the eye of the hook to attach the hook to the loop of line. The hook will extend out from the main line line a "T". Where the top of the tee is the main line and the loop is the stem of the "T". Looking at the "T" turned 90 Deg to picture this. IE the loop sticks out from the main line about a inch perpendicular to the main line while fishing.
Just remember that any thing that gets the bait down in the depths will work. I've used the Kentucky Lake Crappie Rig when I was 8 years old.
Fishing line. I have used 6" mono Stren Magnithin line with good results. But I used 6" P-Line yesterday in a strip pit and caught 10 crappie on a small spinner bait using that line. And I've used it in the past drop shotting. So it's will work well
I prefer to use live minnows for crappie fishing. Add a Berkley Crappie Nibble to the hook after putting the minnow on. I hook the minnow on though the lips from the bottom of the lip to the top of the lip. This helps the minnow look more natural as you drag it through the water. Oh yes. A little movement of the boat helps to get the crappie to bite. Crappie like a moving bait but a SLOW moving bait. Depending on water temp the will hit a bait up to 1.5 mph but seem to bite best when you bait is going slower than 1 mph. 0.8 mph as per a GPS is the best speed in my opinion. But you can vary the speed, jig color, depth etc and see what works best for your.
I have my boat setup with the depth finder up front where I can see it from the front bass seat. The trolling motor is up front and opeated by foot pedal controls. Or you can use a I pilot or any front mounted trolling motor. Heck you can put the trolling motor on the side of the boat and Pull sideways like Roger Gant does. I like to face toward the front of the boat and so I put the fish finders transducer on my trolling motor. But what ever works for you.
I like to hover over a deep brush pile. by Deep I'm talking about something in the 15 to 35 ft range. Fish the top of the brush pile first. If they are not biting and you know that there are there. Ie you see fish on the depth finder then try moving the boat slowly over the brush pile from different directions. Remember keep it slow. If windy face into the wind and move forward against the wind then drift back keeping the front of the boat facing into the wind with the trolling motor.
I will throw out a maker buoy up wind from the brush pile to mark the spot. Troll up to the marker buoy and drift back with the wind over the brush pile
If you get hung up you can lower the tip of the rod and let the lead weight pull the hook down and free. Normally the hook gets hung up on the way up. So by letting the lead weight pull the hook down it will free it from the wood. Which is why I like a heavy finesse drop shot. 1/2 oz or so. The key is having the weight below the hook on the line.
Another good trick to use is to carry a majic marking pin with you. When you start catching fish in 20 ft of water or any other depth just mark the line in front of the reel. Then you can see that mark the next time you let your line out. That way you will be back at the very same depth that you caught the fish. This saves a lot of time and that critical when the fish start hitting fast. They can start hitting for a while and then turn off fast. Perhaps they just moved out of the area or for some reason stopped biting. But you want to get as many fish as fast as you can so this trick helps you get the bait back in the water at the proper depth fast. The alternative is to count down how many revolutions of the reel it takes to get to the bottom and then count down again to get the right depth. But that's not always as accurate as marking the line IMHO. The dark mark of the magic marker shows up good on the Stren Magnithin line.
At times I've fished two jigs at once. I attached the top jig to the loop knot and then tied on another heavier jig to the bottom and used that setup. This works best when the crappie are suspended about 10 ft to 15 ft down over deep water. I would not fish this setup in a brush pile. Too many chanced of getting hung up and having to retie the entire rig over and over again.
In brush it's best to fish the drop shot setup or a you can use weedless jigs with hook guards to prevent hang ups. But I found that this will make you miss a lot of fish too. It's harder to get the hook set on a fish when the hook's point is not exposed and covered by the weed guards. Oh you will catch fish with the weedless jigs but you will miss a few good ones too.
I think I covered it pretty good but if you have any specific questions shoot me just ask and I'll try to answer them. Or shoot me a PM and if you have a Verizon wireless cell phone perhaps I can answer some questions on the phone. It's free since I have a Verizon accont.
Oh. One more thing. And this is very important. The rod is the key. Get a good quality Graphite rod with good sensitivity. This is the key to deep fishing for crappie in brush piles. Add to this the fact that you are using a drop shot rig on a TIGHT LINE which lets you feel the bite. Set the hook as soon as you feel the tap of the fish biting. Don't jerk it but lift the rod tip to set the hook. A crappie can inhale a bait and spit it out in less than a second or so. So when you feel the tap of the fish that means that the crappie just sucked in that bait. And if he feels something in the bait that he does not like he will spit it back out. They don't always swallow the bait and self hook. So set the hook quick but not with a lot of force. If you set the hook too hard you can pull the hook right out of the lips. Unless you hook the fish in the hard pallet at the top of the mouth the hook can easily tear out of a crappie. So be firm with them and gentle at the same time.
There are lifters and then there are slabs that require a net to land. Any fish that's close to a lb is a netter to me.
I've caught 1.5 lb crappie in Dumplin Creek at Patoka during April of the year. But like I said you may have to wade tough 25 smaller fish before you get the big ones.
Good luck and catch some crappie. Don't over look the Walleye up at Patoka as they are better eating than the crappie. I don't have a clue where they are in Patoka Lake as I've not fished for the Walleye much.
Senior Member
Tyme did you or anyone else on the board that fished the lake in the last few days notice a number of dead or dying gizzard shad?
Saturday we noticed some in Painter Creek - Sunday saw even more in South Lick area. Just wondering why they were dying in such numbers with water in upper 50's to low 60's - didn't appear to be a algae bloom . . .?
Senior Member
Originally Posted by King31
Nothing wrong with keeping a bunch of small crappies from Patoka. We are overstocked with them. Wish they would take the limit off for a couple years. Some days you just have to catch 20-30 dinks for every decent one you get.
Guess I am still just a kid at 72 but I enjoy every fish I catch regardless of size and species.
Senior Member
They have been dying for a long time. Happens every year. Just a natural thing. Wish they would all die so we could get some good gills back in the lake.
Senior Member
Moveon, excellent post. Would make a nice magazine article. Thanks for the time it took to write and post.
ElectricSLT, I noticed no shad kill.
Senior Member
Wow, what a post! thanks for the advice and I will definitely try it out the next time I get up to patoka. With classes during the week and finals coming up soon it might have to wait a little bit.
Senior Member
I must not have been paying attention because hadn't noticed it before. I know thredfin die when it gets cold but didn't know some gizzard shad did too.
Wouldn't hurt my feelings if they all went - if it brought the gills back like they were back in the day!
Senior Member
You are right on the money. Threadfin are more sensitive to the cold which is why they are found more in the Southern USA than in the North. But Gizzard shad are also killed by excessive cold weather or cold water at times.
BTW: I would love it if the water at Patoka Lake could be warm enough to support the smaller Threadfin Shad.
The only lake in IN that I know of that may have threadfin shad in it is HOVEY Lake in Southern IN Posey County. I've read that it has some threadfin shad and that the crappie that swim there are some of the fastest growing fish in the entire State of IN. Maybe because it's a the most southern tip of IN where it's generally warmer.
Senior Member
Yea I understand that you are studying engineering in College now. Sounds like you are a smart young man. You are very lucky to live by those Creeks up there is PCO. I wish our creeks down here were so nice and clean.
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