Monster Crappie are back, Fall crappie report

[crappeeeman]

My favorite time of year to catch crappie. No eggs inside so you are not killing future monsters. Just put your boat in and start fishing. Balsam lake should be renamed...Big Black Crappie Lake. The minnows must feel like the opening seen from jaws. I have never heard a minnow sream but they must when that flash of black and gold is the last thing they see. First fish 15.1 inches...second fish 14.9 inches fat filets almost forgot to take pictures. Good luck to all fall fisherman. BE CAREFULL water is cold now.

[Live_To_Fish]

Those are some awesome looking Crappie crappeeeman, congrats. Just wondering, what temp were you reading out there. Thanks in advance.

[reelingmachine]

Great!
Thank you for the report.

[fishmagnet]

Nice ones..

[crappeeeman]

Thankyou for feedback. I enjoy reading this forum. I should have joined years ago when I first saw it. But back then computers were not in my life. Still learnig. As for water temps. I do not use them I go by water levels in balsam and sturgeon. If the levels are up in the spring I fish certain areas. When they drop the levels in the fall i go to where I have always been successful. As for temps when water is cold its a real slow show. Through may to sept it is a fast presentation. Even crappy are aggresive like bass in the summer. I am not very technical been fishing since I was 5 now I am 56 so my knowledge is just experience. I do keep alot of records though. Where when and how was the weather on days I fish. That helps a lot.

[crappeeeman]

Sorry I did forget water clarity. This to me is very important. Colour wise vibration of lure speed of lure and depth of presentation. If you cant get the fish interested in your bait if you cant draw the fish up and out from the weeds or a shoal or a rock ledge you cant eat em...gotta catch him first. So i look back to see what I used the last time in whatever place and time I was. Also in my opinion evening and night fishing produces much more crappie and pickeral than day fishing. Always has for me. The exception being spring. I fish none stop all day all night in the spring.3 or 4 hours sleep a night as soon as the ice is gone.

[nbender81]

Those are monsters...and I see the knife cut on the one before you realized a you needed a pic before you took the other fillet off!

[crappeeeman]

I also check the shallow water for crayfish leeches and big waterbeetles if they are out in plain sight the fishing should be good. And I follow the birds. If seagulls have found a school of minnows on top of the water I fish there. The same with loons and cormorants finding perch I fish there. I only fish one place in the spring for crappie and if the osprey are there catching crappie then I know my bucket will be full. The best crappie fish finder is an osprey.

[crappeeeman]

Yes the kawarthas have many monster crappie. I thought the night I caught the one I am using for my avatar was going to beat the ontario record. But it was not heavy enough. Mine was longer than the record but I did not know all the details at the time. But someday I will break it or my friend will. When we fish for crappie it seems we catch mirrors of each of our fish.

[rayray89]

Pigs!!! congrats

[crappeeeman]

Yup they are out there. The one in my profile picture was two inches shorter only 15.6 inches the big one was 17.6 but my friend john caught its twin two casts after almost the same lenth 15.5 but his was fatter than mine. Must have been eating bigger minnows

[mully86]

very impressive!! well done

[wishin fishin]

wow we're getting them here in the states, not that big yet but very chunky, nothing worth taking pics of yet. Where is my buddy DB with his crappie porn.

[crappeeeman]

Once again, thank you for the feed back. I heard the biggest crappie are in the south u.s.a. Nice never ending growing season. Would be wild to set the hook on a 5 pound crappie. They just do not give up. Pound for pound crappie and small mouth bass best fighters. The big ones run and jump. big crappie great fight on a crappie rod. I have two St. Croix 7 ft. one for slip bobber the other for small crank baits. I will be in Kawarthas tomorrow night and thursday night, my kind of night weather. Nice and chilly and a flat lake until the crappy wake up the water. May a couple of pickeral too if I am lucky. Even if I catch nothing, this is my favourite time of year. Lots of action on the water. Loons, beavers, otters, martins, etc etc. OH YA fish fish fish BIG FISH. Good luck to everyone. Remember COLD WATER KILLS be careful....AND Dont drink and drive.

[naturefan]

Those were nice and really big crappies!