# Trolling for Crappie at CC



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

The jet ski launch area has been giving up huge amounts of crappie lately. Trolling small crank baits in 16 to 26 ft of water with lures running around 10 to 12 ft deep . Speed anywhere from 1.5 to 2 mph . There is a HUGE school of crappie suspended right out from the no wake zone . Good luck !


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Yep... and also in front of the creekmouth.... and the campground dock...and mouth of musky cove. Have fun!


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

9Left said:


> Yep... and also in front of the creekmouth.... and the campground dock...and mouth of musky cove. Have fun!


What fun it is a #5 flicker Shad hard to keep two poles in the water I have been pulling the Mini planer boards just for fun .


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## Hammerhead54 (Jun 16, 2012)

This is a very interesting report. I've always wondered where crappie go in the summer. It seemed to me that after the spawn they simply disappear. Did you find that the crappie were relating to anything like structure? Or maybe they were there because there was a lot of shad in the area?


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## Fish Ohio (Aug 10, 2018)

9Left said:


> Yep... and also in front of the creekmouth.... and the campground dock...and mouth of musky cove. Have fun!


Where's Musky cove?


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## sjwano (Sep 13, 2018)

The area you are describing between the kayak launch and the north pool ramp is one that I consistently mark large schools of baitfish and predators, but have caught very few there this year. Trolling large and small crankbaits, casting swim baits, top water, etc. I thought they might be larger shad. The only fish I managed there was a small drum. Good to hear the crappie bite may be on though, they are fun to catch trolling small cranks.


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

Fish Ohio said:


> Where's Musky cove?


If you are in a cove and have 4 muskie boats fighting for prime position shortly after daylight you know you're there.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Fish Ohio said:


> Where's Musky cove?


Launch at the north pool ramp… Hook to the right… Go underneath the 73 bridge… It's the first big huge cove on the left


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Hammerhead54 said:


> This is a very interesting report. I've always wondered where crappie go in the summer. It seemed to me that after the spawn they simply disappear. Did you find that the crappie were relating to anything like structure? Or maybe they were there because there was a lot of shad in the area?


Sort of interesting… You can catch 7 to 9 inch Crappies all day long trolling hot and tot's in 10 to 12 feet of water...Only managed a few throughout the day of trolling that were better than 10 inches


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

9Left said:


> Launch at the north pool ramp… Hook to the right… Go underneath the 73 bridge… It's the first big huge cove on the left


I thought that was the 2nd most popular spot, not the cove I was thinking of.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

burnsj5 said:


> I thought that was the 2nd most popular spot, not the cove I was thinking of.


Yes, that is known as musky Cove… Several people that have guide services will hit that Cove or will hit the shoreline from the 73 bridge down to the point across from the North Pool ramp...There was a time when I thought I was a musky fisherman… And that's the long shoreline that I would fish, put in at the north pool ramp… Go straight across, and fish the shoreline all the way down to the 73 bridge...That's the only place that I had a hook up and two follow ups(in october) Never landed a fish though


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

9Left said:


> Yes, that is known as musky Cove… Several people that have guide services will hit that Cove or will hit the shoreline from the 73 bridge down to the point across from the North Pole ramp


It's funny at some point I just quit hitting the major spots and looked for something different. Have found some decent out of the way spots and had long days with nothing too looking to get away so I'm not on top of guys. Its sad that CC fishes so small and so few options in the area. I do hit the 73 bridge cove every once in awhile but not very often anymore, the shore you describe is generally off my milk run as is the cove I initially thought you were describing unless it's peak conditions and know those pressured fish will probably move for anything.
I keep saying I'm going to try and learn open water trolling one year but never give it long enough. Good luck out there.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Yep me too… I tried a few trips in July and a few trips in August this year, just trolling the open water… If I had to put my success on a scale of 1 to 10...I would call it a 3... I was truly after saugeye.. but never managed more than one or two per trip that were slightly over 15 inches( 4-6 hours of trolling).... I did explore this year in April and May and found a bunch of new great spots for spawning crappie...Well out of the way of other fishermen… I know what you mean also… I really just don't hit the heavily pressured coves anymore…


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Hammerhead54 said:


> This is a very interesting report. I've always wondered where crappie go in the summer. It seemed to me that after the spawn they simply disappear. Did you find that the crappie were relating to anything like structure? Or maybe they were there because there was a lot of shad in the area?


I have trolled at CC for too many years for Crappie in the summertime. They follow the SHAD which will move out to 30 ft and suspend around 10 to 15 ft by the end of summer . MID DAY always seems better due to the BAIT fish moving up in the water column.Trolling I will end the day with 10 to 15 over 10 inches you will need a net to get the ones over 13 into the boat . You can use lead core line to get down to the 15 to 16 ft depth if you want also the 15 to 18 ft off of the big flat will give up some dandy Saugeye during late summer. Just something relaxing to do on a hot summer day with low stress lots of places to do it so you don’t have to crowd anyone . Either side of the hump in front of the steep ramp is also a good spot around


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## Hammerhead54 (Jun 16, 2012)

Thanks for the in put CJ and 9 left. I've noticed most people troll small crankbaits for suspended crappie. Just curious if many people have tried trolling the jigs that are so effective during the spawn.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Hammerhead54 said:


> Thanks for the in put CJ and 9 left. I've noticed most people troll small crankbaits for suspended crappie. Just curious if many people have tried trolling the jigs that are so effective during the spawn.


Yes I troll chartreuse twister tail jigs…However, I really don't like doing it because you have to use a minimum of a 1/4 ounce jig... and even then you have to go super super slow with your trolling motor...I'd much rather just putter along, idling with the big motor, dragging some crank baits...Crank baits are much easier because you can use baits that dive 3 feet, 5 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet, or as deep as you want...Using twister tail jigs is much more precise as far as speed and length of line and I still never really know how deep I'm getting the jig


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Do you guys ever try casting jigs to those crappie? I know a lot of people like to troll but for me personally I'm not a fan. Yes you can catch a lot of fish and I'm not against others doing it but I'd just as soon cast jigs. 
Usually when the fish pull off shore we'll swim jigs through the schools in open water using 1/16, 3/32 an 1/8 oz jigs and generally a white or natural colored bait will do the trick but some days you just can't beat chartreuse. I see some guys throw double jig rigs and do quite well but for me I like throwing single jigs. 

On a side note I used to troll jigs a lot. It's very effective but it's a real science to learn jig depth. Boat speed, jig weight, line length and pound test all played a part in depth of your bait. 
I removed several variables by only using 6# test line and 1/16 oz jigs when I started. I would let line length and boat speed adjust the depth. 
All my rods were 6' long so to set the length I would make a long cast on rod #1 and close the bail. On rod #2 I would make a long cast and then would sweep the rod up 2x to pull more line off the reel and close the bail. (I guess using a line counter reel would be easier but I was too broke back then and this worked for me) Now using GPS to watch my speed I would troll these rigs across a tapering point so I could see at what depth my jigs would hit bottom. I would write my finings down and I would adjust my speed and cross the point again which changed the depth of impact, again I'd write my findings down.
I'd also try different line lengths adding 3 or 4 pulls of line and again check speed and depth and again I'd make more notes.
Eventually I add a few different weight jigs to the mix but if i saw fish in 3 fow or 15 fow I could zero in on them pretty quick.
Even though I started with a 1/16 oz jig and used these the most I eventually worked with a 1/32 oz jig for shallow fish. For deeper fish I would use a combo or 1/32 & 1/16 or maybe 2 of 1/16 oz jigs.


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## Wmbuckeye557 (Apr 14, 2012)

Do you troll flicker shads mostly. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Fishing Flyer (May 31, 2006)

Any of you guys finding bass in the shad schools while trolling for crappie? This year has been a struggle for bass on CC for me.


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## sjwano (Sep 13, 2018)

Well I trolled that spot again tonight with no takers. Tried a small swim bait, flicker shad, bandit b shad, larger rapala. Fish were not as stacked as usual but still quite a few marks. Got one spotted bass for the night. Wish I had more time in the calm water we had before sunset it was windy and a lot of traffic this evening. Funny how many large marks I saw suspended in 25-30 feet in 45-60 foot of water mid lake. Assume white bass and or saugeye. No takers again but probably not in their zone. Some evening I’m going to have to try crawler harnesses deeper out there.


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## ristorap (Mar 6, 2013)

There are crank baits that will reach that 25-30 feet trolling.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Fishing Flyer said:


> Any of you guys finding bass in the shad schools while trolling for crappie? This year has been a struggle for bass on CC for me.


I am catching bass around 15 to20 ft deep on gold jigging spoons Off of the points


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Hammerhead54 said:


> Thanks for the in put CJ and 9 left. I've noticed most people troll small crankbaits for suspended crappie. Just curious if many people have tried trolling the jigs that are so effective during the spawn.


There are a couple of guys that fish the crappie tourneys that troll jigs out at CC most of them are using double jigs two jigs Tied around 6 inches to a ft apart . If you troll crankbaits like I do once you find the huge schools you can stop and drop a minnow on a hook on top of them and wear them out just depends what you want to do . The nice part about trolling you can find the schools that are the bigger crappies and concentrate on them .


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## Fishing Flyer (May 31, 2006)

C J Hughes said:


> I am catching bass around 15 to20 ft deep on gold jigging spoons Off of the points


That’s good to know, thanks. Last time I went out I was Carolina rigging that depth range but no joy. Sorry about butting into the crappie thread but figured I’d ask since you guys are fishing differently. Good data points.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Fishing Flyer said:


> That’s good to know, thanks. Last time I went out I was Carolina rigging that depth range but no joy. Sorry about butting into the crappie thread but figured I’d ask since you guys are fishing differently. Good data points.


Without a doubt the point that I catch the most bass deep is the one across from the sailboat ramp there is a finger that goes out to the original creek channel


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## Fins 2 (Sep 27, 2014)

Musky Cove ? That's one of my favorite saugeye spots !


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## Lil Crappy (Jun 1, 2020)

With all the forums, gps ,sonar, DI, SI ,chart plotter, not to mention cameras and mega panoptics. It’s wonder we catch anything at all. The shoreline 9L was talking about for Musky, can best be seen on YouTube. Drone video of CC marina build. Check it out!


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