rsimms, Chickamauga, Crappie, Feb. 11, 2015, jimwarden

[FishNews]

After our Tuesday Float & Fly trip, I already had plans to try my pre-spawn longline crappie trolling bite on Chickamauga Wednesday. Jim managed to wiggle out of a couple of honey-do's and joined me. <br /><br />I didn't have high hopes this early in the year, but we were shocked! We whacked 'em!<br /><br />I always tell folks that when you're trolling, it's a marathon not a sprint. Meaning you won't catch a ton of fish in a hurry, but you stick with it and over time you'll fill the livewell. That was Wednesday. We started fishing about 8:30 and put our 30th quality crappie in the box at 2:30. We had a lot of fish over 11-inches, and a few over 12. A friend of mine in another boat did the exact same thing.<br /><br />30 fish in six hours may not sound like a lot.... but add in all the short crappie we caught and threw back, along with a plethora of yellow bass, and it was an action-packed day. The Crappie Magnet jigs did great, especially the pink/chartreuse. But Jim really provided us with the magic bullet ... a little pink/white furry job he said CFF's tie1on made for him. I was also shocked because Jim was using a 1/32nd oz. Normally I'll never troll with 1/32nd because they don't get deep enough ( I thought).<br /><br />We caught crappie on a mixed bag of lures, including some 1/16th oz. Road Runners. But a good percentage were on Jim's jigs that probably weren't trolling four feet deep in 14 feet of water. It was clear the crappie were hanging very high in the water column, following schools of bait.<br /><br />Oh yea, I finally tried a pair of planer boards as per great instruction from CFF's Tenncrapie. I didn't really need them for depth control, but I learned that using two boards on my outside lines really helped line management (keeping lines from getting tangled when you hook fish). They were great and there is no doubt I'll continue using them.<br /><br />It was two outstanding days fishing, and that means life is good and getting better everyday.<br /><br />BTW, my prime crappie dates are filling up. Interested in booking a trip, call soon please. emoThanks