I went out for three hours today to prepare for my upcoming trips, and this is what happened:

First I went and gathered some of this good Henderson County fur. I found a ledge in 15ft that should treat us very well throughout most of the year, and I plan on sinking it there shortly. If you come down to Cedar Creek this fall for crappie, please bring some brush with you.


Then I went and found a few of these in 12-20ft of water on brush piles and timber. They wanted the bait moving slowly, and they did not want to thump it very hard. Marked fish almost everywhere I went, but they were not all ready to eat.


After I played around with the crappie, I made sure the whites were still biting. The technique consisted of nothing magical, and can be mimicked with almost any rig. I placed the boat downwind of the school, in 8-10ft of water, then casted upwind ahead of the school in 11-12ft of water. I would reel in four to five turns as slowly as possible, let the jig return to the bottom, then reel in four or five times as slowly as possible. The two areas I fished were the Tennis Court and Game Warden's Hump. I got a bite almost every cast, and caught a fish probably every third or fourth cast.


I saw a whole lot of these suspended in 13-15 ft over structure, so I dropped down and enjoyed the ride. This dude was a whole lot of fun on a 6ft rod with 6lb test. I wanted to stay and play a little longer, but I needed to find other fish.


Nothing fancy happened today, just a good quick scouting trip to make sure everything is set for the next two weeks of running and gunning. I used a 6ft Ugly Stik with 6lb hi-vis line, an 1/8 ounce unpainted jig head with no collar and a number four bronze sickle hook. The bait of choice for all fish was a CR Special Thump Buddy from www.constantpursuitoutfitters.com.

If I were going to book a trip, I would focus on the last two weeks of October, and the first two weeks of November. The way the water temp and the moon are lining up, this particular four weeks should be dynamite. Please let me know if I can be of any service to you on Cedar Creek, and PM me any questions you may have in regards of finding/catching fish. Thank you TFF for all you do for us here at BigCrappie.com and Constant Pursuit Outfitters.

Looks like a fun scouting day!

thanks for sharing lane,what are you using to weigh them down?

Great report Lane!!

Nice report A buddy & I will be there tomorrow to see if we can catch a few ...

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks everybody!

Grenada: I use haydock blocks and bailing wire, or I'll buy Quickcrete and make homemade weights with buckets lined with trash bags. You can also grease the side of the buckets with lard or vegetable oil, if you don't have any trash bags. When I pour the concrete mixture into the bucket, I'll bend a few pieces of wire in a "U" shape, and stick them in the mix for something to tie off to.

Lane, I hooked up with a hybrid like the one in your pic, one cold winter day by myself. He pulled my Lund around the lake for awhile on 6# Mr Crappie Hi Vis until I finally wore him out and got him in the boat for a quick pic (which I can't find at the moment).

PS: I do have all the red cedar you want, free for the cutting! Course you have to haul it 200 miles back to CCL!!! I think I have just about enough to fill up Texoma! And I plan to start soon.

them striped fish sure are fun
nice post

Thanks guys. We brought home around sixty today. Roughly two dozen crappie, roughly thirty white bass, and a mix of a couple other wild cards. The wind blew 15-20, but that Skeeter sits like a mother hen in that open water. I think the weather channel needs a new wind forecaster.

Thanks for the report. think I will try the same here on Palestine today. have a goodun...

Very good going, nice fish

My brother in law, my co-worker and I were the group that Lane took out on the 9th. He's not kidding about the Skeeter being stable in the wind. The crappie bite was extremely light until late in the day, with lots of lift bites. We have been going out with Lane for several years and he always puts us on the fish. Thanks again to a great young man who will work his tail off to see that you have a great trip.

Great report Lane!
The bites have been the same here on Fork for me for the most part - Moving ULTRA slow