# Hoover Crappie?



## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

Was wondering if anyone knew the conditions over at Hoover? Still muddy? Also whether we have crappie action in the shallow water. Thinking of getting up there tonight and would rather hit shorelines than get out the canoe.


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## the_ghost (May 5, 2011)

Just got back! Water is still stained, very slow bite..minnows close to wood produced a few. 
Saw very few people catching anything.


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## dihardhunter (Mar 4, 2013)

'ghost' - say it ain't so! Surely by Thursday afternoon or Friday they will be cranked up.


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## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

Thanks. Appreciate the response. Maybe I'll just run up to Alum and pull a bunch of fat slabs off somebody's spot they plan to fish in the tourney this weekend.


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## the_ghost (May 5, 2011)

Hopefully a few more days of nice weather will heat up the bites! 


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## bassin mickey (Apr 22, 2004)

Hit north & middle pool yesterday and the day before. Temps. were 68/70.
You can stick your boat right in the trees and bushes, but you will be the only thing along with a few geese that will be in there. Got a couple of 12.5 incher's. out aways and some smaller. No bass either.
Water north is coffee and two creams. Middle is still very stained.
Go enjoy the beautiful day's. The crappie will be coming in next week for sure.


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## the_ghost (May 5, 2011)

I also saw the bald eagles! What a treat, indeed, to see these freedom birds outside of cages...dream come true!


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## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

Bumping this up one more time. Trying to make my decision of where I'm headed after work today. Car is packed up with waders/gear. I will find a phone booth to change in (Normal for a guy like me), and get to trekkin. Right now leaning towards Alum but would much rather fish hoover if the water is clearing up.


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## Guest (May 3, 2013)

Crappies are biting at Hoover. Fished there the last two evenings and landed over 30 fish each day between 6-8pm. Caught them in brush in 2-3 feet of water with popeye jig and float.


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## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

Thanks GMR. Were you in the north pool?


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## Guest (May 3, 2013)

Fished in area where Sunbury Rd. crosses the lake.


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## tvfisherman (Apr 16, 2004)

Hit Hoover yesterday. Once I stopped being stubborn and fishing the spots that produced for me during the summer last year and dropped anchor and fished shallow I found them. Kept a handful of 10-12 inchers. Earlier while trying to troll I caught a handful of really nice whitebass. Biggest was just a hair over 16. They all hit a pink/white jig and twister. Also managed a 12" smallmouth on that jig. They're in there, and they're biting, you just have to listen to them.


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## TimTaylor75 (Apr 7, 2009)

I just got home from a few hours at Hoover and the bite is ON! In maybe 2.5 hours I caught over 40. Started out with minnows, but when the gar showed up, I switched to a pink plastic twister & black jig head on a jig spinner. I was catching the larger ones on this setup. Actually got my personal best on that setup.


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## bcraley76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Well I must just suck! 

Spent the better part of 3 hours in oxbow area wading mid-morning today and only caught 4. All were nice size. But I was struggling!


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## TimTaylor75 (Apr 7, 2009)

How busy was Oxbow? It's typically packed, so I try to avoid that area more often than not.


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## bcraley76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Plenty of room if you were wading. 

Just tried Dustin rd and only caught one in the hour I was there. Gotta be doing something wrong. I've never had this much trouble catching crappie!


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## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

just got done fileting and cleaning up. 2.5 hours of wading in the middle pool. 35 crappies (kept 15), with about 25 being legal. 2 fish ohios too. 3 keeper largemouth (not kept) and 1 24 inch gar that I snagged in the head. My first gar. multiple baits worked but maribous and fuzzy grubs worked best. All fish in under 3 feet of water. Action was actually sporadic. Just beginning the spawn. Oh what fun that was though.


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

being im still new to the area... could someone explain to me the "pools" of hoover? what/where is the "middle poole?" TIA.


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## dihardhunter (Mar 4, 2013)

Update from this morning at the upper pool. I'm not used to fishing in close proximity to big cities, so I was blown away at how many blasted people were wading in the willows when I paddled back in my canoe. Crappie bite was decent on jigheads and grubs, but nothing to write home about. Boats fishing live bait, on the other hand, were bailing fish every 2-3 minutes for as long as I paddled around. Great morning on the water, but expect LOTS of people if you can't paddle away from the hordes. 

Question --- what is a good bait/rig to fish in tight to the willow bushes that is at least semi-snag resistant? Also, will the crappie tolerate you standing over them and dropping baits on their face when they are in 2-3' feet of water and you're not even a rod's length away from their position?


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## Capital outdoorsman (Mar 27, 2006)

acousticrawk said:


> being im still new to the area... could someone explain to me the "pools" of hoover? what/where is the "middle poole?" TIA.


North pool= north of sunbury bridge
Middle= Between smothers bridge and Sunbury
South= below smothers bridge

Diehardhunter- When those crappie are spawning in the bushes you can get right up near em usually and use a long crappie rod and just dip it right in the bush. Not really any snag resistant crappie baits that I know of. I lose lotsa jigs.

Went back sunday morning and had a tough time for a while. Fished 2 hours with not much to show and then switched tactics. Discovered fish weren't chasing. Clip on bobber with a fuzzy grub/nibble about 2 ft below. Twitching bobber and filled a stringer in 20 minutes and I went away from casting.


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## dihardhunter (Mar 4, 2013)

Thanks for the post 'Capitaloutdoorsman' - take home message being the crappie are officially in shallow water mode... I'll try to take that different approach this week and see how I do. I was trying to swim jig/grubs around the edges of willows and caught around 10, but that wasn't too extraordinary considering that I fished for around 3 hours and knowing that big catches were available to those who knew what tricks to try.


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## KansasBoy60 (May 6, 2013)

Went to Hoover yesterday morning and between 3 of us we caught about 100 crappie. Only Cleanded 40 though. Mainly used white road runners and slowly ran them along the bottom. only fished for about 4 hours so in my opinion the crappie wishing was fairly good


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## hang_loose (Apr 2, 2008)

dihardhunter said:


> Update from this morning at the upper pool. I'm not used to fishing in close proximity to big cities, so I was blown away at how many blasted people were wading in the willows when I paddled back in my canoe. Crappie bite was decent on jigheads and grubs, but nothing to write home about. Boats fishing live bait, on the other hand, were bailing fish every 2-3 minutes for as long as I paddled around. Great morning on the water, but expect LOTS of people if you can't paddle away from the hordes.
> 
> Question --- what is a good bait/rig to fish in tight to the willow bushes that is at least semi-snag resistant? Also, will the crappie tolerate you standing over them and dropping baits on their face when they are in 2-3' feet of water and you're not even a rod's length away from their position?


dihardhunter, you'd be surprised at how many "blasted people wading in the willows" limit out easily. And now your asking fo advice....


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## dihardhunter (Mar 4, 2013)

'hang loose' - I think you completely missed the spirit of my post about all the "blasted" people. Left the parking lot at 6 AM and it was me and one other guy. Returned and it looked like a zombie movie scene set except that everybody was carrying fishing rods and cloaked with waders. Sort of like you walk into McDonald's and there's nobody in line to place an order, so you go the boys' room to wash your hands and when you come back out 2 minutes later, the line is out the door...where did all these "blasted people" come from?!?! 

Anyways, back to fishing, I'll be up there in the morning and will post up another report when I get back. Buddy hiked out to the bridge pilings in the mouth of the eastern branch of the creek and did real well last night fishing minnows 2' under a float.


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## dihardhunter (Mar 4, 2013)

Took the canoe out off Sunbury Rd. this morning and had a poor showing. Only landed 3 crappie this morning from 6 AM to 8:45 AM, though they were all 11.5-12.5" which was a plus. Plenty of folks on the boardwalk and crowded around the bank and the general consensus was a slow bite. I went with artificials again and I thought that might be hurting me, until I got back to the crowds and they were having comparatively poor luck with minnows. Don't know what to make of it, but I do know these Ohio fish are starting to get under my skin. Probably won't get out again until next week midweek. I tried everything from targeting willow edges, targeting large woody debris, penetrating into the shallow thick stuff and dunking baits...slow everywhere from what I could tell.


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## hang_loose (Apr 2, 2008)

dihardhunter said:


> 'hang loose' - I think you completely missed the spirit of my post about all the "blasted" people. Left the parking lot at 6 AM and it was me and one other guy. Returned and it looked like a zombie movie scene set except that everybody was carrying fishing rods and cloaked with waders. Sort of like you walk into McDonald's and there's nobody in line to place an order, so you go the boys' room to wash your hands and when you come back out 2 minutes later, the line is out the door...where did all these "blasted people" come from?!?!
> 
> Anyways, back to fishing, I'll be up there in the morning and will post up another report when I get back. Buddy hiked out to the bridge pilings in the mouth of the eastern branch of the creek and did real well last night fishing minnows 2' under a float.



Sorry dihardhunter, my mistake! Take your waders and get back to those hard to get spots.....and a cheap back-pack to hide all your fish in when you come out.


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## BUCK6060 (Mar 31, 2010)

I fished Hoover at the Oxbow Thur. from shore. Fished minnows under slip bobber set 4ft. The bigger the minnow the faster the bite. Others were also catching. In three hours caught 12 all keepers but only the three 12 inchers kept. Ate em last night oven fried--YUM!


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## hang_loose (Apr 2, 2008)

BUCK6060 said:


> I fished Hoover at the Oxbow Thur. from shore. Fished minnows under slip bobber set 4ft. The bigger the minnow the faster the bite. Others were also catching. In three hours caught 12 all keepers but only the three 12 inchers kept. Ate em last night oven fried--YUM!


Oxbow has always treated me good!!! Sometimes I get skunked and sometimes I do as good as you did.

I might end up there in a couple hours.


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

I might hit that tomorrow.


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## hang_loose (Apr 2, 2008)

Couldn't hardly catch a cold at Oxbow yesterday....Threw my keepers back. Heading farther north this morning as soon as I get out of Bob Evans.


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## the_ghost (May 5, 2011)

Hoover oxbow crappie!







Neighborhood pond LMB late March!









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## bcraley76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Anyone have any guesses as to how long the crappie bite will be on in the shallow water?


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## the_ghost (May 5, 2011)

bcraley76 said:


> Anyone have any guesses as to how long the crappie bite will be on in the shallow water?


Depends on which pool. The middle and south pool maybe till the end of June!


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## bcraley76 (Apr 14, 2004)

the_ghost said:


> Depends on which pool. The middle and south pool maybe till the end of June!
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Was in the middle pool yesterday and struggled... couldn't find anything of any size.


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## Basshunter122 (May 6, 2013)

was in the south pool yesterday. water quality was like chocolate milk. i still managed to catch about 20 by brush piles in about an hour!


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## FishThis (Sep 2, 2005)

I was in the middle pool yesterday from 8-12 and caught about 40 crappie most around 8-9 inches with a handful of keepers between 10-12 inches. I noticed wood/down logs produced the bigger crappie and I was fishing a chartreuse jig at a minimum of 2ft under the bobber. It was non stop action until the sun came out around 11 then I didn't catch one after so I left around noon.


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