Thank you for the overwhelming reponse to my posts. Sorry I haven't gotten to everyone and I hope none of you feel put off. I think that the best way I can think of to pass along some knowledge and have a great time with all of you would be to have an all day fishing and cooking event for crappie. This, of course, will take some time and planning but it's the only way I can see to teach all of you some of what I know about crappie fishing. Give me some feedback and let me know what you think.
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I think your absolutley right.
Where would you have such an event? Willard? Pineview? East Canyon?
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HEY TROLL YOU LEFT OUT U/L AND NEWTON. now is one of the best times of year to get into a mess of them there staging.
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I think EC would be the best place for teaching people about daily and seasonal crappie movements and habits in clear water reservoirs. The rules there would apply to other places like Pineview or Lake Powell as well.
UT Lake has a good population of crappie but they are usually scattered all over the edges of the lake and around the docks in the harbors. The lack of submerged cover in the lake and the thick cover being all around the edges means that the crappie are scattered everywhere and catching them consistently only tends to happen during the spawn which is already ending there. I can always catch some crappie in UT Lake but I usually have to work really hard for them.
The Jordan River is alot easier for locating them because their packed in a much smaller area and I have their seasonal habits there down to a science. The problem fishing there is competing with the crowds. I don't share much I know about that river because I don't want to have to compete for a spot on a fishing location where I took the time to scout, test jigs and presentations, and get on to a consistent pattern.
I haven't hit Willard before but I read the reports and I can tell that Willard is similar to UT Lake for crappie for obvious reasons. I know the crappie fishing can be good there at the right times but I don't have a State park pass and I won't pay $10.00 to go after a fish that I find readily available close to home in places where the access is free. Let's face it, the only available cover in that whole lake to attract crappie with any consistency is in the State Park harbors.
I haven't been to Newton and if I lived that far North I would probably be killing crappie there too. From what I have read the crappie in there are runts and I can get that kind of action within forty minutes of Salt Lake. It may be better then what i've heard in the reports but if we make this a group deal then Newton is too far for most people to go and I want to keep it as convenient as possible for everyone that participates.
Pineview will be getting good in a week or two but there isn't a huge crappie population there. However, there are some really nice ones and if it wasn't so far north and I had a boat I would probably fish there more often.
Like I said before, if I have to choose one place for great action to keep the interest of learning anglers, EC is definitely my first choice. It is fairly close to SLC and I can get there in about 40 minutes from my house. The crappie numbers there are insain so catching them, especially in the evening, can have you a fish every cast for 2 hours straight. There are BIG crappie there in excess of two lbs. Most of the nicer crappie go 9-12" which are decent pan sizers anywhere. By the way, they will start spawning there today or tommorrow and once they start moving to the shallows they will repeat a predictable daily movement cycle that will remain in effect until fall.
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Wow, I didn't even know EC had crappie in it. I have not fished there for years, because I was purposely avoiding planted trout. Better go take a look..
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I would love to join in the fun. I havn't caught a crappie in years.
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[cool]When and Where? EC????? I know crappie but I didnt know East Canyon had Crappie. I will have to check this out!!!!![cool]
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