Clearlake Crappie Friday 1/6

Gonna try it, got the intel today.  Thought it might be something entertaining to do. Will be fishing the "Shag Rock" area...yah baby yah!

sounds like fun, good luck!

http://www.fishsniffer.com/dbacher/050128clearlake.html

Sean,
I heard that its going off.  Last year was EPIC there, but I heard its going strong already.

My buddy has been hammering them on mini jigs in 25 feet before Xmas.

you should do well as long as the storms and runoff haven't messed things up.

Stuart

If you haven't, stock up on kalin's Triple Threat jigs.  By far the best crappie jigs made in my and many other crappie man better than I's opinion.

Once you find how deep they are and how fast they want the jig, it is fish fry time!!

Don't bother with anything over 4# test and 2 is better.  Noodly light rod.

I'd go, but it is such a long drive for me.....

MolBasser

Stu-I drove by Clearlake on Mon. and it actually looked pretty decent considering...hopefully its still on.

Mol-thanks for the tips, I know diddly about crappie.

Sean, are you launching your yaks at Shag Rock?
I'm curious to hear your report.  I've been looking for place to catch crappie.  They're tasty.

Chuck-I am unfamiliar with the area, but from what i can tell you can't launch anywhere right by Shag rock.  I will be launching form the side of HWY 20 directly across from Shag rock.  The paddle across looks short, maybe a 1/2 mile or soat the  most.  They have been getting between 20-40 a day so I'm hoping its fun.  I'm going to steal Paige's bluegill pole for the day to makeit sporty.

Sean - try this set-up / slip bobber rig
http://www.fishweb.com/recreation/fishing/fishfacts/tackle/bobbers/slip.html

You can set the depth of you bait with this rig. Just put a lively nightcrawler or a small minnow on the business end and your good to go. Simple but effective!

Back home in Wisconsin, when we go crappie fishing, the slip bobber rig with a live fathead minnow pinned through the lips is the ticket.  It's all we use. 

This is usually in clearwater lakes and normally in water that is less than about 15 feet or so and normally in the evening just before sundown when the bite turns on.

Erik

here's another pic of a slip bobber rig......

Sometimes my only chance to get out fishing in the winter (for steelhead) meant packing a little one in a kiddy backpack . Rather than taking the chance of whacking her in the back of the head   with a weighted egg-sucking leech . I'd park the fly rod for the day and using spinning tackle with a sliding bobber and a jig.

If you haven't seen it, the bobber stopper can be a separate piece of line, or a piece of rubber band knotted around your mainline. (I don't know if your shops will Carry stoppers, but ours do.) The big thing to look for is a knot/stopper that can be slid/ adjusted up and down your line, so you can suspend at the right zone.

I remember the first time I experienced crappie, as a kid. I couldn't figure out why I was losing fish, till I finally boated one and saw how they have such fragile mouths.

Sean,

If you have time, check out SDFish.com and search the forums for crappie and Roy Justice or RoyM.  These guys are without doubt the best crappie fishermen that I know and they post copious material about how they do it.

I learned how to fish crappie from Roy Justice.  Great guy, knows what he is doing.

Your first task will be to find the school.  Read the reports to find out where to start looking.

I drift triple threats with no weight through the school.  Depth control is the most critical.  Longer line out means a deeper lure.  If the school is deeper than I can reach drifting fly lined jigs I will go with a slip bobber and a jig with split shot as needed above the jig.

Once you find the school and depth, speed of drift is the next variable, and finally color.  I think color is the least important factor, just make sure it is visible in water color.  Lemon merang (sp) and Acid Rain and Texas Shad are my colors of choice in Triple threats.

Good luck.

MolBasser

Thanks for all of the tips boys!  I'm looking forward to this little adventure. I found a launch on the other side of the lake so I am now launching at Buckingham Marina

I know it is too late but maybe it will help someone.

OK here's the deal. We employ essentially three techniques. First is a bait attached to the terminal end of the line with nothing in between except maybe a split shot for weight. Used to toss to structure. Second is a slip float rig. You can set it at a specific depth and hang a bait down 20 or more feet in the most efficient manner. We use this mostly on structure but it can be used to drift too. Third is the drift, using a grub or shiner or combo to cover water to target points and suspended fish.
Structure: showing above the surface or submerged stuff. Find brush in deeper water. Roy M looks for stuff in at least 20 foot of water or at least one side is near deeper water. Toss a grub or shiner to the tree or along side it and set the bail once it drops a few feet. This way it slowly swings back to you. This what I call the pendulum swing. The grub is moving back toward you slowly as it continues to reach the deepest point on the arc about 8-10 feet down. Once it's directly below you,(line is vertical straight down) hold and lift once or twice and feel for any tic's. If none lift slowly some more and feel for a sluggishness, sort of a heavy feel like you've drug the lure through some moss. If so swing a short stroke quickly, if no connect drop it again a little and try lifting slowly again. Once or twice and reel in, cast back out 10 feet or so away and let fall again, keeping direct line contact throughout the fall, feeling for a tic or sluggishness always watching the line to see if it stops falling when you know it should (line goes slack and actualy piles up on the surface for a second.) Take up slack and swing a short stroke medium fast it could be the tree branch so you don't want to jerk branches off the tree or bury the hook in a branch then disturbing the tree. Be quiet, still and concentrate. Remember this is Zen fishing.

Drifting. We use small jigs or crappie shiners on anywhere from a 1/64 oz head to a 1/8 oz head. It's not the weight that is the issue so much it's the size and sometimes color. We like painted heads with eyes, and triple threats because they come is a myriad of colors, they are very supple and swim with almost no current and because they work. Tipped with a tiny crappie shiner they can be insanely good for crappie and blue cats. A crappie nibble doesn't hurt either. It's a smorgasbord. A 1/8 oz head is pretty big by crappie standards so we usually use smaller heads and add slplit shots above for the necessary weight to get down. The depth they hold at is hard to determine without a fishfinder because they tend to suspend in large schools following shad or orienting near structure(ambush cover)Usually over points in the main lake. The critical part is hitting the tip of the point at the right depth. We try to swim our jigs over the brush and slightly over the fish. If you go over out too far or in too close you won't find as many fish. Same thing here with the hits, they can appear to be nothing more than the tip of your rod slightly loading under a gradual gentle weight, just a slow slight dip or it can be a sudden slam. You have to be aware of whats happening with your line and the tip of your pole so you can react to any thing dufferent. You can also drift the flats in the north end. This area usually holds fish scattered about in large schools and if you just drift around you'll usually hit a school here and there. Also there is a channel that runs back and forth through the lake and is deeper and has tree stumps and rock piles along the channel edge. If you can drift down the length of the channel wroking areas where it snakes its way up close to the bank near cove or troughs that is usually prime territory. Look for fish to be up around 7 or 8 feetor down to 25 feet. Good luck hope this helps
Roy Justice

http://www.sdfish.com/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=121&topic_id=42487&mesg_id=42487&page=

MolBasser

Thanks bro.  I bought a new little rod/reel for this last night...dinky.  It held just under a 100 yds. of 4# line.  hope this is entertaining, the bite has been wide open.