Possum Kingdom Crappie fishing is getting decent

Spent a few hours crappie fishing at Possum Kingdom Saturday. Came home with the biggest cooler of black crappie ever at PK. I got 20 keepers and a couple sand bass. Only caught one dink that I had to through back. All caught on a white Gilmore Fuzz Bugg.

http://www.gilmoretackle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

Water was so clear and still we could see the top of the school of crappie we were catching. They would swim by seemingly at a regular interval followed by three very big LM Bass. Water clarity is the best I've seen but it does make crappie fishing a challenge.

Very cool! That would be awesome seeing the school of fish you are trying to catch.

I caught about a dozen or so up a creek a month ago. I've never thought the crappie fishing was bad there. I know other people have historically said it sucked but I've always been able to catch some. Don't know if i've ever limited out though.

Great report. Good pic. Have booked marked that jig web site. Added it to the many others I already have booked marked.

Tom: I am pretty new to crappie fishing. When I sold the company in 2010 I took up fishing "full time" and have learned a lot. Looking back, I should have just fished with guides the first few years as it would have sped up my learning process.

Until I found these jigs I was not able to catch many of these crappie at Pk. I bet we have 25 feet or more visibility right now, as I can see a bunch of filleted sandbass on the bottom at the cliffs courtesy dock in 20 feet of water. This sure makes it tough to catch crappie as they get a real good look at your bait.

Not seeing the big schools of shad this year and that may be helping. When there is gobs of bait it really makes it tough.

Aggie: I am new to crappie fishing. I'm sure a "good " crappie fisherman would catch a lot more than I do. That said, a lot of the things people use in stained water lakes are not going to work at PK.

25' wow! Sounds like fishing in an aquarium, texoma used to get like that by the dam. Sounds like you need some fluorocarbon and maybe some live bait as a backup. Great cooler of fish.

Nice haul. Good job.

Nice haul buddy, I love fishing stained water and try to as much as possible but I'm going to have to give pk a shot just to see this clear water and trying fishing it.

Mckinney: It's about to get that way. I never seen it this clear. In the past, I understand people used to scuba dive PK, but it was not clear enough the last few years. It getting like that now.

I'm always using fluorocarbon line but just as a leader. I put a barrel swivel on an 18 inch section and tie the jig on the end. I keep a bunch pre tied because 6 lb test fluorocarbon breaks pretty easy when you hang up.

TX_thump: I went scouting yesterday and found that some sort of fish are holding in large numbers under many of the shady docks. Probably a good place to start.

Good luck.

Was fishing the clear water up by the dam for LMB and ended up catching a nice crappie about 12 inches, ended up being dinner. Good evening of fishing, never ran all the way to the dam in a few years and was amazed at the clear water.

Crappie bite has died for me at Pk. Nice fish by the way. Looks like I am back to sand bass.

Glad to see your connecting Mike !
They are certainly there. Just getting them to bite is the tricky part at times lol.

My lines been dry for a few weeks but I'm hoping a lot of that changes in the VERY near future !!


Congrats my friend !

It's not all clear. Go up most of the creeks and it's stained. I caught several in water with a foot of visibility max. Sure if you run down the lake towards the dam it looks like bath water.

That's true Aggie. At the top of Neely Slough I caught shad in water that looked like pea soup. At the cliffs marina though, you can see trash on the bottom ( someones lawn chair) in 20+ feet.

How about up around Caddo at the State Park? Used to catch a bunch from the old pier that crossed over the cove. We could see fish come up out of 40' water under the lights at night. There were some big crappie and pound size gills.

I've heard that Caddo is a good place for crappie. Caught one up there with Brazo Tom once. It's a little far from where I normally put in so I don't go up there much.

Question: Made my first trip to PK last week. Fished with Dean Hefner and caught 46 stripers. Great guide! Didn't crappie fish, but sunk some PVC balls with various wood with leaves tie-wrapped to the PVC by host's dock in 25 feet of water. This is back in a cove on the lower end of the lake. Please educate me about this lake: Are the crappie still back in the coves this time of year? Do they make a move out of the coves about now, or will some still be back in there and hang around our brush piles? (Never knew mesquite limbs would sink when you threw them in!)

Tony: I am no crappie expert but I have fished this lake heavily since 2011. Every year it has fished differently. lately, I have been catching all my crappie under docks in 60+ feet of water. The key is shade + structure to hide from the big bass and stripers. I hung a huge striper last week fishing for crappie and it broke my jig hook after a 5 minute fight in the middle of a dock. Those people who advised me to get that Pro Angler rod did me a favor, as I bent that thing double trying to keep that fish from tangling me on the dock. Unlike the wally Marshal poles it has not broken.

The best bait I have found has been the Giltmore white jig.

http://www.gilmoretackle.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

Jiggin Jerry makes a good jig too but it's Yellow and I prefer white, as the fish like that color when the water is gin clear.

I pitch the jig out about 15 feet or so and let it fall slowly in a natural arc back to me then let it sit still for 10 seconds or so. Just dropping a jig stationary has not worked as well for me.

Minnows have worked me me as well, with dead ones better than live. The live ones tangle the line up trying to avoid the crappie. The crappie will come up to the minnow and unlike a bass will just harass the minnow rather than eat it right away. If it's wounded or dead, they eat it. When fishing a dead minnow fish it just like the jig or drop it to the bottom and reel up a couple cranks, then hold it for a few seconds then bring it up a crank. Usually you get bit when it moves.

I've caught more crappie this year at PK then ever before. As for Dean, I fished with him in 2008 and we only caught one striper. The lake was in bad shape back then.

Good luck.

Thanks! I forwarded your advice to the property owner. News at 10!