Joe Pool just frustrates me on so many levels! Good report!

I'll agree that the lake is not a great fishery or easy to fish but it is a good fishery. The bass, crappie and sandbass are doing well and the recent rains in the past few years has helped the shad population. Only a couple times this year I have not been able to at least get a one man limit. Key on Joe Pool is time on the water and keep moving until you find them. Brushpiles are good from April to November. Timber is good summer through fall. Creeks are good in the winters along with suspended fish near the dam in winter. Bridges are best in April. I hear people say every year, we'll next year should be good because I'll I catch is 9 3/4" crappie. while that is mostly true people still have a hard time catching keepers due to time on the water. Definitely have to to search for the keepers but when you find them they usually are willing to bite. I'll struggle on certain other lakes that most people get easy limits and that is simply because I'm not able to spend the time to figure those lakes out. Also 2014 was my best year for big fish. It was the height of the drought and concentrated the fish due to lack of bait and lower water. Average fish that year was 13"-14". Then the floods of 2015-2016 came and scattered them out and have been a little harder to target just the big crappie.

I'll agree that the lake is not a great fishery or easy to fish but it is a good fishery. The bass, crappie and sandbass are doing well and the recent rains in the past few years has helped the shad population. Only a couple times this year I have not been able to at least get a one man limit. Key on Joe Pool is time on the water and keep moving until you find them. Brushpiles are good from March to November. Timber is good summer through fall. Creeks are good in the winters along with suspended fish near the dam in winter. Bridges are best in April. I hear people say every year, we'll next year should be good because I'll I catch is 9 3/4" crappie. while that is mostly true people still have a hard time catching keepers due to time on the water. Definitely have to to search for the keepers but when you find them they usually are willing to bite. I'll struggle on certain other lakes that most people get easy limits and that is simply because I'm not able to spend the time to figure those lakes out. Also 2014 was my best year for big fish. It was the height of the drought and concentrated the fish due to lack of bait and lower water. Average fish that year was 13"-14". Then the floods of 2015-2016 came and scattered them out and have been a little harder to target just the big crappie. Also I have not used minnows in the past 4-5 years, they seem to only hurt the way the way I fish. Some have a hard time catching with jigs but once you get that figured out it makes catching much easier. Fish what you are confident with then adjust accordingly if need be.