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Crane Creek crappie
#1
Went to CC Last Thursday/Friday. Fishing was good, caught about 10/hour. Same both days. But nothing over 9 inches so threw all back. Mostly trolled a white jig with a spinner blade and a micro shad rap. Tried a variety of colors, all worked about the same. Some green algae, but not bad. Only boat on the lake both days. Fish were dispersed in the water column in the day, moved to top 5 feet before dark. Tented it and heard fish jumping all night. Great spot to take kids. I also tried jigging in 30-35 feet of water trying for bigger fish, still the same size.
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#2
(08-23-2020, 07:34 PM)Olprof Wrote: Went to CC Last Thursday/Friday. Fishing was good, caught about 10/hour. Same both days. But nothing over 9 inches so threw all back. Mostly trolled a white jig with a spinner blade and a micro shad rap. Tried a variety of colors, all worked about the same. Some green algae, but not bad. Only boat on the lake both days. Fish were dispersed in the water column in the day, moved to top 5 feet before dark. Tented it and heard fish jumping all night. Great spot to take kids. I also tried jigging in 30-35 feet of water trying for bigger fish, still the same size.
Welcome to the site Olprof and thanks for the report. Is it normal to catch crappie that size at CC or do they get bigger there?
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#3
State record blacke crappie, 17 inches, was caught there a couple weeks ago. But that is the new catch and release record system, bigger blacks have come out of Brownlee. I was mostly exploring by trolling, looking for channels, structure, depths. Lots of fish on the finder. Had two fish on several times at the same time.
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#4
Wow, a 17" crappie is an impressive size. Have you ever caught crappie while trolling? If so, what kind of lure were you using?
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#5
I was using a plastic white minnow imitation with a Colorado spinner blade. And a Pautzke Fireball on the jig. Tried trout colored micro shad rap, as well as shad colored. Both worked the same. When vertical jigging, I used a double book setup. Black and chartreuse, plain chartreuse, pink, pink and white, red and white. All caught fish. I was using two inch and smaller sizes. Think I will try larger sizes next time 3-4 inch baits to see if that keeps the smaller fish away. Most of the time I was trolling.
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#6
Nice sounds like a great trip, have to add it to my list of places to fish.
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#7
I am heading back there for Wednesday/Thursday. Will experiment with larger baits and deeper water. Taking my grandson so he will catch all the fish. Heard catfishing has good there too.
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#8
That's cool, taking my neighbors grandson Wednesday for walleye and trout, hoping it's gonna be a good day.

Can you get in there in the winter?
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#9
Pretty sure you can. There are ranches near the lake. Am sure they have year round access. might be too low for good ice
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#10
Ok, thanks for the info, I'll have to check in to it.
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#11
(08-23-2020, 10:05 PM)Olprof Wrote: I was using a plastic white minnow imitation with a Colorado spinner blade. And a Pautzke Fireball on the jig. Tried trout colored micro shad rap, as well as shad colored. Both worked the same. When vertical jigging, I used a double book setup. Black and chartreuse, plain chartreuse, pink, pink and white, red and white. All caught  fish. I was using two inch and smaller sizes. Think I will try larger sizes next time 3-4 inch baits to see if that keeps the smaller fish away. Most of the time I was trolling.

Wow, Fireball salmon eggs for Crappie, I've never heard of anyone using them for anything other than trout. I've used those micro fat raps for crappie with some success, if tipped with crappie nibbles. When I used the larger sizes Fat raps, we caught crappie up to 14" last year, so that's a good idea. I'll have to give the Fireball salmon eggs a try. How fast were you trolling and how deep?
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#12
The news Fireballs are designed for Crappie. They come in three colors and give off a shad scent. Suppsedly, I can't really tell. They are supposed to be more effective than Crappie Nibbles. I tried trolling with a small line weight but was in 15 feet so took it off. So, I was mostly surface trolling, top 5 feet. Should have put the weight back on when I got to the channel. I could see suspended fish on the finder. So vertical jigged to them. Will try jointed Rapalas and larger plastics at about 20 feet tomorrow. Was trolling slow, #1 on the trolling motor. I was in my fishing kayak so that was probably 3 mph.
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