# Cold muddy water crappie?



## Rooster (Apr 8, 2004)

Where is the best place to find them this weekend? Ice gear is in storage, and the kayak is making the first appearance this year.


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## the_waterwolf (Feb 8, 2013)

You're in a completely different area of the state than me. 

I would look for large brush piles in 4'-6' of water, some sort of break from the main current, and quick access to shallow 2'-3' of water and deep water 10'-16'. I fish primarily rivers and spots with this sort of structure has always produced for me. 

Live minnows or small #1 bluefox spinners have done well for me. Occasionally they only want to eat a 1" twister tail on a small 1/16 to 1/32 red jighead.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

I’d try and stick with shallow lakes...
Indian
Kiser
St. Mary
Buckeye


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

I like to check a week or 10 day precipitation history for the area I want to go to before I go and to make a plan, that and as 9left mentioned shallower water warms first in Spring


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

How about Cowan, looked like you had good success on the ice. You would have a good idea where to start, I doubt they have moved to far in the last couple weeks, plus there are plenty of saugeye to target. It'll certainly be muddy but I've had early season success near the Island, with the high water there will be current moving around it and some eddies on the deeper down lake side .
Hopefully not much more rain tomorrow.
Good luck and Good fishing !


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

I will more than likely be at Cowan on Saturday. Got out last Tuesday 2/20 and marked quite a few fish but the wind made it tough to stay over them. Missed a couple bites and left with a skunk.


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## Rooster (Apr 8, 2004)

Thanks! Some very interesting suggestions. I had not even considered shallow lakes this early in the year. I was planning to still fish deep, and look for the lake that was least impacted by all the rain. Probably end-up at Cowan/Acton/CC as they are closest to me. I don’t want to make a long trip just to get skunked this early in the year….I’ll save the gas and time for when there is a hot bite.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

CC is about 15 ft over winter pool, Won't say you cant catch fish but it is something to consider.
I'm sure they will be releasing some water soon now that the rivers are starting to drop.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Keep in mind that shallow muddy water will warm faster than deep clear water will especially when it's sunny. I don't think the rain we are having over the next couple of days will amount to too much and then it's going to be sunny for the next 4 days. Generally speaking later in the day the water will be at it's warmest as the sun will have a longer time to heat up the shallow stained water. Also water will clear from the surface down, meaning the upper water column will be clearest 1st. I can't prove it but I do believe fish will move shallower in muddy water since light penetration is decreased.
I do feel cold muddy water is tough to fish when the rain event 1st happens because it takes a little time for the fish to adjust to the conditions. This coming weekend will be a week since that happened and conditions are improving. I would also think that there will be some clearer pockets of water along some shores starting to form.
I used to fish Cowan all the time when I had a smaller boat and could launch it even in the winter. I'm not saying don't fish deep but if that isn't working, it's been a few years back but I have caught crappies 18" deep in Feb at Cowan Lake.
Stay flexible, trust your electronics and move around.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Rooster said:


> Thanks! Some very interesting suggestions. I had not even considered shallow lakes this early in the year. I was planning to still fish deep, and look for the lake that was least impacted by all the rain. Probably end-up at Cowan/Acton/CC as they are closest to me. I don’t want to make a long trip just to get skunked this early in the year….I’ll save the gas and time for when there is a hot bite.


If your willing to drive. I also reccomend the shallow lakes... i dipped up,20/25 sunday in the wind on docks.... 
There all producing good right now


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Definitely steer clear of CC ! All boat ramps are underwater and the lake is waay over the banks! not saying that you can’t catch anything there, but I would imagine it to be a sucky trip.

Indian and Buckeye Lake are spillway.. so the level of the lake is not going to really change .. but all the warmer rain will definitely help warm them up a little... and don’t neglect the spillway right below the lake , good saugeye fishing.


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Dang, the juices are flowing now lol I may have to fish Acton this weekend


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

yup... can’t wait for a gorgeous spring morning on the bank with a thermos of coffee... and turkeys calling in the background..i love spring


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Dont forget the spring peepers, I am looking forward to having more than one day a week to fish in the Spring


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Oh yeah... and the mesh bag ,hanging from my belt, full of morel’s .... jeeez, now i really can’t wait


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## WilliamSporing (Mar 1, 2018)

Rooster said:


> Thanks! Some very interesting suggestions. I had not even considered shallow lakes this early in the year. I was planning to still fish deep, and look for the lake that was least impacted by all the rain. Probably end-up at Cowan/Acton/CC as they are closest to me. I don’t want to make a long trip just to get skunked this early in the year….I’ll save the gas and time for when there is a hot bite.


The parking lots are under water at Ceasars Creek. The boat ramp at Wellman was probably 100 yards out from the waters edge


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## GMRcatman (Mar 16, 2008)

I can tell you from cast netting at Acton for shad yesterday I was netting large numbers of crappie near shore and structure in 2-4 ft of water. Makes me want to go back with rod and reel.


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## Hookm n cookm (Apr 2, 2013)

Was Acton muddy yesterday


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## GMRcatman (Mar 16, 2008)

Hookm n cookm said:


> Was Acton muddy yesterday


Yes


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## Hookm n cookm (Apr 2, 2013)

GMRcatman said:


> Yes


Thanks.


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

Made it to cowan today was able to manage three crappie with all three being keepers. Biggest one went a little over 10". Fished on the dam side and it had a pretty good stain to the water. Didn't mark fish on a lot of my normal spots and ended up pulling the 3 off the same tree in 11' of water about 4.5' down. Tried fishing deeper structure but wasn't happening. Did miss a decent bit of bites with just bad timing hook sets. Non painted jig head seemed produced the better hits out of pink and white. Not a great numbers day but still a nice day on the water. 

Is anybody else having issues posting pics from a the app? I can't get them to load up.


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## Rooster (Apr 8, 2004)

Fished Cowan on Sunday between 10am – 2pm……without a bite. Marked plenty of fish, but no takers. Water was still very muddy, and the wind was brutal.


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

what side did you fish Rooster? also, what depths were you marking most of your fish?


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## Rooster (Apr 8, 2004)

I was on the dam side as well. Marked fish all over (mainly between 10 – 20 FOW). The fish were in the same areas as they were earlier this winter, but just not hungry for my jigs. It is possible that they wanted a more stationary target, but on a kayak in that wind yesterday....that simply was not going to happen.


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## Bigriver (Jan 29, 2017)

If you go don't capsize, death wish this time of year in a kayak. Atwood water temp 2 days ago 38 degrees FH. Kill you in around 15 minutes if you don't have a heart attack first. Paramedic for 30 years.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Bigriver said:


> If you go don't capsize, death wish this time of year in a kayak. Atwood water temp 2 days ago 38 degrees FH. Kill you in around 15 minutes if you don't have a heart attack first. Paramedic for 30 years.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Managed a few hours on Cowan today ( didn't capsize) but the wind made for tough fly-fishing, no crappie but a few Wht/bss- mostly smaller and one saugeye (dinner).
Water was stained but not muddy, (I stayed in the upper end) surprisingly not much boat traffic.





















Good luck and Good fishing !


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

Nice dinner garhtr. I made it out to the lake today as well and had a tough time with the bite. Wind made it hard to stay on them but pulled in 4 short crappie. Marked a lot of fish but the ones suspended off the structure wanted nothing to do with the minnow. Bites I got you had to be right in the trees. If you weren't getting snagged you weren't close enough so that was a challenge too. The 4 caught were in 10-14' from 6-8' down. Still a nice day on the water.









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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

DLarrick said:


> Nice dinner garhtr. I made it out to the lake today as well and had a tough time with the bite. Wind made it hard to stay on them but pulled in 4 short crappie. Marked a lot of fish but the ones suspended off the structure wanted nothing to do with the minnow. Bites I got you had to be right in the trees. If you weren't getting snagged you weren't close enough so that was a challenge too. The 4 caught were in 10-14' from 6-8' down. Still a nice day on the water.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Good job finding the crappie !
I stayed away from the trees, (no wonder why I failed on the crappie.)
I stayed pretty close to the Island but the fish were fairly shallow, I would guess around 5ft or so. With the wind we had I was having trouble getting down consistently.
I hooked and lost one other fish that I believed to have been a saugeye but ???.
We're you mid lake or lower ? How did the water look down that way ?
Good luck and Good fishing


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

Thanks, I was on the other end and the water was stained but not like it was last week. 

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