I finally caught a few crappie fishing last week. I pulled up to one of my favorite docks after dark to crappie fish and there were 16-20 inch stripers all over the surface eating ghost minnows attracted to the big mercury light. I kept three to eat and added a couple nice crappie.
One thing I did notice was that I didn't have to worry about bait stealing perch when the stripers showed up. They were hiding.
This time of year I'm using Minnows. Dead or dying minnows are best. Shad will catch them but shad are so fragile that bait steelers can take them off easy. I live at the cliffs so I'm fishing by the dam.
PK Crappie have plenty of structure to choose from as the lake is full of trees. The big draw is shade. You need to find a marina or a big dock with a boat that sits all the time. Needs to be in deep water, as the crappie don't like the 88 deg surface temp any more than the other fish.
We finally started catching schooling sandies and a few stripers on the humps north of Costello, they were hitting everything we threw. Slabs, top water, white spinner baits. I'm glad they are getting closer to my lake house for a change.
At PK, they are usually found at Hells Gate. They usually run in small schools, and on major Holiday's you wiill find them in large schools scattered within the cliff walls.
Caught them like crazy yesterday. Top waters, swim baits& shad. Much slower today. 3 man limit of stripes and a bucket of SB yesterday. Mouths of creeks early.
Mr Wood where did you find them hitting top water! I sure would like to catch some like that, but have never seen them hitting top water at PK. If you don't mind sharing!!! Thanks
Just inside major creeks like Caddo and cedar. It really can happen any place right now. Be there early and be ready. Have everything tied that you need. It may last ten min or all morning. Overcast skies and rain make it last longer.
If you get up early enough you'll find stripers on points holding shad at PK. I see them destroying shad quite often from my Balcony in Neely slough. Gotta be there very very early and it does not last long. The stripers only tolerate that 88 deg water long enough for breakfast then it's back to the bottom in 35 feet somewhere I can't find them.