Crappie Fishing at jericho?

[Hlleonard]

Crappie - State limit is 30/person/day ... no size limit (unless otherwise posted)
I didn't see any "restrictions" on creel/size listed in the Ky Fishing/Boating Guide, for Jericho Lake ... so I'd say the state rules apply. I'm sure the gatekeeper can fill you in on any applicable size/creel restrictions.

I'd likely be slow trolling with minnows, in the 12-18ft depth range & just a couple of reel cranks off the bottom. That not producing, I'd probably longline troll 1/16oz jigs or Roadrunners in the deeper water depths ... adding a #4 splitshot weight up the line about 12-18" to keep them deep (& to keep the line tight).

... pappy

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Have you ever had any success finding the bait balls 15 or 20 feet deep and drifting minnows at that depth... I am starting to see these with fish hanging around and under them on the sonar but have never tried to catch them... I have been tempted to try this but always seem to go back to where I was finding fish a week or so earlier, I guess I lack the confidence to put time into this technique.

[crappiepappy]

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Have you ever had any success finding the bait balls 15 or 20 feet deep and drifting minnows at that depth... I am starting to see these with fish hanging around and under them on the sonar but have never tried to catch them... I have been tempted to try this but always seem to go back to where I was finding fish a week or so earlier, I guess I lack the confidence to put time into this technique.

I haven't really done much drift fishing with minnows ... except the last couple of times I fished Green River Lake. I'm mostly a jig slinger. But, when situation calls for it, I'm not too proud to "get like them" (esp if "them" is catching fish, & I'm not ... LOL !!) This is exactly why I was drifting minnows at Green, on the flats in 15-22fow, and just off the bottom .... 'cause that's the way everyone else was catchin'em !!
Anytime I see a baitball, suspended below the surface ... I always check the water below them. Wherever goes the baitfish, so goes the predator fish ! That's not saying that every baitball is going to have a school of predator fish following it around ... but, whenever the baitfish are all/mostly at one general depth, you can bet the predator fish are going to be at or below that same depth.

The only problem with going back to "last week's" productive spots, especially this time of year, is that the fish are moving around a lot more ... and they may not be where they were last week. It's just like fishing reports, whether they were yesterday's or last week's ... that's where they were THEN, and they could have moved. Weather & water conditions are part of the equation, and if stable & consistant ... the fish may not move much/often. But, this time of year, the weather is in transition ... and so too are the fish. Even if you don't care to drag minnows around under the baitballs ... trolling the area, or even casting the area with jigs can be a productive method (as long as you're keeping your bait at, or slightly above the depth the fish are suspended).
The baitfish are balled up for security ... and the predator fish are hanging around, trying to pick off any that stray from the ball. As such, your minnows or jigs need to be "close" to the baitball ... yet far away enough to represent a straggler.

... pappy

[Lunker1]

I caught about 15 nice Crappie at Dale Hollow last weekend all of which were about 1-1.5 lbs. Found the school while Smallmouth fishing with a silver buddy in about 20 ft of water. Decided after the first three caught that it was time to fill up the livewell.

[Hlleonard]

I haven't really done much drift fishing with minnows ... except the last couple of times I fished Green River Lake. I'm mostly a jig slinger. But, when situation calls for it, I'm not too proud to "get like them" (esp if "them" is catching fish, & I'm not ... LOL !!) This is exactly why I was drifting minnows at Green, on the flats in 15-22fow, and just off the bottom .... 'cause that's the way everyone else was catchin'em !!
Anytime I see a baitball, suspended below the surface ... I always check the water below them. Wherever goes the baitfish, so goes the predator fish ! That's not saying that every baitball is going to have a school of predator fish following it around ... but, whenever the baitfish are all/mostly at one general depth, you can bet the predator fish are going to be at or below that same depth.

The only problem with going back to "last week's" productive spots, especially this time of year, is that the fish are moving around a lot more ... and they may not be where they were last week. It's just like fishing reports, whether they were yesterday's or last week's ... that's where they were THEN, and they could have moved. Weather & water conditions are part of the equation, and if stable & consistant ... the fish may not move much/often. But, this time of year, the weather is in transition ... and so too are the fish. Even if you don't care to drag minnows around under the baitballs ... trolling the area, or even casting the area with jigs can be a productive method (as long as you're keeping your bait at, or slightly above the depth the fish are suspended).
The baitfish are balled up for security ... and the predator fish are hanging around, trying to pick off any that stray from the ball. As such, your minnows or jigs need to be "close" to the baitball ... yet far away enough to represent a straggler.

... pappy

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Thanks... I know this Time of the year the fish should be starting to move to different locations and different patterns but so far the only changes I have noticed is the numbers and sizes of the croppie I am catching, they still seem to be hanging around the same locations they were in the heat of the summer but I have noticed more fish in the open water and some bait balls showing up on the sonar, I need to spend some time learning a technique to catch some of these, They just might be better fish than I have been catching in the deeper cover... Thanks again.