Hiya Gang...I just moved to Tyler from OKC. OkieBob turned me on to these fourms, so here I am! I am originally from Athens, but have been out of the state for the past 15 years up in Sooner territory. Finally made it back 'home' last month.

I fished as a kid with my grandfather, and then some as a teenager (I'm 44 now) but never did any real damage to the fish population. I finally bought a boat last fall to take up fishing again, but didn't find much success in the first year around OKC. Hoping that will change now that I am back around some great East Texas lakes. Since I live close to Lake Palestine, that is where I will be dipping my lines most times, although I hope to get down to Athens quite a bit and fish there as well.

I would be very interested in some local slab-masters helping me along, if any are willing. I am still new to the game, and would love to meet up with anyone who might 'show me around' the water. My boat or yours, either way is fine with me! Not asking you to give up all your favorite fishing holes, but if you are willing to mentor a newbie, I would happily pay for bait or gas (or both), and provide fascinating conversation. Very softly, of course...I know what good ears Crappie have.

Hope to make some good friends and potential fishing-buddies here on TFF!

-Jon-

Very nice to have you join us Jon! I'm over here at Cedar Creek, but may I suggest you find Pepop here on the forum. He's one of the best people I know in that area.

welcome to the forum!

Just sent you a personal message.

to the forum!

Welcome to the forum! lots on nice folk and good info here

To the Texas Fishing Forum. Glad to have you on board.

Welcome

Jon, back & to the TFF! You couldn't have picked a better time to get back into fishing in this area. I went to Palestine this afternoon around 2 & fished with jpenwell till 5 & we had 23 in the box. The morning bite has been phenomenal the past couple weeks! I rarely can fish in the morning so I have to go when I can. Check out Jason Burton's Guide Service posts lately as he has been tearin the crappie up! In fact, he has a Christmas Special goin on right now so if you want to just sit back & let Jason put you on the fish, now's a great time. If you want to hit it on your own, just head for the Hwy155 bridge and fish dark jigs early in the 12' to 14' range around the middle three columns. As the morning wears on, go deeper, till around noon if you haven't caught your limit yet, you'll probably be fishing just off bottom? Feather jigs in purple & chartreuse or black & chartreuse or several other combos are working well. Every fish I caught today came on an all brown jig some guys call "Joe Dirt". Anyway, good luck to you & no kidding, you outta give Jason a call. He's really got them dialed in right now.

Vern? you the maker of that "joe dirt" jig?

Im not the original tier. There was an old gentleman named Val that created a whole line of Finesse jigs (Val's Jig's) in sizes 1/32oz, 1/48oz & 1/64oz and sold them from some small shops around Ft. Worth. Some time ago, Val passed away & his line of jigs disappeared but a couple of guys held on to a small assortment of the jigs and guarded them like they were gold. I was offered the jigs (ON LOAN) & the priveledge of trying to reproduce them. The "Joe Dirt" wasn't even among the group but the guy's described it to me & I gave it a shot. They said my version was a pretty good copy. Yesterday, I was fishing tandem jigs with 2 GIANT version's of the Joe Dirt, a 1/8oz on bottom & a 1/16oz on top. The crappie seemed to like them both.

Thanks, Vern, for your update. I fished Wednesday midday and Thursday Morn. Caught fish on the same feather 1/16 jig. I tied it months ago and used it to catch crappie, stripper and sandbass. I call it the "ghost minnow". Kinda beat up so I attempted to tie more only to find out that I am out of the chennile. So,I modified it a bit and we'll try it soon. congrats to you for your trip yesterday.

first off I would like to say ....WELCOME TO THE BARN DANCE /TFF !
now pick ya a partner and try to go with the flow ....LOL
I find it so interesting and so very nice that Pepop hooked up with the Capt and redeveloped a lost art .
so many folks drop big lead on the crappie it is unreal . and we have found that a lot of the time drop to nearly nothing is a sure bet
one thing for certain this is the place to talk up ketchn crappie
now please fasten your seat belt the ride is about to begin
and as always ...
KABOOM

Yep, heard about the small lead...like using it and so do the Crappie. Been with Jerry a couple of times. Thanks Ketchn for your input.