When we had to go down the river to go get up it.I knew we were in trouble! I was turned around all week because the dam was on the north end of the lake?
Water had between 5-15' visibility. The fish were small and skinny.
We caught close to 200 fish and had 1 fish over a pound. I caught over 100 in 2 days over a pound on Lavon last week...I think 1.35# won big fish out of 70 teams in 2 days fishing.
We trolled cranks out the back, pushed cranks out the front, spider rigged minnows and jigs and still caught our best fish on a white/chartruse jig fished on timber.
The only good thing about that lake is the Walleye fishing. If you want to go catch walleye, I can put you in touch with a guide that knows his stuff.
I think we finished around 20th but I'm not sure.
11.95# won it and we had 9.20#.

Had you fished that water before? Seems like you rely on the sonar immensely, what model do you use?

Sounds a lot like my muskie fishing on Pomme de Terre, MO - touchie-feelie with the 36-38 inchers but just can't get in touch with that 40"+ fish....

You guys will do better the next tournament

Welcome back, Jerry. Sounds like those crappie in MO are dinks compared to Texas slabs.

Also, as far as a guide on Broken Bow lake in SE Oklahoma, there's a guide there named "Bryce" who grew up around there and put my father-in-law and I on the smallmouths and walleyes all morning long last June (I could get his full name in case someone is interested).

That lake is beautiful and is deep/clear. Just FYI in case anyone is deciding a vacation up there or on the river down below the lake.

Eric

Jerry,

I remember commenting about the crappie being smaller up there (in general, not stockon) on our guide trip a couple of months ago. I'll second the small and skinny! Not everyone tends to agree so readily. For me: SHOW-ME! (couldn't resist, Missourians)

I believe in our discussion we were thinking growing season and possibly length limits have helped us in Texas.

Any additional thoughts? Btw, welcome back.

oldmerc


Disclaimer: I have caught crappie in other lakes in MO, and still enjoyed it in spite of the palm sized fish. I didn't know the difference until fishing the area lakes. We should be thankful for the awesome crappie in Texas!

Hey Jerry,
My father was wanting to get a guided trip on Lavon in the next few weeks. Are you still running your summer afternoon specials?
Let me know and we will try and book a time.
We just sold our place at fork and my boat is now in Storage in Wylie so would love to learn that lake.
Thanks
Brett

Yeah Jerry that lake wasnt worth the trip it seemed the tourney was won on luck cause every one was catch 10 inch .4 lb fish heck me and eric have never caught so many fishat a lake we nnever fished before my clicker said for four days of fishing we had 371 fish caught only one pre fishing was over a pound it was fourteen inches long lake did have som nice scenerie at the quaryy will post pics tonight.

We had never seen the lake before last Tuesday. I have a Lowrance lms 320 on the dash and a 480 eagle on the console. They do what I need. We spent 2 1/2 days pre-fishing. The first day we were on the north end which was near the dam. You could see a white/chart jig 15' deep. We fished timber in 50-60' water. That was the first time I ever hit a stump in 65' water!

The south end which would be the north end on any other lake had more color. You could only see about 4-5' deep. We caught fish shallow there on timber. Most of the fish we caught were 8-20' deep on 30' timber.
We found some fish suspended on a flat 20' deep in about 30' water and caught them pushing crankbaits out the front of the boat. That is how George and Ratmo fished both days and they finished 1 place above us. The fish we caught pushing didn't seem to be as good as the fish we caught in timber.
They started pulling water about 12pm on day 1 and that really hurt us. The water fell about a foot and cleared up. They only bit in that creek for an hour on day 2 and we never got a good fish to bite. We never lost a fish all week.
I'd fish another area if I had to do it over again. We found some fish in practice in another arm but a buddy found the same fish and it was crowded in that creek. We only had 1 boat fishing the area we were in and we thought those fish would last for 2 days so we focused on one area and hammered it hard. We never ran out of fish but we never caught the quality they caught in that other creek during the tournament.
Learned alot and had a good time. We had 2 big fish frys with fresh Crappie/Walleye and that was worth the trip.

I spoke with Ron Canaster about the tournament. He said they fished several flats with jigs tipped with minnows to catch their fish. They ran a spider rig for the most part and stayed out of the timber.

They placed 5th and had big fish. Ron and his partner Bruno Brummett are from Trinity, TX and are members of he East Texas Crappie Club.

Goforth and Graham also members of the ETCC finished 36th.

Ya some lakes got dinks in 'em there, but I don't think I gotta remind ya'll that MO took the IGFA record black crappie at 5lbs (almost passed the record white too).

I'm from there if ya'll can't tell lol (married me a Texan and my pa's a Texan). The clearer lakes usually have the ones you can "read a newspaper through" as my pa would say. The muddier water lakes have some really nice ones in and if you can get on some old Peabody Coal company strip pits you'll have the time of your life.

I would imagine that would make it all worth while. Glad to hear ya'll had a good time.

s-a-l me,

I have fished several Peabody Coal company pits in MO for bass. Sorry to say, I didn't target crappie as much back then. From what I hear now, the quality would have been better.

The fish fry sounds good. Its been awhile... hopefully I can search for some crappie soon.