I must be doing something totally wrong. I've been chasing some crappie for about two months now and not one nibble from one. Although I primarily bass fish(tournaments), I figured I'd give crappie a try. Big mistake on my part... Man it's frustrating to say say the least. Rant over

Stillousy has been tough for a while and never was great, or even good. nightfishing deep points with structure is your best option on stillousy. Theres a few brushpiles, and you can get a few now and then, but overall the lake sucks.
Belton is tough in the winter. Any deep water lake with a deep channel that runs thru it, they can hide in that deep channel all winter. 30, 40, 50 feet, and very scattered. The extreme water level fluctuations also make it tough on these lakes.
TPWD does not stock these lakes, or does anything else to promote the crappie poulation on thse fisheries. Jon Tibbs regional biologist, said stillhouse just doesnt have the proper inflow of nutrients going into it, for it to ever be a very good lake. nutrients /zooplankton/ shad. gamefish.
Belton has its good years, but this year hasnt really been one of them. The fish get stressed when thier normal habitat that is in 15 to 22 feet, is not habitable becasue the water level is 10 to 13 feet low. It stresses them and affects the spawn in my opinion.
There just isnt a very large population of crappie on stillhouse.
Belton has some, but it has been a little tougher lately.
wait till spring and try belton again. Or try the deeper slips at the marinas.

Thanks for the input Leanin....I've been going crazy. Thinking, man do I really suck that bad or what? Any good lake around that would or could produce some or even some big enough sunfish this time of year? Thanks again for the advise.

Peter

Everything leaning post said is on the money.

Winter + central texas = bluecat season.

Yep, Crappie fishing is just poor at Stillhouse, it is a black bass lake. There is a cove called crappie cove on one of the fishing maps at 31.006486� -97.635328�

I have taken a few crappie out of it, all at night. Never got a limit.

Thanks for the great info and input guys.

Peter

Belton is for sure hit-n-miss

For me Belton offers excellent Spring Time, and fairly good Summer & Fall fishing. As far as Stillhouse, the early Summer and mid Fall of 2010 & 2011 was excellent crappie fishing, but the past two years have been horrible for me. I believe things will improve once the lake fills. I have never done good in the Spring time on Stillhouse.

I hammer the crappie on Stillhouse in the Summer and Fall, main river ledges with brushpiles 8-17 feet (even with low water). I just use a simple 2" white power grub on a 1/4 oz jig head with a brushguard and reel it slowly through the brush right on the drop. I then switch to Belton in the early spring right through the spawn. Belton has always been tough Summer through Winter for me though.

The Lampasas can be good in the spring too... if we get some rain to bring the lake level up.

Waco has always been good for me for crappie and its really not that far of a drive, brushpiles are on just about every point, and bridges can be good as well.

Good luck to you, hope that helps.

Thanks for info....will keep that in mind

Thanks Bullet20XrD,
Will definitely check that out. Never tried Waco, but I may have to. I'll try a few of your suggestions here locally first though. Thanks again.

Peter