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The maiden voyage in my new kayak was a lot of fun and I found the crappie after a while of very slow fishing. I paddled all around the spring creek area picking up a few, never more than one in a spot. I then parked the kayak on top of a huge bed of willows that only stuck up out if the water about 2 feet. I stayed on that spot for an hour and caught a limit. With the high water and the fish being deep in the middle of the willows there is no way I could had such a good day without being able to fish vertical. Love the kayak.
I did see one guy catch a Tiger on a fly rod early this morning when I was near the pumphouse. That was really cool to watch.
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Looks like a great time! Man, you got the fixins for some really good supper.... Love those crappies!
Mike
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[#0000FF]Excellent!
Sounds like your new ride is going to expand your fishing horizons.
Glad to hear the crappies checked their calendar and showed up where they were supposed to.
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Nice job! Can't really tell how big from your picture. Any decent size to them?
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They were all 6-10 inches, the same size myself and many others were catching through the ice up there over the winter. I have never caught a monster Crappie at Pineview.
I know I run the risk of starting another forum battle (smallmouth in Utah[crazy][crazy]) by asking, but it would be interesting to know why the crappie are stunted up there. They are clearly at reproduction age while still small. All the ones I caught were colorful males with empty stomachs guarding the nest sites they had picked out.
Is it the long months of cold water, the successive years of shallow late fall water, the complete lack of perch or something else. The Crappie at Willard are markedly larger and it would seem they have much more competition for food and more predation.
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The crappie are stunted because there is an over abundance of the same age group. Last real successful spawn was about 5 years ago when the water for high like it is this year. So you are dealing with all the same age class of fish. Meanwhile the forage fish, perch babies, have crashed and not recovered. This adds up to the same age fish with not enough food to grow bigger. Stunting happens.
Back before the last successful spawn I regularly caught 12-15 inchers out of Pineview. Then the perch crashed about the same time and there you have it.
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I was at pineview on Friday and was not successful in finding anything but carp. How were you fishing for those Crappies?
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I fished a Gulp curly tail on a jig head right on top of the flooded brush. I saw a lot of people throwing jigs under bobbers out into the open water with little success.
With the boat traffic and hungry 40+ in Tigers cruising around I think the Crappie hug the submerged brush pretty close. I have only caught them there over the years when casting into the flooded willows and cottonwood. Plan on loosing bobbers and jigs.
If you are not getting bites, move somewhere else.
I am in no way an expert on those things, that's just what has worked for me. I worked in Eden last spring into the end of June and tried to fish a few times a week after work. Some days were hot and some I didn't get a bite. I got a lot of Smallmouth last year sight fishing in the rocky areas, that might be a no go this year.
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