I finally got myself a nice boat and would like to fish for some crappie at Grapevine, preferably on the SW side. Any recommendations on locations? Bait/lure etc? How about around some of the semi abandoned boathouses and small inlets around McPherson Slough? Thanks for any advice

I would start trying the very back of the slough in a few feet of water with a jig either on a long pole or slip bobber. They should start to move up there in the next few weeks. Good luck.

Thanks for the info!

Grapevine is a tough crappie lake. I've had limited success there but done great at Ray Roberts and Cedar Creek.

All the success I've had at Grapevine was fishing boat slips with a 1/16 jig with crappie nibble and slow trolling an 1/8th jig parallel to the dam.

Twin coves should be a good target in the next couple weeks as the spawn gets started. I bank fished up and down the west arm of twin coves a few days ago and the crappie weren't in the shallows yet. For some reason Grapevine spawn happens several weeks later than other area lakes.

Brush piles are your best bet if you have the time and inclination to get a good pile out there in about 12 foot of water.

Thanks again! I hope to get out to do more recon this week!

Hire Guy Skinner and that will be money well spent on Grapevine. Some guys will swear the lake is void of crappie

Thanks Jacky. Some people think that there's no crappie in Grapevine (and BigMack is one????), but that lake has more big crappie per cappa than most DFW lakes. It just takes time to learn the lake, as it's not sturctured anything like most of our other local lakes.

Hey!
I keep telling everyone that to keep 'em out of there.
Didn't work on you. DAGNABIT.

Gravel pits are good during the spawn if the lake is at or close to normal level. I have also caught them on shad off the points near Sneaky Petes. I found them by trolling. I kept getting hits but no hookups and then finally hooked one. Catching crappie on 5" threadfins is a lot of fun. You know that you are not going to get little ones. The hard was getting them to take the bait far enough in to their mouth to get a good hook set.

My nephew just caught them Saturday in Marshall Creek from the bank slow reeling roadrunners

I would also recommend hiring Guy Skinner to take you out at least one time,like he said the lake has much less structure than other area lakes so when you find some it will have crappie on most of the time,get you lots of jigs with chartruse in them as that is almost always the goto color there.
BTW now is the time to take a saw and leave the poles at home.

Too early for the crappie?

Depends on how you set your expectations. You can catch crappie now, if you know where to fish, how to fish it, and don't expect a "Cedar Creek" type of day, with limits the rule. Grapevine is a narrow, deeper lake that takes longer to come up to temp. Therefore, while the spawn will be going full tilt on some nearby lakes, Grapevine will just be getting started. Honestly, I have never cared for fishing Grapevine 'during' the spawn, because it's too much chicken/feathers, but post spawn is a whole different story. Simply put, it gets better than most any lake that I know of. Lots of big fish stacked in like cordwood...and hungry. Grapevine is not a lake that most guys can fish once and do good, but take the time to learn the lake, and she'll reward you handsomely.

Guy, let's go in a month!

I will take you in the morning stucky,but you have to leave the poles at home,bring mud boots and a good hand saw.