Fall Crappie In The Tree Tops!
The bait shop was still closed at 6:00 am.
The sun had already risen in the east and fishing time was being wasted while we waited on the owner to arrive and open his doors so we could buy crappie minnows.
After waiting for 15 minutes we drove to a tackle shop in the next town that sold them by the pound.
Then we headed back to the boat launch to begin our fishing day, almost an hour late.
In my opinion shiner minnows are the best bait for taking fall crappie, especially in sunken tree tops Little Tuffy minnows just do not entice the fish as shiner minnows do and are relegated to the bottom of the list of my acceptable baits for crappie.
With our half a pound of Tuffies, they didn't have shiners; we finally got to the boat launch amid dozens of fishermen whose wives were trapped in Black Friday madness, this day after Thanksgiving.
It was a dreary and cold morning, seeming colder as we crossed the main channel of the Tennessee River.
The wind was blowing sprinkles of water from the bow into the boat and by the time we got to the mouth of Cotaco Creek we were drenched and with the wind picking up we were off to a frigid and soggy start to our fishing trip.
Moving into the mouth of the creek, the banks on either side was littered with entire trees that had fallen into the water.
It made them the perfect hiding place for big crappie, white bass, bream and even bass.
Today though, we were after crappie.
Since this was the day after a major holiday, there were a lot of people fishing on the creek.
We traveled down the middle of the creek to a spot where there were no other fishermen.
That wouldn't be the case very long but for now we were the only ones in the area.
Casting with a rod and reel was out of the question.
Almost every time we threw our bait to a spot that looked clear of debris, we got hung up by obstacles that were hidden beneath the water.
Soon we gave up and began fishing directly into the tree tops and letting our baits sink straight down, missing limbs and branches.
Even then, our hooks regularly stuck into a branch when we were towing our bait back to the boat.
Our problem that day is that we only had our rod and reels to fish for the crappie.
Getting our baits close to the bank was impossible because we were constantly losing our minnows and rigs to the sunken branches of the trees.
There wasn't much we could do then to help our predicament, but we would be better prepared for our next trip to this excellent hideout for crappie.
We caught three or four fish each but didn't have a real good day.
The water temperature was 43 degrees, which was good for fall and winter crappie, so that shouldn't have been a factor in the slow activities of the fish.
What did matter though was that a cold front came rushing in from the north and all fish biting stopped.
Cold fronts have that effect on fish...
and humans, so we cranked up the motor and headed for home.
The sun had already risen in the east and fishing time was being wasted while we waited on the owner to arrive and open his doors so we could buy crappie minnows.
After waiting for 15 minutes we drove to a tackle shop in the next town that sold them by the pound.
Then we headed back to the boat launch to begin our fishing day, almost an hour late.
In my opinion shiner minnows are the best bait for taking fall crappie, especially in sunken tree tops Little Tuffy minnows just do not entice the fish as shiner minnows do and are relegated to the bottom of the list of my acceptable baits for crappie.
With our half a pound of Tuffies, they didn't have shiners; we finally got to the boat launch amid dozens of fishermen whose wives were trapped in Black Friday madness, this day after Thanksgiving.
It was a dreary and cold morning, seeming colder as we crossed the main channel of the Tennessee River.
The wind was blowing sprinkles of water from the bow into the boat and by the time we got to the mouth of Cotaco Creek we were drenched and with the wind picking up we were off to a frigid and soggy start to our fishing trip.
Moving into the mouth of the creek, the banks on either side was littered with entire trees that had fallen into the water.
It made them the perfect hiding place for big crappie, white bass, bream and even bass.
Today though, we were after crappie.
Since this was the day after a major holiday, there were a lot of people fishing on the creek.
We traveled down the middle of the creek to a spot where there were no other fishermen.
That wouldn't be the case very long but for now we were the only ones in the area.
Casting with a rod and reel was out of the question.
Almost every time we threw our bait to a spot that looked clear of debris, we got hung up by obstacles that were hidden beneath the water.
Soon we gave up and began fishing directly into the tree tops and letting our baits sink straight down, missing limbs and branches.
Even then, our hooks regularly stuck into a branch when we were towing our bait back to the boat.
Our problem that day is that we only had our rod and reels to fish for the crappie.
Getting our baits close to the bank was impossible because we were constantly losing our minnows and rigs to the sunken branches of the trees.
There wasn't much we could do then to help our predicament, but we would be better prepared for our next trip to this excellent hideout for crappie.
We caught three or four fish each but didn't have a real good day.
The water temperature was 43 degrees, which was good for fall and winter crappie, so that shouldn't have been a factor in the slow activities of the fish.
What did matter though was that a cold front came rushing in from the north and all fish biting stopped.
Cold fronts have that effect on fish...
and humans, so we cranked up the motor and headed for home.
Source...