I have moved back to Arlington after retiring. We spent the last twelve years in the New Orleans area fishing saltwater.

I had to buy a platoon fishing boat as my wife has developed PD and my 16 foot fishing boat of 27 years is too hard for her to enter and too unstable for her balance.

I am going to dock it at the Cedar Hill Marina as Lynn Creek does not have available slips.

Since I have spent the last 12 years fishing salt water and have just returned to fresh water I would appreciate any tips on crappie fishing at Joe Pool.

I'm not asking you to give me the GPS location of your honey holes, just general areas of the lake where we should start our crappie relearning experience.

We spent years fishing Benbrook Lake,Cleburne Lake and Fork for crappie before I was transferred to the New Orleans area. So it is going to be nice to return to crappie fishing, although I am going to be rusty and must relearn everything again.

I watched Joe Pool being created and was looking forward to it being opened, with all the pits they had in it as fish hatcheries while it was filling. Then I was transferred to New Orleans three months before it was scheduled to be opened.

So I would appreciate any insight that members may have on Joe Pool Lake.

Whenever I fish Pool during the summer for crappie I head straight for the bridge pilings.


Reggie

Thank you. As I remember that was best for Lake Fork when I fished there years ago. It was also a lot cooler in the shade of the bridge.

Do you prefer the east fork or west fork bridges at Joe Pool?

Ed

There's some submerged structure around Dog Head Point, the tire reef in front of the state park and a brush pile near that. I've caught them on both bridges but the bridge nearest to Lake Ridge was usually less crowded. Hopefully I'll be asking you for hotspots in the near future. Good luck!

I've caught spawners and pretty good ones in skinny pockets around the SP while campin w my kiddos several yrs back. Had my lil 10ft toon out there w me in early spawn...most males on beds and if i coulda got a bit deeper I was convinced the big gals were just a bit outa the reach of my lil TM....so they made it that day. But in spring I'd try there...if that helps, its all I know about pool

good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping the boat is ready by Friday so I can be trying it out this weekend.

Unfortunately I'm retired so I can fish weekdays as well as weekends. So I may not be facing too much crowding during the week. I will probably let my daughter's family have first choice of the boat on weekends so the grandkids will learn a love of fishing. And of course we will be taking them out as often as possible.

I'm hoping to have some hot spots to share before too long.

the bridge on the off side from the marina ....
lots less traffic ...lots bigger fish ....
start on the second north column and work out towards deeper water
8 to 14 feep down with bait
in 9 fow to 20 plus fow ...
that's how and where we did it the only time I went there
the black bass are large in there sometimes ....
we sent a friend who managed a true whopper under the lyn crik bridge
and I ketched a dandy under the other bridge the week before
hope you slay em ...good luck to ya

on a side note ....we went on a Thursday
it was packed with fishers under the bridge by lyn crik ...
we was surprised to see so many folks in the middle a the week
made a big name crappie lake bridge on Saturday look like nothing ....

Thanks for the response. There are probably a lot of anglers getting in late vacation fishing before school starts.

The Lynn Creek Marina appears to be more popular than the Cedar Hill Marina. They have a waiting list there for slips while Cedar Hill had some open last week. Probably my luck all will rent before I get my boat. I guess I should rent one now but that seems like tempting fate to get the slip before I get the boat.

I will start with the bridge on the west side and try the Lynn Creek side bridge during the middle of next week.

I do appreciate all who have provided advice and am looking forward to getting on the water again.

Ed

Are you talking about the long bridge at Fork?

That and head to the timber on the east side of the lake.

I get the boat Friday but the fish finder doesn't arrive until Monday. This means I will be fishing blind this weekend.

So I guess I will spend the weekend learning the boat and fishing the concrete pilings at the bridges, since crappie seem to love concrete.

Or the minnows that the growth on the concrete attracts.

I do appreciate all the advice.

Ed

I want to give public thanks to piscatur non solum piscator for the advice on fishing Joe Pool Lake.

He is a real gentleman, went way way beyond what I was expecting when I asked for any advice.

I took the boat out Tuesday morning for a few hours to break the engine in while waiting for the equipment I have ordered for the boat to arrive. Once it is in I will bring the boat home and install everything.

There was only one person fishing the bridge area on the Cedar Hill side. And he wasn't actually fishing the bridge but was fishing the wood near the bridge on the south side.

There were five boats fishing the south side of Lynn Creek and one boat fishing the north side.

Other than that I only saw one bass fisherman on the Lynn Creek side and one person fishing what was probably a brush pile on the Lynn Creek side. Nobody was fishing the barge at Cedar Hill Marina.

I took it back out yesterday for a few more hours. I like to thoroughly break in a new motor before I start fishing with it as I generally run at low speeds when fishing. The manual states ten hours total break in time on the engine.

I can't wait till I get the fish finder installed since I now have some GPS points to enter into it. It's hell having a new toy setting uninstalled but I am waiting for the trolling motor to arrive and don't want to install things one at a time.

But at least I am getting time on the lake. I was planning on fishing the bridge in the morning but my daughter just called to see if I could take the grandsons for a boat ride in the morning while she is at the doctor's office. So I will be spending the time with them, taking them for a ride and maybe introducing them to fishing.

Are the brim biting at the bridges? Bluegill and other forms of brim are better for introducing young kids to fishing, as they bite often and are easy to hook. That is how I introduced my other grandsons to fishing and now they are hooked.