Clearlake Crappie Report

Went to Clearlake with my buddy Andrew to try our hand at crappie fishing.  Launched at around 0900 in heavy fog and light wind.  As we rounded the corner towards Shag Rock the water was dirty and the wind was light, but enough to make jigging 30 ft deep nearly impossible.  Several other boats showed and it was nada all around.   Shag rock was cool though, on the right day I am sure it produces...



We decided to backtrack and fish the greener water by our launch.  We fished a ton of docks and structure, but again nada.  We finally snuggled up to an island that looked promising.  I cast a tiny chartruese jig into a shady flooded dock...WHAM!  I was fishing a dinky ultra-light with 2# test and it was slammed.  Turned out it wasn't a piggy crappie, but a decent LMB instead...



The sun came out and the lake laid down.  We decided to head down to Konacti Marina as I heard it was good too.  Apparently the whole world also heard and it was shoulder to shoulder on the docks.  People were yarding crappie in all over the place.  I threw a jig at an isolated dock and slowly reeled...BAM.  My first crappie...



After that, my luck DIED!!  No more love.  It wouldn't have been too bad if folks all around us weren't creaming them.  Live minnows under a bobber were steady money, but there were crappie fans working a jig under a bobber with a crazy wiggling rod technique that were also killing them.  Next time I head back it all about minnows for me.  Definitely bringing an anchor too.

My buddy Andrew enjoyed stealing my Maurader for the day, but he looked dead as we ended our trip with just over 9 miles paddled on the GPS.  A lot of ground for one crappie!  Scenery was much nicer thanexpected and the weather was fantastic!

Nice.

That sure isn't a crappy crappie!

Looked like fun.  Nothing wrong with a good long upperbody workout. ... nice crappie and LM too!

Guys, let me know if you plan to try for crappie again.  I want to learn how to find and catch'em.

I need revenge.  I will do a little more research and set something up.

a nice large mouth on 2 # line = way to go brah! 

Hearing the dinky drag sing was a blast.  Need to try it again for sure.

Oooh, the agony and joy of trying a new fishery. Better luck, next time.

Will anchoring both ends help? I've frequently had problems on still waters with wind shifts and swinging of the boat. Tough to fish micro jigs or flies at depth, when swinging all over the place.

Nice looking LM, especially for the 2# line. The dummy didn't know enough to head for some structure?!

Two anchors are critical to structure fishing on a kayak.

However, all of my crappie fishing has been on the drift in a yak.

I've done a lot of plastic wormin for bass from a yak on double anchor.

It the crappie aren't on the move or following a bait ball, double anchoring would be best.

Sounds like they are on the chew though...

MolBasser