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November 10, 2014

Crappie Were Biting Sunday

The boys were cracking the crappie out at Geist this weekend. One example of that is the first picture below. You'll have to look close at the line, and it still might not be apparent. The fish in BJ's left hand sucked in his jig so hard, it went out/through the fishes gill cover and ended up outside its body, where another fish took a swipe at it and got snagged - Two slabs on the same cast. That doesn't happen every day. The other way to tell they were biting is by the double limit in the cooler in the second picture.

 

PhotoB

PhotoA

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November 03, 2014

Crappie On Down Imaging

To catch them you have to be able to find them...

Crappie_DI

Crappie_DI_2

BJ_JW_Crappie

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October 31, 2014

So You Want To Be a Slab Master

I recently updated my spreadsheet with the latest catch results from nearly all the Indiana Slab Master crappie events held since the club began in November 2010. That table now has data from nearly 1200 angler teams comprising roughly 19,000 man-hours on the water. The results continue to be interesting, and are starting to line out into a distinct pattern. I've graphed the data and included it below.

The data is grouped into 1 pound increments. Anglers are allowed to weigh up to 7 crappie as their limit, and all fish must be 9" in length or greater. As an example, in the graph above, 1s would be all crappie sacks brought in that weighed between 1.0 and 1.99 pounds. That same line of thinking applies to all respective weights. A few quick highlights from the data:

  • The average sack weighed in now stands at 3.62 pounds.
  • The median sack, the weight that half of the sacks were greater than, and half were less than, is 3.92 pounds.
  • Approximately 14% of all teams have blanked or failed to weigh their fish over the course of all events.
  • Less than 7% of all sacks have averaged more than 1 pound per fish. Worded another way, more than 93% of all sacks weighed (1097 of the 1177) had less than a pound per fish average.
  • The largest sack ever weighed was this month at 11.60 pounds.
  • The best big crappie lake in the state (based on the 10 different waters fished over the years) is Monroe, which accounts for 8 of the 10 largest sacks ever weighed. Patoka is a distant second.
  • The best overall year for crappie anglers was 2012 (based on average/median weights for that year).

If you want to get an idea of just what a slightly better than normal sack of crappie weighs in relation to length, I did a little test a couple years back on my home lake where I kept 7 nice but average keepers, the longest of which was just over 11" and the smallest of which was 9.75". Most were about 10.5" and all were black crappie. That sack of 7 fish weighed 4.43 pounds. If you equalize out all the data to 100, that sack would rank 39th. Again, 50th would have been slightly less at 3.92 pounds, which would probably be 7 fish all around 10"-10.5" (black crappie). White crappie usually weigh slightly less for the same length.

 

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October 26, 2014

Crappie - It's What's For Dinner

First time out all year, I believe, with good buddy Bryan Johnson. Decided to make a fall crappie run, and we were able to catch between 100-110, I'd guess. Ended up boxing nearly a double limit. My counter said 48, so we stopped in case I missed one or two in the heat of the moment. Actually, it was a lot slower than the numbers would suggest. Most came from 7'-10' of water, and all on jigs. Water temp was 63 degrees. Here are a couple pics.

 

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October 25, 2014

White Bass On Down Imaging

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October 19, 2014

Better Post Front Bite - Go Figure

So you'd think with all the wind and rain and low pressure, yesterday would have been the better day - not so. Maybe I wasn't fishing in the right area or with the right baits, but for whatever reason, white bass were about the only thing that seemed to be biting. Today dawns clear and cold, with widespread frost warnings. Light breeze and mostly sunny skies - and the bite was a lot better than expected. Go figure.

 

Didn't actually fish for bass too terribly long today, but managed nearly a dozen including a 16", a 17.5" and this 19.25" fish, all on the Kahara micro jig/pig.

 

Surprisingly, the crappie bite was pretty good. They normally shut down after a front, but I landed 60 today up to 12".

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October 18, 2014

Everything But Big Indiana Bass

Haven't got out much, but when I have, I've been catching quite a few fish, and several nice sized ones, just nothing big in the way of largemouth. Here's a few other nice fish though to look at.

 

Several nice crappie on Thursday afternoon over 12 inches. The fish on the bottom went 1.2 pounds.

 

A couple shots of a nearly 28" hybrid striped bass caught Saturday afternoon. Water was pretty clear with visibility to 3.5 feet, and surface water temps at 60 degrees.



 

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October 02, 2014

It Rhymes With Copy, Choppy, Poppy and Sloppy

Figured it out yet? The answer would be "crappie." OK, depending on where you live, it's also fine to call them "specks" or "papermouths" or even "sac-a-lait." But if you refer to them as 'crappie', don't be calling them "crappy" - LOL. I won't say exactly how this subject came about, but I will add that I researched it a bit since I'd never given much thought to the idea. After all, I've always pronounced it correctly :) But after consulting references from Merriam-Webster, The American Heritage Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary, and Random House, they were all unanimous in agreement as to the proper pronunciation without variation. Here are a few screen captures in that regard;

 

 

Clicking on any of the soundwave files that are included now days with online dictionaries will also give you the proper way to say "crappie". English has sometimes been referred to as a "messy" language, given weird exceptions and funny spellings. I guess 'crappie' might be one such example. The confusing part seems to be that "double p," which is where most people get led astray. However, a look at a few other words with similar spelling, which also look misleading, will follow the same 'logic' as crappie. For example;

 



At first glance, both of these would appear to have the first syllable pronounced as "crap," but you'll see that they are actually listed as 'kraep,' the same as 'crappie,' and which is pronounced "crop." Again, you can click on the soundwave files to hear this for yourself.

So that ends today's grammar lesson here at Big Indiana Bass - LOL. Don't get caught in public sounding like some hillybilly and mispronouncing your panfish species :)

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September 17, 2014

Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Tips (October)

Finding Fall Crappie

Your best bet for finding crappie in the fall is to use jigs and drift along a drop off, fishing at different depths until you find them.

The absolute best time to go fishing in the fall is just prior to a major cold front. Crappie should be shallow, filling up their stomachs.

As the front passes, they will usually move back off the bank to deep water drop offs.

If they quit biting, using a minnow should be enough to trigger them back to biting.

Typically the cold temperatures don’t last long after a fall front. As the days warm, Crappie will move back shallow again.

Being out there on the water, fall color all around you, a little nip to the fall air, and there you are, hauling in a limit of crappie to stock your freezer until spring. That’s pretty hard to beat.

 

By Larry Whiteley, Host of the awardwinning Outdoor World Radio. For more tips go to basspro.com and click on 1Source News & Tips

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August 18, 2014

Bass Pro Shops September Fishing Tips

120719_0000September Crappie

Strategies September afternoons can be a great time to catch crappie. At this time of day, they begin to move to shallow areas to feed as the water cools.

Their bite will not be as aggressive in the fall as in the spring, so be sure and watch your line. As they get active and begin to chase bait, use small crankbaits.

Blakemore Road Runners or a white or chartreuse jig tipped with a chartreuse Berkley® crappie nibble are favorite baits among a lot of crappie anglers not only in September but throughout the year.

If you don’t find them in the shallow areas, try deep water around bridge pilings and wood docks or piers. These areas are usually covered with plankton, which attracts baitfish and thus crappie.

Depths of 15 to 20 feet in these areas would be best. If you see active bait, begin vertically jigging the area. The crappie will come up for the bait.

 

140713_0002Catch Walleye on Crankbaits

If you are trying to decide what bait to use in the fall for walleye, your best bait is to imitate their main prey, which are minnows. Crankbaits are great for this. Cast and retrieve a crankbait, or troll it behind the boat, but don’t let it move too fast.

Walleye are a little sluggish feeding in the fall as the water cools down. If walleye are suspended, cast or troll your crankbaits so they run at the same depth — or just above the depth — they are holding. If they are in shallow water, use a crankbait that dives a little deeper than the depth of water you’re fishing. This will cause the crankbait to root around, stirring up the bottom, and act in an erratic fashion as you retrieve it. This seems to stir the feeding instincts of walleye.

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