Crappies

[kelly-p]

Scouting for Beacon's yesterday I found a quite place just off Beacon's main road where there was one wheelhouse about 150 yards away and nobody else within 1/4 of a mile. I caught 6 crappies and lost some more in 1 1/2 hours. I thought that was pretty good considering that this happened during the daylight and in January which is before the crappies usually start.  Beacon's is going to start putting houses and people with seasonal passes there Sunday. I told no one about the crappies but Beacon's. I drove by there today and got a surprise as there was a rental house 25 feet from my holes and another rental house just off a little ways by someone that does not even use Beacon's Road. It is pretty obvious that someone must have been watching me with binoculars. This is a good example of why a lot people no longer give a good report or tell anyone.

[ZachD]

If you drill it they will come

[kelly-p]

11 hours ago, ZachD said:

If you drill it they will come

Then I should have the crappies confused because I spent 3 days drilling holes in every "empty spot" with no fishermen over about 3 square miles. It was kind of a trip down memory lane trying a lot of the old waypoints with their old memories. Buddy Hillman has pushed a new road right into our old "Crappie Highway" area so todays plan is to go look around that area. Last week when Buddy was making the road there he called up to see if I was on the lake because he was stuck and needed a pull. When I found him and pulled him out I was wondering if one of us hadn't been stuck right in the exact place years ago. Working with Buddy was always a pleasure no matter how tough things were.  One year we had 26 miles of road out from Hillman's and each had a V-Plow. After the first week we never had both running on the same day for the rest of the year. As soon as one of would get our truck fixed the other ones truck would break down.

[shaky legs2]

Not like the pressure ridge bite south of Hillman's.  Everyone was pretty tight lipped on that one.  Maybe someone has a drone tracking you Kelly.

[kelly-p]

2 hours ago, shaky legs2 said:

Not like the pressure ridge bite south of Hillman's.  Everyone was pretty tight lipped on that one.  

That one will always amaze me shaky. 12 houses, limits everyday, 7 weeks and not one fisherman talked. We just sat and watched the traffic fly past heading out to the crappie hotspots. We may have even watched you and Doc drive by.

 I checked out Hillman's new section of road today. There is a lot of unfished ice there. Buddy swung by and we spent a lot of time talking about the good old days when we were young and laughed the "old people".  Buddy and his customers have been working one area so I went over to an unfished area started drilling holes. I picked up 4 which was a little disappointing but it was a bright sunny day so it wasn't best for trying to catch crappies.

[Borch]

On 1/28/2017 at 8:01 PM, kelly-p said:

Scouting for Beacon's yesterday I found a quite place just off Beacon's main road where there was one wheelhouse about 150 yards away and nobody else within 1/4 of a mile. I caught 6 crappies and lost some more in 1 1/2 hours. I thought that was pretty good considering that this happened during the daylight and in January which is before the crappies usually start.  Beacon's is going to start putting houses and people with seasonal passes there Sunday. I told no one about the crappies but Beacon's. I drove by there today and got a surprise as there was a rental house 25 feet from my holes and another rental house just off a little ways by someone that does not even use Beacon's Road. It is pretty obvious that someone must have been watching me with binoculars. This is a good example of why a lot people no longer give a good report or tell anyone.

I remember those days.  Trucks with spotting scopes.   Then a village the next time you went out.  Sure it happened to you and Johnny a lot back in the day.

[leech~~]

Man I would really like to get into some nice crappies some day. Spotting scope you say? I got one of them!

[shaky legs2]

You had that sneaky, snaky one lane road off of Hillmans landing on the other side of the pressure ridge that everyone just blew by on the way out on the Hillman road.  Everyone was so excited to get out and fish they never saw your road.  Our first time up that year we drove out on the Hillman highway and spotted your houses on the south side of the pressure ridge and wondered how did they get there?  We drove west for 6 miles and followed the pressure ridge when it bent to the north almost to shore.  Doc said, "Were going to drive back to the landing until we find where that sneaky ### Crossed the berm".  And there it was.  A little offshoot road to the left off the landing complete with dead ends and culdesacs to throw you off the scent.  Thank God that was during our portable days as there was no way you were going to pull a fish house through that mess.  Later in the season you could access that area at the T where Hillmans bent to the north but not earlier in the season.  You had many great bites but that one had to rank right up there.  And we kept our mouths shut too.

Edited February 3, 2017 by shaky legs2
Spelling

[ozzie]

I remember that year going out and seeing that little trail and all the houses on the other side of the ridge/road berm and wondering how they got there and figuring it out while leaving the lake for the weekend.  Great memories!!  Even confrontations that happened up there all come part of the tales of the "grand ol lake" as cookie says

[Hoyt4]

Love catching crappies on Red one of my favorite things to do. Been catching them up there since I was a kid and then the boom was fun too. Spring was cheating but as a kid sure was fun watching that bobber go down on all the cast. Fished channels when  I was little from shore and they spawned there. Man never caught that many fish like that since then.

[kelly-p]

Borch, Where I scouted on Hillman's road was about 1/2 mile SE of your favorite area.

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 7:40 PM, shaky legs2 said:

everyone just blew by

Seeing as that guys rental houses are still sitting where I found the crappies by Beacon's road today I went to where he had moved from in his haste to get to the same place as Beacon's

customers. I started drilling my first hole at 2:50 and quit fishing at 5:45. It looks to me like that person should have spent his time drilling holes and looking for fish rather then watching other fishermen and moving to where other fishermen were catching fish.

[bturck]

Nice fish fry coming 

[Borch]

 

 

 

On 2/3/2017 at 9:35 PM, kelly-p said:

Borch, Where I scouted on Hillman's road was about 1/2 mile SE of your favorite area.

 

 

Man we caught crappies in that general area.  Burnt a lot of auger fuel to get on them, but we usually did.  If I don't head to South Texas mid March I may need to make another trip to red instead.

[kelly-p]

You would have enjoyed the view out there tonight Borch. I was between Hillman's and Beacon's roads and as I looked around the lake everybody was spread out real good. Most people had 200 yards to the next closest fishermen. The entire north part of the lake was covered with fishermen but there were not any of those ugly crowds. I think a lot that is because Hillman's road covers a lot of lake so everybody has room to spread out.

  3 guys were fishing one of the places where I found some crappies a while back and the last anybody had talked to them they had 15 crappies.

[fishing tech]

If you don't mind and I understand if you don't want to say. What are you using to catch the crappies? Plain hook or jigs? I remember back during the crappie craze we used the big white glow demons with red or orange stripe. Thanks

[kelly-p]

I'm lazy so the same two hooks all the time. Red Rattling Flyer on the jigging line and a bare white hook with live minnow on the other. Someone that changed hooks more often would most likely do better. It's 2017 so I'm due to change hooks and line next year.  They have been harder to find lately but each place that I have found some has been fished pretty hard so I'm off looking in new areas. the 3 guys fishing the one place ended up with 19 the first day but were disappointed that they didn't catch more walleyes.  I did pick up 5 the other day but that was jumping back and forth over 11 places.  4 on the dead stick and only marked 1 fish all day on the jigging rod.

3 hours ago, fishing tech said:

big white glow demons with red or orange stripe.

They were always good>

. The hook I liked the best was white with a soft glow grub body. I have been quitting fishing when the sun goes down so I have thought much about glow hooks yet. BUT, when the snow cover drops and it is sloppy out there.  Something about water spraying on the windshield and crappie fishing just seems to go together.

[Borch]

Sounds like heaven!  Nice weather, hole hopping and catching a few slabs.  Catching them on plastics to keep the school under you as you're able to get it back down there quicker.  If they don't hit the plastics a dead stick close by usually gets hit.

 

We had planned on heading up there this weekend but my Wanda's nephew is getting married Saturday.  Maybe later this spring if the ice holds up.

 

I'm sure it'll be pretty quiet after walleye closes.  Has there been much of a perch bite on the north shore?  Sounds like there are some nice ones cruising the lake.

[ClamITup]

Is an extension needed?

[fishing tech]

Thanks Kelly, we are coming up Friday for a long weekend. Heading out of Hillmans. I still have a couple of old waypoints in the gps from the crappie craze. I will let you know how we do. Thanks again.

[kelly-p]

3 hours ago, ClamITup said:

Is an extension needed?

I haven't needed one fishing out in the open but it has been close a few places. If you are drilling out a house it could be a good idea to have one along.

 

1 hour ago, fishing tech said:

I still have a couple of old waypoints in the gps from the crappie craze.

Lots of great memories, "Buddy 1", "Highway east", "Highway west", "3-5-05".

 

4 hours ago, Borch said:

 Has there been much of a perch bite on the north shore?

I've heard good reports from here or there but I haven't really been paying much attention. I have seen some 10 to 11 inch perch.

 

4 hours ago, Borch said:

Maybe later this spring if the ice holds up.

Still wearing that red ice fishing suit so we can keep an eye on you?

[shaky legs2]

Borch's coat is probably red and silver now from all the duct tape patches .

[Borch]

21 hours ago, kelly-p said:

 

Still wearing that red ice fishing suit so we can keep an eye on you?

Retired the red suit.  Maybe I'll be able to see you first now.

[fishing tech]

Well no crappie. Couldn't get to where I wanted to go. So we fished on Hillmans first road going to the north. We got close to the pressure ridge. The bite was good dusk to dawn and slow during the day. We caught a lot of walleyes under 14 inches. Also 3 10 inch perch and went home with 3 limits of eyes. Thanks for your help and good luck the rest of the ice season.

[kelly-p]

1 hour ago, fishing tech said:

So we fished on Hillmans first road going to the north.

You were in the right area, maybe just the wrong time.  I went out late this afternoon to see if the house my Dad has been using came through the "flood" OK and decided to drop a line when I was there. When I first dropped the hook down the hole a walleye screamed up off the bottom and slammed it 5 feet off the bottom. So out of curiosity I just sat there and jigged 4 to 5 feet off the bottom and they kept coming up and slamming it. They never touched the dead stick that was set 1 foot off the bottom.  All I can think of is that with the snow cover gone they could really see something up against the sunlight. I hadn't seen the walleyes that aggressive all winter.  maybe it was because I was fishing in a hole about 20 inches wide due to the water running down it.

 

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 5:51 PM, Borch said:

 Maybe I'll be able to see you first now.

No I don't think so cuz I have a big roll of duct tape and a bunch of white sheets. I'll wrap me, the Jeep and the dog in white sheets. We'll be just like ghosts.  OOPS, just remembered that the snow is all gone. I really think that after all the years we each could stick a pin in a lake  map guessing where the other one would be and we would each be within 1/4 mile. From his description fishing tech was right on the eastern edge of your favorite area.