Black Friday Fitchin’ - Tough bite for me - anyone not using LiveScope having any success on Fork?

Black Friday Fitchin’

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Used pink and chartreuse tail BoneHead jig going up and down 515 West bridge columns #2 through #15 columns in 25-30 FOW about 3 cranks off the bottom and also playing around with depth. Only managed about 11 keeper crappie in my last 3 times out. I have Lowrance HDS 9 and 12 units Gen 3 and having a tough go of it.

Any suggestions (keep in mind I don’t have LiveScope and cannot buy one at this time)? I have graphed them up in 22-35 FOW suspended in trees (5 to 10 feet off the bottom). I am having trouble with boat positioning. The 10 foot Bonehead rods I recently bought at Lake a Fork Marina at 25% off have helped to a degree to stay from being right on top of the brushpiles and submerged targets.

How do you all work a waypoint that you graphed that you believe have crappie on it - this is a question for non-LiveScope graphs. Many appreciative thanks ahead of time!

A few pics from the past two trips prior:

This is not crappie weather, it is crappy weather. But, the worst day of fishing is better than ANY day of shopping.

I wish I could help you, but the last time out, I got skunked, and I have Livescope. Saw a ton of fish but could not get them to bite.Someone was already on my "go to" brushpile and it was so windy it was hard to fish the other spots that I knew about.

Wayne

Thanks for the reply Wayne!

I have usually done better with water temps below 48-50 when they stack up more. Today was 57 degrees still. Hope I can get a meat haul in late Dec. or Jan. Then I switch back to bass fishing mostly to head off the pre-spawners.

As I stated in my other thread it was a funky bite all week long.

In five trips we caught a grand total of 0, 12, 13, 18, 14.

Trip six we got a double limit. It took us 9.5 hours to do it though.

For us and many we spoke too the bite description was "Funky".

Spoke to a friend and he believes they are feeding at night.

The day time bite on Fork has been tough.

I don't fish at night.

It seems on a day when I'm not fishing they bite...

Should have been here yesterday.

That's usually my luck.

Bad day of fishing is better than....

Pick your ending.

Hang in there. They have to turn on eventually.

I have Livescope and the fish are there but as you stated they do not want to bite.

Funky.

Funky = Sloooow.

Thanks HOGON!

on the columns you can use down image and side image by going by the columns slowly...
you can see them if they are there,..if not dont stop...I use a marker bouy and try and put it 15-20 feet up wind
of the brush/tree. I come back and fish into the wind, with brushpile on the side of the boat.

As already been stated. Any day is a good day while on the water. Nice slab.

Thanks for the tips!

As mentioned above...use a marker buoy to mark the spot so you can stay on it. Adjust your presentation. Some fish want it dead still, others want a moving bait. Search the immediate area just outside. Don't spend too much time on inactive fish....move on and find more active fish. This weather pattern we've had plays havoc with the bite. I suspect when it finally gets and stays cold, the bite will improve.

Thanks Gamblinman!

Glad to see it's not just me struggling this week on Fork! The good news is that it's has to get better!!!

I recently installed a live scope, One of the first things I noticed was the regular graph will show I am over the brushpile when I am actually a few feet off. All about cone angle and depth.
So if you have spot lock. , be sure and jog around the waypoints before you give up on a spot. ,
Good luck.
Mo

Great point! I usually do work an area thoroughly around my waypoint.

We fished the 515 bridge Thursday (T-Day), Friday, and tried Saturday after rain storm passed. Wind was too much Saturday. I have LiveScope. The only pylons holding fish was #9 and #10, and they were between 20' and 25', stacked on both between the middle and south pyles. They hit on shinners and Mudhole jigs for us. We fished them hard between rains and fought the wind. Wife pulled a 2.47 lber off #9! Good Luck!

2.47 is a toad. Nice! Glad I decided to pass on Sat. as I noticed the wind looked to be heavy on the forecast.

Nice handle

congrats on a few great fish. i would also suggest you try those spots that show fish at different times of day.

only a few weeks ago, on a guided trip, we went to a brush pile as our first stop of the day. We pulled 4 or 5 fish off the pile and then moved on. Our guide said "this pile will be warm up this afternoon". well, wouldn't you know that this pile was the last stop about 1:00 that afternoon and we QUICKLY pulled a dozen crappie off the pile. We only stopped because we had out limit. i think a cloudy day with just a bit of wind/chop is the best day to be out.