Crappie fishing

Anyone here catching crappie this year. With above average temps the fishing is tough.
Lake oconee, clarke hill, and other waters, are right water temp, but with cold fronts coming every third day. Fish have lockjaw most of the time. It is either feast or famine

I've been on 2 different lakes 2x's each, one trip was feast and the 2nd was a bust on each lake. Just a few days apart on the trips as well. TVA is messing with the lake levels as well, one lake had been raised 2' for some reason from winter pool.

my buddy back home is tearing them up. he is south of Richmond, Va.

I'm no where near your neck of the woods. I was just reading that guys trolling for trout at one of our Northern California reservoirs weren't catching many trout but were doing pretty good picking up crappie. Name of the place is Lake Camanche. They were trolling speedy shiners. I'm not a crappie fisherman, but don't think that would be my first choice if I were targeting them.

Went a few weeks ago. Lake we usually slay LMB and Crappie at. Didn't get a single danged bite.

Crappie is killing it Clarks Hill over brush piles but the weather this week has been tough. Filled the cooler Wednesday in 20mph winds and the moon over head and minnows flying in the air. Worst of the worst but if you could keep them in the water the poles were bending. Boats ready to hit them again as soon as the wind lays down.

Thanks for the reply on the hill. It has always been my favorite lake. Just got back today (14th), after staying all week. Seems like spawn is about over, hardly no crappie with eggs in ones caught. It seems to be harder to fish since russel was built with pump-back operating. Current will be going out of coves, then reverse and go back into coves. Hybrids being caught on broad river this week, good to see lake slowly rising.

Hmmm.....fish have to eat every day, except maybe for some slow-down with Winter weather. Even then, ice fishermen seem to do pretty well.

I think that, when they aren't in our expected spots, we think they have stopped feeding. They are feeding somewhere, at some time each day,...just not where we think they should be.

If we see them under the boat, and they aren't biting, they probably fed an hour before we started seeing them.

Last week, at the Bass Master Classic here on my nearest lake (Lake Conroe) the best pros in the business had a devil of a time catching. One pro, whose ...motor broke down...was stuck in one spot all day. Guess who came away with the biggest stringer? It's fishing, not catching.

That is what makes it interesting.

richg99

i can't catch them at all on my home lake. Since I took up fishing again the lake got a new type of dam and everyone says it affected the fish. Used to be you could at least catch small ones year round. For sure the water is not as clear as it used to be and they say it no longer varies much in depth like it used to.

Been back to the Hill a few times and still catching crappie in 10 to 18 ft of water over brush piles. I don't fish spawning crappie so the time frame of spawning don't effect me much. The biggest trouble we have is the weekly cold fronts. Last weekend it was a bust major cold front shut them down but now its coming back to good fishing. Lake level is still over 7 ft low and I hate that dang pump back station on Russell Lake dam. I don't think Clarks Hill lake will ever be full as the normal again.