# 2020 Ceasars Creek Crappie thread



## 9Left

Well it's just about time… Thought I would make a thread that everyone could post their Caesar's Creek updates on this spring… Myself and my dad fished from 10 A to 4P today… Six hours and only managed about a dozen crappies on a jig retrieve… Most were around 12 feet deep still. Saw a few Minnow n bobber guys catching at around 15 feet deep. The fish didn't look that big to me… But they were keeping them… I personally don't keep unless they're 10 inches. I'm thinking the good jig bite is going to be the second week of May this year… Hope everybody's doing well and post your updates!


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## Harry1959

I’ve had a tough year at CC so far, but haven’t gone their in the past 3wks


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## Lil Crappie

No ones doing well at anything . Including us. No saugeye, no crappie, one bass, one bluegill deep? Fished Noon till 4:30. Still chilly when cloudy. Water temp 53-54* . Clarity 1-2’. Not bad?


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## fshnjon

I think it will start to turn on at most lakes after this rain goes through and we get some stable warm days .


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## crappiedude

fshnjon said:


> I think it will start to turn on at most lakes after this rain goes through and we get some stable warm days .


I don't fish CC but I do fish EF and I agree with you on this. I've been catching plenty of fish using jigs but for the most part they are deep and scattered. It would do wonders to have 3 or 4 stable days with lots of sun and temps above freezing at night.


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## fishdealer04

Stable weather will do wonders for us, but with it being Ohio we all know how that is. I fished Monday afternoon from 2:30 until 6 and caught 19 keeper crappies. Including a few 12-13" with a nice 14" as well. Water temp was 58 degrees. Fished Weds from about 1:30 until 5:30 and only got 6 keeper crappie. Biggest was 12" rest were around 9.5". Water temp was 55 degrees so it dropped 3 degrees.


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## bbsoup

Fished yesterday from 2 to 8 pm with the wife and mom-in-law. First went to the Flat Fork arm by the dam. Really crowded in there, but was able to get on a tree that's been productive in the past. We caught nothing but a small bass and a drum with slip bobbers and minnows fished from 2 to 8 feet. I did vertical jig briefly in 18 ft of water, but was unable to hook up on the few nibbles I got. Sorry, forget the water temp in there. Ran to the upper end, and the journey was kuh-ray-z. There were three or four of those wakeboard boats that create a friggin' tsunami everywhere they go, on top of all the other pleasure boats out now. With the three main ramps all having docks now, it is unreal how many people are out. Anyway, sidescan again showed fish concentrated at 5 to 10 ft. It just wasn't happening as we bopped around like I like to do until I catch something. The wife and mother-in-law, however, started complaining that they couldn't cast accurately like I do, so they'd rather just tie up somewhere. This is anathema to me, but on this day I'd say it actually probably helped. I tied up in what I knew to be a good area, but had otherwise just resigned myself to a boat picnic on a nice day. Since I am responsible for retying their rods every time they cast shallower than they should, I just set their depth to about 18" and had some fried chicken. Lo and behold, we caught a couple in the next half hour. Over the last 2 hours, I figured out that the fish did not want a jig, or a jig and minnow. Could only get bit on a bare hook and minnow, and that minnow had to be hooked in the back, not nose hooked. We also had to make sure the minnow was lively. A minnow that hadn't been bit and had died was never going to get bit. The bite was slow, too. Nothing immediate. Soak the minnow until you figure it's dead and keep changing it out, was the deal. My theory is that if the water had been cleaner (still pretty muddy), we would have done better fishing 4 to 8 feet deep, but the fish would not bite without both cues of back hooking (more action) and the extra visibility at the shallower 18" depth. We ended up catching about 15 fish, with 10 keepers. We had four, though, that were over 12", one being at least 13". The males had little or no spawning color, and I think we had more males than females. The water temp where we were was 56.5.
Sorry about the long post. Some probably think this is too much to read for a report about 10 damn fish. Sorry. Next time maybe I'll just say, "10 keepers in 6 hours on minnows less than 2 feet deep, water temp 56." Maybe not, but I will be less wordy. Thanks for listening. Good luck to all.


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## crappiedude

bbsoup said:


> *Sorry about the long post. Some probably think this is too much to read for a report about 10 damn fish*. Sorry. Next time maybe I'll just say, "10 keepers in 6 hours on minnows less than 2 feet deep, water temp 56." Maybe not, but I will be less wordy. Thanks for listening. Good luck to all.


Nice report...keep it up


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## 9Left

Yep! Keep the reports comin' fellas! Its nice to hear how everyone is doing this spring at ceasars!


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## swfisherman

Lil Crappie said:


> No ones doing well at anything . Including us. No saugeye, no crappie, one bass, one bluegill deep? Fished Noon till 4:30. Still chilly when cloudy. Water temp 53-54* . Clarity 1-2’. Not bad?


Loop


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## swfisherman

swfisherman said:


> Loop


Not been very nice spring weather wise hopefully the will take off in May we need some 70 degree days not 50 plus


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## crappietime

I was out yesterday from 2-8 casting a jig or using a jig and a bobber. It started off good with 3 nice crappie from first spot. Then it got tough. I moved around alot and caught 1 here and 1 there. Ended up with 8 nice crappie that I released at the end of the day. Saw people using minnows and it seemed they were doing better. The good jig bite should be soon.


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## 9Left

USGS is showing the temp at 57… Took a hike this afternoon near the 73 bridge… Fish three hours… Got a total of 12 crappies and 4 saugeye...Only 3 crappy and 2 saugeye made it to the stringer... The only method I used was throwing a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig...Fishing is not "hot "… But this next few days of warm rain are going to really heat things up… Looking forward to it!


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## 9Left

What sucks this year is that due to the corona crap… My annual spring crappy camp out has been canceled… But I will still be out in the boat by myself in the next few weeks
(P.s....Please don't turn this into a corona thread… I just wanted to comment about the camping trip)


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## Lil Crappie

9Left said:


> USGS is showing the temp at 57… Took a hike this afternoon near the 73 bridge… Fish three hours… Got a total of 12 crappies and 4 saugeye...Only 3 crappy and 2 saugeye made it to the stringer... The only method I used was throwing a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig...Fishing is not "hot "… But this next few days of warm rain are going to really heat things up… Looking forward to it!
> View attachment 353947


 what’s the biggest saugeye you’ve caught in the river?


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## 9Left

Lil Crappie said:


> what’s the biggest saugeye you’ve caught in the river?


In the river? I Caught a 25" saugeye from the GMR last year...My biggest from Caesar's Creek to date has been about 26 inches


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## crappiedude

9Left said:


> My annual spring crappy camp out has been canceled…


I feel your pain, I was supposed to be a Cumberland all of last week.


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## Lil Crappie

9Left said:


> In the river? I Caught a 25" saugeye from the GMR last year...My biggest from Caesar's Creek to date has been about 26 inches


Nice fish! We boated a 25 and 23 last year fromCC. Most were just under 15. Hope that means a good year this year?


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## 9Left

Lil Crappie said:


> Nice fish! We boated a 25 and 23 last year fromCC. Most were just under 15. Hope that means a good year this year?


Man I really wish I could give you some solid advice on Saugeye at Caesar's… LOL
My experience is about the same as yours, Most are 14 or 14.5 ".
The only thing consistent I have ever found at Caesars ( for saugeye) is fishing less than 10 feet of water, no matter what the time of year.


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## Bait catcher

Fished ceasors yesterday also.stayed in north pool,water temp was 54,water was stained to muddy not sure if it was due toboat traffic or recent rains.anyway,one nice crappy 13in about a dozen smaller ones,most on chartreuse tube jig,wife got a few on minnows and slip bobber,most productive water was 8ft,muddy on a fallen tree.would like to see some better weather,oh yea I got wet ,started rainning about 6pm.


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## MuskyFan

With all the bathrooms closed (except for the single portalet at north pool that everyone uses — how that helps keep “separation” I don’t know), I’m surprised there are not more crap-ie floating around out there. ;-)

With everyone seeming to have more time off, even weekdays are crowded. Getting the docks in at least gives me the option of NOT launching at Wellman. The down side is the waves at north pool but that’s what they make bumpers for, right?

While not targeting crappie, I have seen them holding off the bottom in 18-20’ just outside the coves. Just about every cove I go into has large schools hanging just outside like they are waiting for the green light.


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## ruffhunter

only managed one short after 3 hours of bank fishing. Endless wide open speedboats, waves and blasting thug bass music made for waste of time


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## bbsoup

Well, here's what I think is a crappy crappie report. Fished CC yesterday, again with the wife and mother-in-law. Yea. So of course since we caught a few fish the other day they wanted to just go right back there and tie up. Only fished 3 to 7:30 pm and all we did was sit in one spot because "Isn't it beautiful out here today?" They take care of me 24/7 so.......you know. We did catch 13 crappie and a couple gills, with 7 keepers, all on back-hooked minnows between 18" and 4 feet deep. This is a crappy report, though, because I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even note the temp where we were. I mean, why bother if I've got no choice---er, ahem, I mean if I've DECIDED to just stay in one spot all day? Seriously, I saw people catching fish all around me. An experienced fisherman or two, willing to stick and move, dipping, casting jigs, complimenting each other on technique, could probably have done well yesterday. Heard from other fishermen that some guys right there in our creek arm had caught good numbers, with some saugeye mixed in, too.
BTW, I realize the dichotomy we face on OGF as we post reports. Guy "A" gets mad if you post an encouraging report, which could mean "his" lake gets more pressure. Guy "B" gets mad if there are NO reports about "his" lake. You can't win, but I think OGF is about helping each other, so when I can I'll post encouraging reports. With that being said, I've got to mention the size of the fish at Caesar the last couple years. NICE. Even all our short fish seemed to be 8 15/16", not 5" like some places. I bet our keepers averaged 11 1/2". We had one 13" male who was now sporting a pretty dark tuxedo. Seems like every fish is either just short or 12" at CC lately, with more keepers than non keepers. I'll take that. I think people who fish much already know this about CC. I saw, for instance, 5 cars lined up at one popular bank spot even as it was getting dark.
What else? Boat traffic not AS heavy. Water color still muddy. That's about it. Damn, I knew I couldn't post a short report. Sorry. Good luck to everybody.


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## bbsoup

Oh yea, the bathroom at the sailboat ramp was open. The mother-in-law appreciated that. She didn't like using the wife's pee bowl the other day. Sorry, too much information. Forget I said that.


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## sjwano

Appreciate the reports and the encouraging approach. For me Caesar's is very convenient but if I hear things are slow, I might give other lakes/rivers a chance. There's only so many lakes nearby so we're all in the same "boat" at one point or another. I'm not a crappie guy per se but enjoy the random encounters and also hearing when other species are active and mixed in.

As an aside, driving by Caesar's on Sunday they have closed the access road between the bridge and Oregonia road that has several picnic shelters and campgrounds. Not sure why, it had been open up until recently. For me that is a go to spot when fishing from shore as there are several decent access points to the lake that are very close to parking, and I've actually caught fish in those areas. You can still pull in and the parking lot at the first campground space is open, but you'd have to hike to get further back.


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## Lil Crappie

bbsoup said:


> Well, here's what I think is a crappy crappie report. Fished CC yesterday, again with the wife and mother-in-law. Yea. So of course since we caught a few fish the other day they wanted to just go right back there and tie up. Only fished 3 to 7:30 pm and all we did was sit in one spot because "Isn't it beautiful out here today?" They take care of me 24/7 so.......you know. We did catch 13 crappie and a couple gills, with 7 keepers, all on back-hooked minnows between 18" and 4 feet deep. This is a crappy report, though, because I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even note the temp where we were. I mean, why bother if I've got no choice---er, ahem, I mean if I've DECIDED to just stay in one spot all day? Seriously, I saw people catching fish all around me. An experienced fisherman or two, willing to stick and move, dipping, casting jigs, complimenting each other on technique, could probably have done well yesterday. Heard from other fishermen that some guys right there in our creek arm had caught good numbers, with some saugeye mixed in, too.
> BTW, I realize the dichotomy we face on OGF as we post reports. Guy "A" gets mad if you post an encouraging report, which could mean "his" lake gets more pressure. Guy "B" gets mad if there are NO reports about "his" lake. You can't win, but I think OGF is about helping each other, so when I can I'll post encouraging reports. With that being said, I've got to mention the size of the fish at Caesar the last couple years. NICE. Even all our short fish seemed to be 8 15/16", not 5" like some places. I bet our keepers averaged 11 1/2". We had one 13" male who was now sporting a pretty dark tuxedo. Seems like every fish is either just short or 12" at CC lately, with more keepers than non keepers. I'll take that. I think people who fish much already know this about CC. I saw, for instance, 5 cars lined up at one popular bank spot even as it was getting dark.
> What else? Boat traffic not AS heavy. Water color still muddy. That's about it. Damn, I knew I couldn't post a short report. Sorry. Good luck to everybody.


Never stay in one spot if not working . Especially for the bite that’s coming. Sometimes I think people who keep on n the move find more hotspots?


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## bbsoup

Lil C, nailed it. You actually made three different points, all of which were spot on.


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## bbsoup

Oh jeez, just noticed, "spot on". No pun intended-I'm not that smart.


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## 9Left

I think you're exactly correct… Got to keep moving… In my experience I have hit some of my favorite spots in the morning and not done well… I revisited those same spots later in the afternoon when the temperature is much warmer and filled the cooler full of fish…


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## SmallieKing

bbsoup said:


> Oh yea, the bathroom at the sailboat ramp was open. The mother-in-law appreciated that. She didn't like using the wife's pee bowl the other day. Sorry, too much information. Forget I said that.


Soup nice meeting you yesterday. Was in the tracker that pulled up and talked to you around 6ish. We ended up with 7 crsppie 11-14 inches. 2 females and the rest males. My kids appreciated the bathrooms being opened slso.


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## Ravbuck

I went last evening and fished from the bank in a rather large cove. I caught over thirty and kept 5 over 11" using minnows at about 3" depth in probably 5-6 ' of water. Only three were black crappie. Bite turned on as the evening progressed and caught them until I could no longer see my float. Lots of fun.


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## bbsoup

SmallieKing said:


> Soup nice meeting you yesterday. Was in the tracker that pulled up and talked to you around 6ish. We ended up with 7 crsppie 11-14 inches. 2 females and the rest males. My kids appreciated the bathrooms being opened slso.


That is so cool, SK. OGF is such a great resource that I always expect everybody on the lake to know and use it. You are the first person I've ever met at Caesar, however, that is an OGF'er. Very nice to meet you guys.


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## Bronson

I get down there as often as possible. If y'all see my boat stop and say hi


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## bbsoup

I take that back. Just remembered meeting Mason52 a few years ago. Still, I knew you were a real fisherman as soon as we started talking. You can just tell, you know? Hope you get on 'em good wherever you fish.


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## bbsoup

Bronson said:


> I get down there as often as possible. If y'all see my boat stop and say hi


Will do, Bronson. Is that a Gambler?


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## Bronson

Ranger Z20 with an Evinrude 225


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## bbsoup

Nice rig. I should've known by the fenders. Maybe we'll see ya' out there.


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## 9Left

Fished from 7 AM to 4 PM today… Had three keepers In the live well at the end of the day… The temperatures just aren't there yet… All the fish I caught today were on a slow retrieve 12-15 feet deep....I'm gonna take a deep breath now and not comment on the number of boaters on the lake today…Looks like we got some rain coming… should help the temps and next week I think things are going to be really looking good…


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## Lil Crappie

Fished 7 to 2pm. Had 4 keepers, 1 saugeye (16),1 largemouth,1wht Bass,3 bluegills. Crappies were caught at 4’ to 12’. That’s in one spot. On minnows and swim bait. Had3 shorts.
Npool ramp. Wow! Lots a boats.


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## H2O Mellon

Did some lazy easy fun fishing with my son today at CC. Fished bobbers w/ minnows for a couple hours, found several shallow near timber. 12 incher was the largest with a couple 11.75".

Lake was a mess with boats and we didn't even hit the main laike. Zero parking spots at Haynes ramp. It was ridiculous, sort of like Memorial Day and 4th if July combined. COVID-19 and cabin fever brought out all sorts of people.


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## bbsoup

Finally fished CC by myself Friday. Since we'd been catching a few fish, NICE fish, just tying up in one spot, I really thought I'd do well because I could finally move around and fish hard. Not the case. Fished 12:30 to 7:30. Only caught 8 crappie (and 6 teeny bass), AND EVERY ONE WAS SHORT. WTH?! Caught mostly keepers just days before. Huh. Water temp was unchanged at 56-58 most places, over 60 up shallow. I moved around like it was a friggin' bass tournament, too (I did get myself to sit in one spot for 45 minutes). Different depths, techniques, nada. I gotta say, it was actually nice reading the above reports of poor fishing. For a second there, I thought I'd lost my fishing mojo. I was certain everyone else was killing them Friday. Yay, it's not just me. Sorry.
Then Saturday, my brother and 2 of his daughters came down to fish CC with me. Sitting at Spillway Carryout waiting for the girls to use the porta-potty (women and boats do _not_ go together), I saw a ton of boats leaving the lake. Plenty of open spaces for me, I thought. Nope. 9L and H2O are right about the number of boats. Trailers were parked up the road at Wellman ramp. Those boats I thought were leaving the lake were probably just turning around. And so did I. We left and went over to Cowan. But this is not a Cowan thread, so.........


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## 9Left

I'm not one to toot my own horn too much… But I'm gonna toot the hell out of this horn... I was right about the warm rain yesterday… Took a hike this morning through the woods to a semi shallow Cove that I knew the rain would warm up… And it paid off








Ended up with 22 nice slabs… All over 10 inches, including a couple 12's
... I also ran into a very hungry Saugeye...Pulled this guy in and noticed the tail… Pulled it out, and it looked to be a half digested 7- 8" shad!
















I think it should be noted that I took a water temperature reading and it was congruent with the USGS at 58°
... I was throwing a 3" Chartreuse grub on a 1/8 ounce head. From my experience in this Cove I'd say the fish were in about 10 feet of water
... I also still think that the "good "fishing has not even started yet… The jig and bobber bite in 2 feet of water is still several days to one week away...I would chalk up this morning to being in the right place at the right time


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## bbsoup

9Left said:


> I would chalk up this morning to being in the right place at the right time


Yea, but that tends to happen when you fish as much as you do, learning each time. Great job, toot away. Wish I wasn't such a fair weather fisherman nowadays. BTW, from your (sparse) description and (seemingly featureless) pics I bet I know where you were.


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## 9Left

bbsoup said:


> Yea, but that tends to happen when you fish as much as you do, learning each time. Great job, toot away. Wish I wasn't such a fair weather fisherman nowadays. BTW, from your (sparse) description and (seemingly featureless) pics I bet I know where you were.


Feel free to send me a PM and let's hear your guess… LOL
...p.s. I doubt it because it was literally a half mile walk through the woods, Which my original intention this morning was hunting mushrooms...The only hint I will give you is that I had to park in a public hunting access lot


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## 9Left

Time to get started cutting up these delicious slabs of meat…








Keep the reports coming fellas… I love reading them and seeing how people are doing on Caesar's Creek this spring!


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## cornucopia2000

Talked to a gentleman from Dayton at a cove this morning. He had a saugeye too. 



9Left said:


> Feel free to send me a PM and let's hear your guess… LOL
> ...p.s. I doubt it because it was literally a half mile walk through the woods, Which my original intention this morning was hunting mushrooms...The only hint I will give you is that I had to park in a public hunting access lot


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## cornucopia2000

Today @CC.


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## 9Left

cornucopia2000 said:


> Today @CC.


Sweet...I have that same panfish series Saint Croix Rod… Love it!


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## SMBHooker

9Left said:


> I'm not one to toot my own horn too much… But I'm gonna toot the hell out of this horn... I was right about the warm rain yesterday… Took a hike this morning through the woods to a semi shallow Cove that I knew the rain would warm up… And it paid off
> View attachment 355473
> 
> Ended up with 22 nice slabs… All over 10 inches, including a couple 12's
> ... I also ran into a very hungry Saugeye...Pulled this guy in and noticed the tail… Pulled it out, and it looked to be a half digested 7- 8" shad!
> View attachment 355475
> 
> View attachment 355477
> 
> I think it should be noted that I took a water temperature reading and it was congruent with the USGS at 58°
> ... I was throwing a 3" Chartreuse grub on a 1/8 ounce head. From my experience in this Cove I'd say the fish were in about 10 feet of water
> ... I also still think that the "good "fishing has not even started yet… The jig and bobber bite in 2 feet of water is still several days to one week away...I would chalk up this morning to being in the right place at the right time


Very nice Carl. Great report and awesome catch. 

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk


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## Lil Crappie

Oh the high life! Sounds good with yesterday’s catch


9Left said:


> Time to get started cutting up these delicious slabs of meat…
> View attachment 355491
> 
> Keep the reports coming fellas… I love reading them and seeing how people are doing on Caesar's Creek this spring!


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## 9Left

Took another hike early this morning… Hit three different coves in various parts of the north end of the lake… I would call it an absolute smack down… Caught many fish on a jig n bobber set at 2 feet deep... Fishing 3 to 5 feet of water. Also hit a lot of fish on the points at the mouth of the coves… No pics today, sorry... But went home with a limit of 30. Water temp today was 58… I caught a lot of fish on the jig n bobberbut they were mostly small ( 9-9.5). All the bigger keepers came from the points… Just throwing a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig


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## Harry1959

I fished CC from 7am-2pm. 1st place I marked crappie was 14-16 ft. Caught 5or 6 -8 inch fish, I tried depths from 1 ft -15 ft. I use mostly minnows but tossed a beatle spin a little bit. Only caught 3 that were longer than 10 inches. CC continues to kick my arse....lol


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## s-moore-937

Fished from 7-3 today. Spent the whole time fishing for Saugeye. It seemed like there were crappie guys close to everyone of my Saugeye spots. Spent a couple hours tracking new spots down. It paid off in the end. 

Two were 16”, one 17” and a 20”. 

Caught in 14-16 fow on jigs. Going to go back to the lake tomorrow. Might try for some crappie.


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## 9Left

Well Ohio weather is staying true to form.... One more hike early this morning… Three hours and only produced 5 fish that were barely 10 inches...Water temps are currently plummeting and the next few days look ugly as far as temperatures are concerned. I guess the one positive is that this will stretch things out a bit and next week and the week after should be game on again.


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## SMBHooker

Thanks for the pulse check!! 

Sucks they slowed for ya but as u said good news for next week. I am hoping to chase some slabalicous crappie here soon hopefully it aligns with when we can get out there. Really wanna put my young son on some eaters. 

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk


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## sjwano

I went for a couple hours on Sunday, and marked a ton of fish between the north pool ramp and the beach, but could not get any takers. All levels of the water column, but more were in the 12-30 foot depth range. Not sure if they were crappie or white bass with others mixed in, but you could see the bait balls and predators below. Presentation wasn't right apparently, as I was looking for bass/muskie hookup while casting, and trolling crankbaits (slowly) through the area. Tried small cranks that usually produce crappie bites too but no luck. Even trolled across the lake to fish some down trees and there were fish suspended all over. Disappointing result but still nice to be on the lake. Rolled off just as the thunderstorm rolled through.


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## bbsoup

9Left said:


> Feel free to send me a PM and let's hear your guess… LOL
> ...p.s. I doubt it because it was literally a half mile walk through the woods, Which my original intention this morning was hunting mushrooms...The only hint I will give you is that I had to park in a public hunting access lot


Way to kill it yesterday. PM sent.


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## s-moore-937

Was planning on going fishing yesterday..... But of course the weather went to crap. Fished from 9-1 today. It was windy and cold. Bite was slow. Really slow. Thats how they wanted it. Caught on jigs again. 10-11 fow. There wasn’t many people on the lake this morning. Surface temp was 53-54 when I got there. 55 when I left. 

Only got two today. 16” and another 20”. The bigger one had a belly. Definitely wasn’t starving.


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## Lil Crappie

During this cold spell. Does anyone notice if the bite is more toward the afternoon, when warmer? Say after shallow bays heat up? Or is the bite the same, just fish moving in and out with temps?


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## Carter Crappie Crew

I believe Fishslim put it best at a seminar: a cold front gives them the "flu" and they don't really wanna eat for awhile. My experience is to let the weather/water stabilize for a day after a big cold front. Not the gospel but a good idea from my experience. That said, my best day last year was the morning after a cold front and storms. My best advice and experience, which I read some twenty plus years ago is: they will bite if active and don't sit on inactive fish too long. To answer your exact question, I would say the fish moving in and out. Two weeks ago they were tight in the brush in two feet or less of water and bit from the get go. Last week they were suspended 6-8' in 10-12' of water in the same cove but didn't hit until after a few hours of sun. I hope to bust them tomorrow regardless.


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## s-moore-937

Awfully quiet on here..... Kinda figured after seeing all the people out on the lake today there would be a post by now. I started out today about 6ish. Ran into a guy at the ramps. He was out chasing musky. Shot the s*** with him for a bit, then headed out. Good guy.

Caught a keeper Saugeye about 9:30. Shortly after that my stomach decide it was time to visit the public restroom at the the ramps. When I docked. I was surprised at how busy the ramps were. The parking lot was filling up. Needless to say after my restroom break I decided to just trailer the boat and call it a day. From the looks of it. Everybody was gonna be trying to fish the one last day before the weather goes to complete crap. And to be honest I could not take one more day of watching the circus at the ramps when it gets crowded. I sat and watched a guy yesterday with a pontoon, pull down and block two lanes. And took his sweet time.


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## Lil Crappie

Went out about 2 till 6:30. Caught 3 crappies. One on a swim bait, one on jig and minnow, and one trolling? Left my speargun at home. Talked to a couple people that caught one. Saw one boat in a spot catch about 6? Great spot! Wind was brutal! Everyone hiding. Including us!. Saugeye fished about an hour. Zip! Zilch! Time to get something’s done at home for a week.


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## 9Left

I thought fer sure that today was gonna be great( thursday morning)...I kept 8 Fish but it took me nearly 3 hours to catch those 8 keepers... I watched the water temps hang out at 59° all night last night… And I thought it was only gonna take a little bit of sunshine this morning to warm it up and for the fish to go nuts… But that didn't happen...Funny how you think you have it so figured out… And you really don't have it figured out… LOL… I did catch 15 or 20 fish but they were mostly small (8-9"). Friday night is pretty much going to wreck the weekend as far as I'm concerned...Will be getting back after them next week sometime… Good luck guys


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## 9Left

Lil Crappie said:


> Went out about 2 till 6:30. Caught 3 crappies. One on a swim bait, one on jig and minnow, and one trolling? Left my speargun at home. Talked to a couple people that caught one. Saw one boat in a spot catch about 6? Great spot! Wind was brutal! Everyone hiding. Including us!. Saugeye fished about an hour. Zip! Zilch! Time to get something’s done at home for a week.


Trolling is an excellent way to locate schools of crappie...I will oftentimes troll small crank baits or jigs ( when in the boat)....When I hook up with a nice crappie… I will throw out a marker, turn around and anchor just off of that spot (20 yards or so) and start casting jigs. It is a very productive method of finding a school of fish from a boat


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## 9Left

Well I just had to… LOL… Before these temps dip down to freezing tonight… Took a hike this morning in a different cove and endured the rain, cold, and wind… Fairly miserable but I went home with 10 Fish… Slow retrieve on the bottom in about 8 feet of water...See you guys next week!


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## Lil Crappie

9Left said:


> Well I just had to… LOL… Before these temps dip down to freezing tonight… Took a hike this morning in a different cove and endured the rain, cold, and wind… Fairly miserable but I went home with 10 Fish… Slow retrieve on the bottom in about 8 feet of water...See you guys next week!
> View attachment 356273


You are the King! Thanks for the info!


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## 9Left

Lil Crappie said:


> You are the King! Thanks for the info!


Thanks... lol...There's a fine line between being a really good fisherman and doing stupid things… LOL


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## SMBHooker

9Left said:


> Thanks... lol...There's a fine line between being a really good fisherman and doing stupid things… LOL


I second the motion for the crowning of 9Left. 

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk


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## bbsoup

SMBHooker said:


> I second the motion for the crowning of 9Left.


Third and motion carried


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## crappie4me

9Left said:


> endured the rain, cold, and wind… Fairly miserable


...i'm sure you've endured a lot worse in the hospital...your tough..happy nurses week and ty.....nice fish.


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## bbsoup

Man, there is a lot of good info on this thread. Took my son out to CC yesterday from about 12:30 to 7:30. Figured the super shallow bite would be on. Na baba na. What screwed us up was that we did catch 2 nice crappie right on the bank at our first spot uplake. Although the parking lot at the sailboat ramp was actually half empty when we put in, the wind was blowing so hard that the people who were there all found themselves vying for the same spots out of the wind. Early in the day I tried to fight it, but it was just impossible since I have neither a spot lock trolling motor nor a set of power poles. Almost had a shot at a good calm spot that had just been vacated, but 2 kayaks spotted it just before me. That's cool, they needed it more than we did. I had such a frustrating morning that I left that first creek arm without trying anything any deeper there, just to clear my head. We headed to a small little pocket out of the wind, but there was absolutely nothing biting there up shallow. Caught a couple small bass there and 4 or 5 crappie, all at 8 feet. Third creek was way too windy to stop (there had to be a small craft warning), so we finally ended up just finding a spot out of the wind more toward the dam. That's where we finally got a little dialed in at a 5 foot depth. We were sitting in anywhere from 15 to 30+ foot depths, though, in standing timber. I caught 5 bass there from 10 to 16 inches, also. We'd cast up too shallow for our slip bobbers, set at 5 feet, and the bass hit as we dragged the minnow on bottom. The crappie would hit only after the bobber stood up, either immediately or as we worked the bait back to the boat in the timber. We only ended up keeping 11 crappie all day, but they were all good size, including a couple 13" slabs. We left them biting. Probably caught only 20 sac-a-lait all day, all on minnows. Really kinda frustrating that I haven't caught diddly yet on a jig and bobber. I think they were getting ready to fire up, but this cold has pushed them back. Sorry I never have a pic of my fish all laid out to clean. I put 'em in the livewell and use the ikijime technique on 'em. This is not one of the slabs in this pic, but my son is 6'2". And that's just a jighead, no body on it. Second pic is me trying to make a small bass look big! Good luck to all.


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## 9Left

Thanks for the report bb! And way to go getting your kids outside… Love seeing posts that get the kids out fishing!


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## 9Left

... Apparently I have no idea what I'm talking about… And apparently… Freezing temps overnight don't mean a damn thing… LOL...








Worked on the house most of today… Decided to take another hike around 6 PM tonight... fished for two hours thinking nothing would happen... wrong! I learn things every day about fishing… When they are up shallow and ready to Spawn… The cold temps do not scare them away from the shallow water apparently... Went home with 21 keepers tonight in a two hour period… Jig and bobber set at 12" fishing in 3 to 4 feet of water... From now on I'm just gonna go when I get the chance… LOL I don't understand temperatures obviously


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## SMBHooker

9Left said:


> ... Apparently I have no idea what I'm talking about… And apparently… Freezing temps overnight don't mean a damn thing… LOL...
> View attachment 356571
> 
> Worked on the house most of today… Decided to take another hike around 6 PM tonight... fished for two hours thinking nothing would happen... wrong! I learn things every day about fishing… When they are up shallow and ready to Spawn… The cold temps do not scare them away from the shallow water apparently... Went home with 21 keepers tonight in a two hour period… Jig and bobber set at 12" fishing in 3 to 4 feet of water... From now on I'm just gonna go when I get the chance… LOL I don't understand temperatures obviously


Man, I'm so jelly. I need fresh crappie in my belly. 

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk


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## s-moore-937

Here is a good one for you guys.... So Thursday morning when I was at CC fishing. Shortly after I left the ramps I was cruising down the lake to my first fishing spot. My boat alarm goes off. Sometimes I get a warning beep from the low oil alarm. It acts up at times. Im sure some of you have had the same issue. The float gets stuck in the oil tank. So I just ignored it and kept going. When I got close to my fishing spot I slowed down to an idle. The beeping was still going on. I noticed there was alot more smoke coming from the outboard than normal. I thought to myself. “Well im definitely getting oil” stupid low oil alarm! So fast forward to yesterday .... Decided to get the boat out and hook the muffs up, run the motor to see if the oil tank float came unstuck. But I couldn’t find my muffs. About that time my four year old son says “dad what you looking for?” I said my big ear muffs for the motor. Thats what he calls them. He said I put them on for you. I look at the motor...No muffs...

He said the other day before you went fishing. Got the boat ready for you. 

Then it hit me. He put those muffs on my motor the night before I went fishing. That was why I had the alarm. It was the overheat warning alarm. The smoke I saw, was actually steam from the warm water coming out of the tell tell-stream. It was cold out Thurs morning. 

Thank god he put them on backwards. Once I got going pretty fast they slid off in the lake. 

That boy has given me so many gray hairs in the last 4yrs!!!! Sorry long post. But had to share. I got lucky!


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## 9Left

Ha! Thats funny s-moore! Glad your motor wasn't damaged but that's pretty funny... how'd you do fishing?


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## s-moore-937

Thursday was alright. I was only there for a little bit. Fished till 9:30. Had one keeper Saugeye in the boat.


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## bwhntr4168

Any recent updates? Water temp? Clarity? Thank You All!


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## 9Left

Driving back home right now… Fished this morning from 8 AM till noon…Water temp is hanging around 56… Four hours and I only caught three short fish… They were still in about 5 feet of water and hit a jig under a bobber, very slow bite though


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## bwhntr4168

Thanks 9, I hope tomorrow is better!!


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## 9Left

I work the next few days… But personally...if I were going to go tomorrow...I probably wouldn't be on the water until 4 PM.


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## fishdealer04

I fished Monday from about 10 until 3:30. When I pulled into the North Pool ramp I was only the 2nd trailer at 10 AM which was a first for me haha. Water temp was 54 degrees and got up to 55.4 degrees by the time I left. I did see some 56 in the back of coves when I first got there. Water was stained and the wind sucked. Caught 1 white bass and 1 keeper crappie in the shallows. After a few hours of that I threw out the crank baits and trolled around. Picked up about 16 more white bass from 2 inches long to maybe 12 inches and 4 more keeper crappie. Slow day but better than working. Crappie ranged from 10 inches to 14 inches all females and all came off edges of flats/humps. Headed back to Brookville Lake tomorrow, but might be back to CC this weekend.


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## smith07

Fished a cove last night, caught six keepers with the biggest being 12 inches. Fishing from bank with slip bobber and minnow on plain hook. All fish were males. Caught a couple shots and a small saugeye that were released.


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## 9Left

Ok... so I tried to put a little bit of effort into it and map out how I have done over the past couple weeks as it correlates to temperatures...
GREEN... SUCCESFUL
RED........POOR/SLOW
























The only trend that I can really notice is that even though we've never been above 60°… The days that I am successful, the temperature is on the rise...The fish came up in less than 10 feet of water a couple weeks ago, staging and ready to Spawn… They basically stayed there and on the days the temperature started rising the fish came up shallower and were easier to catch( willing to bite) The poor days or slow days were all correlating to temperatures either holding steady at 56 or 57 or dropping. That's why I said if I were going to go today( which I will!) I won't be on the water till about 2 PM ,even though the temperatures are only at 57… They should be rising and maybe I will get a better bite.
Either way… We got some great temps coming up in the next week and it's going to be on like donkey Kong!


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## 9Left

Disclaimer: May 10 looks like it would've been a good time to go in the afternoon because there is a small spike in the temperature… But that was Mother's Day and I prefer to stay married! LOL


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## Jun you

This is my first post! I literally went to create the account so I can post, because I want to say big thank you for your information, which are so informative. I have not got chance to go to catch some crappie, but I appreciate your post so much!
You are so kind to share what you knew! Wish you a good catching and stay happy!


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## Jun you

Jun you said:


> This is my first post! I literally went to create the account so I can post, because I want to say big thank you for your information, which are so informative. I have not got chance to go to catch some crappie, but I appreciate your post so much!
> You are so kind to share what you knew! Wish you a good catching and stay happy!


Oops , forget to mention that i am taking about Mr 9Left!


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## s-moore-937

Has anybody noticed if the number of boaters on the water has slimmed down since some people are back to work now?


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## sjwano

s-moore-937 said:


> Has anybody noticed if the number of boaters on the water has slimmed down since some people are back to work now?


I am going to try to hit Caesar's tonight and will report back. Likely to try the Young/Haines ramp and fish the north end. Installed new steering on my kayak this week, so more of a test run than anything.


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## TheKing

That cold weather is a factor. They lost their timing for peak spawn. Either go for Bull Gills and Cats up close, or fish crappies in 12-14 FOW.


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## TheKing

9Left said:


> Disclaimer: May 10 looks like it would've been a good time to go in the afternoon because there is a small spike in the temperature… But that was Mother's Day and I prefer to stay married! LOL


What better Mother's Day present than a basket full of fillets?


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## 9Left

TheKing said:


> That cold weather is a factor. They lost their timing for peak spawn. Either go for Bull Gills and Cats up close, or fish crappies in 12-14 FOW.


Bwaaahhaahaha!!! Just now getting back to my truck… I was right about 4 PM… Detailed post with pictures to come in the next couple hours… An epic SmackDown of slabs is an understatement


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## 9Left

OK… Finally home now and the fish are iced down to be filleted tomorrow...

so this morning my wife and daughter decided to spend some time at her mothers house…( social distancing of course) they left about 10 AM so I decided to hit the lake and walk to a few new spots that I have never accessed on foot...I started fishing by 11:30 AM and needless to say I completely struck out… By 2 PM I was walking back to the truck and discouraged… I decided to eat some lunch and head back out to another Cove because I thought the temperature still might rise later in the afternoon... I reached that Cove around 3 PM… Fished for an hour and only caught one lousy little fish… I was contemplating leaving… And I looked at the USGS temperature gage around 4 PM and noticed it was finally starting to rise... So I started casting, and casting, and casting, and more casting… Nothing… I couldn't get a fish to chase a moving jig..So I switched up to a jig n bobber set at 12 inches… It was almost unfair… LOL...I had my 30 fish in less than two hours and I was culling out 10" fish. I think the deepest water I fished was 5 feet. Didn't seem to matter where I cast either… The bobber would sink almost immediately once it hit the water...









Here's another layout of how the day went… 10 AM to 3 PM sucked… And then around 4pm, the temperature started rising… And the fish turned on








Even though the water temp was only 57°… and only rose a half a degree ..The "rise "in temperature is what you're looking for for the fish to turn on


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## 9Left

This is a picture of what I was using for my set up… I set the distance between the jig and bobber at 12 inches ...Sometimes I need to set a 24 inches, sometimes only 18 inches... by next week I'll only be setting it probably 6 inches deep ( 1/16 ounce jig head)








If the water temperatures are above 60… I would've probably had no trouble getting them to hit a retrieved jig… But these fish would absolutely not move… That's when you switch to a jig n bobber and keep the bait in front of their face for a longer period of time with just very subtle twitches… And they will smack it


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## crappiedude

It looks like you took you're jig and bobber set up out of the back of my truck.
Not at CC but yesterday evening I was catching plenty set at 30", this afternoon I was on them at 15'


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## 9Left

crappiedude said:


> It looks like you took you're jig and bobber set up out of the back of my truck.
> Not at CC but yesterday evening I was catching plenty set at 30", this afternoon I was on them at 15'


 Nice crappiedude! You fish rocky fork or paint creek?


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## crappiedude

Mostly EF but make some trips to Cowan, Rocky and Paint as well. 
From my driveway to having the boat in the water at EF it's like 13 minutes so I tend to fish there the most.
I used to fish CC quite a bit when I used to live in Cincy, it can be a fun lake but that place has a crazy number of jet ski's sometimes. That noise alone drove me nuts LOL
I was also getting a few fish at 20" under a bobber today (3-6 fow mostly) but the bite was slow and inconsistent out on the lake where I was fishing. The few I did catch were all males dressed for the occasion. The deep fish were holding on a stump row that runs along the side of a point. Virtually every fish I caught out there was a female and looked like they were ready to pop.
I never did make it to the back of any of the coves to try a jig and bobber, I just messed around out on the lake.


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## sjwano

I can confirm the notion of not hitting moving targets. Fished the creek arm from haines ramp last night and tons of fish but no takers for most of the evening. I was trolling larger baits for muskie/bass. Later switched to small cranks that have produced crappie and white bass in the past, and still no takers until I slowed down to a crawl (basically controlled drift). There was a lot of activity near the surface all over, but I did not have the bobber/jig gear with me. I'm sure it would have produced. Good to be on the water anyway, calm and pretty clear. Would like to get back soon as it warms up!


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## 9Left

Ready for deer camp this year...


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## 9Left

I wish I didn't have to work tonight… The jig n bobber is looking good for this afternoon…


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## Lil Crappie

Like the statistics! Except the free time stat? I like your jig & bobber setup . But I use the little joker body jigs, white body chartreuse split tail. Sometimes crappie nibblets with jig?


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## bbsoup

s-moore-937 said:


> Has anybody noticed if the number of boaters on the water has slimmed down since some people are back to work now?


Fished yesterday from 10:30-2. There were fewer trailers in the Wellman lot than I've seen for some time.



9Left said:


> Bwaaahhaahaha!!! Just now getting back to my truck… I was right about 4 PM… Detailed post with pictures to come in the next couple hours… An epic SmackDown of slabs is an understatement


When I first saw THIS post, I really got frustrated. I mean, WTH, I was there yesterday and didn't catch squat. Am I cursed all of a sudden? Then, when I saw the post you followed with, it made more sense. Whew, maybe I'm not cursed after all. I took my neighbor out, but he could only fish a few hours. Sucks for me that we had to leave before the water temps started to rise. We didn't have time to fish many places, so I took him to 4 areas that had either produced this year or had been extremely productive in years past. He did not catch a fish using a jig and bobber, and all I caught was a small bass and one short crappie. The bass was cool, though, as he hit my minnow topwater style as I was winding it in. Water temps really were a disappointment. I found only 56.5 in an area that had been as warm as 62+. Warmest water I found was 57.7. I joked around with him to leave me at the lake, take my truck home, and send my wife back with it after dark. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Shoulda coulda woulda.
And thank you so much 9L for the effort you made to make some sense of the on again, off again nature of the bite. Outstanding. Couldn't agree more with your assessment, as I am living proof. But you know, the only reason you are catching so many fish is because you are out there nearly every day. As Smith Barney once said, you "[catch fish] the old fashioned way, [you] EARNED it."


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## bbsoup

Oh yea, the water is finally starting to clear up and get a nice green hue to it.


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## 9Left

Ya know bb...It wasn't until last year that I really started paying attention to the temperatures… I mean I always just waited for the temperature to get close to 60° or 61° before I would go…Because that's what I thought the magic number was… Now I realize the Crappie come up and stage in Shallow water around 55 or 56 ...And they just sit there, waiting for the temperatures to start rising… It doesn't necessarily have to be a rise all the way up to 60°… As long as the temperature is on the rise… The fish will become more active and come up Into shallow water and start biting. For me it has really cut down on unproductive trips…( at least for spring crappie anyway)

I have also learned that the water temperature does not necessarily reflect the change in air temps until hours or an entire day later… I fished on saturday morning… Even though Air temps dropped to 28 on friday night…I still did well Saturday morning because the water temp didn't actually start dropping until later in the afternoon…


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## bbsoup

I cannot say that I have actually analyzed the bite with regard to water temp as thoroughly as you have done here. It sure makes total sense, though. I don't remember for certain if it was last year or the year before, but the temperature that spring had been cold, cold, cold...then suddenly warm. I remember remarking to my brother that "I guess we're gonna go straight from winter to summer." The fish were few and far between until the sudden temp increase. My brother and I went to Caesar and had one of those spectacular days where we caught fish everywhere on everything we threw. If I had done what I should and kept a log (I'm ashamed to admit I've never done this regularly), I could have provided corroborating evidence about an increase in WATER temperature being the key to a great day.


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## 9Left

Yep… And I definitely wouldn't be "ashamed" of not keeping a log… I've been fishing for 30 years and I've never done it until last year… I always hear people talking about doing it,Last year I started doing this, but I was not necessarily relating it to rise or fall in
temperature… I was just marking down the water temp on days that I did well..It wasn't until just this spring that I observed the relationship between rising temperatures… Even if they are not appropriate spawning temperatures (which I think is around 62° ) The rise in temperature is what turned them on. I'm going to do the same thing this fall because I know that crappy will come shallower when the water temp starts cooling off from the summer… it'll be kind of interesting if I can make the same correlation with falling temps later this year…I think the one observation that helped me the most this spring so far… Was recognizing that water temperatures lag behind air temperatures just a bit in the early April and early May. The other thing I realized is that when the crappy come up shallow in the first part of the Spawn( mid to late april)… They stay there, they do not move, no matter what the temperatures…They just plain stay there and as soon as the temperature starts rising they become active… If the temperature decreases they still stay in shallow water (3-8 feet from my observation ) but They're just very sluggish And need a slower presentation like a jig and bobber.


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## bbsoup

Well...shouda went to-daaaay.....










Yea, I'm a fair weather fisherman anymore. Ashamed of myself. But I still have time this year. It probably still has yet to FIRE UP! The tuxedos have not been that dark yet (although some of yours are close). I think the darkest tux's mark the peak.


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## Lil Crappie

Water temp definitely lags behind air temp. Thought about that after reading your post yesterday.


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## 9Left

bbsoup said:


> Well...shouda went to-daaaay.....
> 
> View attachment 357461
> 
> 
> Yea, I'm a fair weather fisherman anymore. Ashamed of myself. But I still have time this year. It probably still has yet to FIRE UP! The tuxedos have not been that dark yet (although some of yours are close). I think the darkest tux's mark the peak.


Yup! My dad went this morning… He got there at 8 AM and he had not been doing well most of the morning… I called him around 12 noonAnd he said his report wasn't very good… I looked at the temperature gage and noticed that the temperature had just started rising around noon… I told him to stick around for a couple hours… He did, and ended up going home with 20 fish about 2pm.


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## Harry1959

9Left said:


> Yup! My dad went this morning… He got there at 8 AM and he had not been doing well most of the morning… I called him around 12 noonAnd he said his report wasn't very good… I looked at the temperature gage and noticed that the temperature had just started rising around noon… I told him to stick around for a couple hours… He did, and ended up going home with 20 fish about 2pm.


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## 9Left

Any good reports yet today? I'm headed out now…


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## Lil Crappie

Out of there at 1 o’clock. Catching at 5 to 6’. Only one out of 5 are over10”s. My rule! Saw a few caught shallow. I think evening would be better? More shorts this year than usual? Looking at sonar. They are all over, from 10’ to 2’.


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## Harry1959

I arrived 730-800. The bite was pretty good in the afternoon.


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## TOS

Got there about 2:30 Welman ramp was packed so it took me about 45 minutes to get in the water. Fished 10 to 15 fow catching at about 5 to 6 ft. some a little shallower. Bite was steady but spread apart. Caught a little of everything but only took home 8 crappie out of about 15. I lost about 4 big ones though.


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## 9Left

Nice catch Harry!


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## 9Left

So I went out yesterday at around 3 or 4 PM…I have no idea what happened I fished for four hours and I only caught two short fish… I completely got my ass handed to me by those fish...I licked my wounds and walk back to my truck in the dark with my tail between my legs… I did text a buddy Who was out on the lake that told me that he saw at least 50 boats in and out of this cove throughout the morning...Maybe that was it… Fine with me… Hope some people fill their stringers… I sure didn't though.


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## bwhntr4168

9Left said:


> Any good reports yet today? I'm headed out now…


I was out yesterday, done fairly well fished from 1130 to 3 ended up with 30 (2 of us) jig and bobber!


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## bwhntr4168




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## Tom 513

9Left said:


> Yep… And I definitely wouldn't be "ashamed" of not keeping a log… I've been fishing for 30 years and I've never done it until last year… I always hear people talking about doing it,Last year I started doing this, but I was not necessarily relating it to rise or fall in
> temperature… I was just marking down the water temp on days that I did well..It wasn't until just this spring that I observed the relationship between rising temperatures… Even if they are not appropriate spawning temperatures (which I think is around 62° ) The rise in temperature is what turned them on. I'm going to do the same thing this fall because I know that crappy will come shallower when the water temp starts cooling off from the summer… it'll be kind of interesting if I can make the same correlation with falling temps later this year…I think the one observation that helped me the most this spring so far… Was recognizing that water temperatures lag behind air temperatures just a bit in the early April and early May. The other thing I realized is that when the crappy come up shallow in the first part of the Spawn( mid to late april)… They stay there, they do not move, no matter what the temperatures…They just plain stay there and as soon as the temperature starts rising they become active… If the temperature decreases they still stay in shallow water (3-8 feet from my observation ) but They're just very sluggish And need a slower presentation like a jig and bobber.


or You can wait for the Dogwoods to bloom, its proved correct for years


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## 9Left

So I said screw it… Hitched up the boat this morning and I was on the water at 6:00AM… i'll say this… If you're willing to brave the rain this week… You will be rewarded… I had my limit of 30 before 10AM and I spent the next few hours culling fish... 30 fish nothing under 11 inches… And the best part, no minnows, no bobbers...Fish are chasing jigs in open water (3-5 feet) Have At it fellas!








I only hit three spots this morning… But every spot i checked..the water temp was 62°… Just right


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## 9Left

And a nice 19 inch bonus on the last cast...


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## kickinbass1991

Do you happen to know how the lake is today, was considering going out there

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk


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## s-moore-937

Im also curious...


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## Carter Crappie Crew

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/oh/nwis/uv?site_no=03242340

Picture on Facebook from campground docks shows them about ten feet "out in lake" but not underwater, yet....


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## fishdealer04

I just talked to 9Left and he said it is a mine field of debris in the lake. Never got his boat on plane and had to get out into water up to his knees at the ramp when pulling out. I’m supposed to go with my dad tomorrow. Gonna take my waders for the ramp lol


----------



## Carter Crappie Crew

I got a pair of Remington "Gum" boots on clearance for $17 at Meijer a few years ago. Makes trailing dry and non acrobatic under normal conditions. Awesome in cold water. Quick change out when I get the trailer.


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## 9Left

Pretty much what fish dealer said… I just got back… I launched from the campground ramp which was probably a mistake in hindsight (the creek flows into the lake right next to that ramp).The amount of **** and debris and logs and whole trees that were flowing into the lake was insane… I just couldn't get the boat up on plane I didn't even feel safe and definitely didn't want to damage the boat or my prop...
As for the fishing… We hit one Shoreline down near the 73 bridge that was still Clearwater… At least it was in the morning anyway… We caught a few fish kept maybe a dozen or so... Every single Cove that we pulled into was chocolate milk… And had flowing water from every ravine on the shoreline… LOL
We found one good shoreline and tied off to a stump that was sitting a foot out of the water in the morning… By lunchtime when we left I had to reach underwater to untie the boat....Good luck to anyone that attempts going in the next couple days or this weekend


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## 9Left

Oh and FYI for anyone Launching a boat… Please don't go to the campground ramp… When we came back there were state park employees there and they had to detach the ramps from the concrete pads because the water was rising very rapidly… So the floating docks are about 3 feet away from the concrete pads and secured with a small cable… They are freely floating around and it is very hard to get a boat in and out


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## Lil Crappie

Louisville Army Corp Eng stats for Caesars creek.


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## 9Left

So now my question is… What will this do to the Spawn? Will fish come up shallow in this Highwater and drop eggs?… And then the water comes back down and they lose all their eggs? I'm not sure how this will play out...But I do see the water temperatures are absolutely plummeting today…








Maybe the fish will hold off until the temps come back up and water levels are normal ? I have no idea


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## crappiedude

I think the fishing will remain good if you can find decent water quality.
Last year when we had all that rain in the spring I was catching plenty of fish along the bank when the water rose and as it declined.
Even in muddy water the fish can be had shallow but it seems it takes a day of 2 for the fish to adjust to their new conditions.
Don't be afraid to look super shallow like in the newly flooded area.
I fish EF and it's a yo-yo in these rains, way worse than CC. Water was up about 6' yesterday and I was catching fish on jig and cork set 1'-3' deep. I started to fish for a few hours today and I have no doubt I would have caught a few even though the lake went up an additional 8' overnight. That cold wind blowing across the lake changed my mind and I just went for a walk.
I don't know if the incoming warming temps will help the fishing but it will do wonders for me.
The biggest problem I have catching fish this time of year is they close all the ramps at EF when it gets like this.


----------



## Harry1959

Welmans today


----------



## Lil Crappie

I have wondered this in the past. We need a study on the effects. And do they alternate flooding lakes, to keep fish levels up? Or does it matter?


----------



## MuskyFan

Harry1959 said:


> View attachment 358355
> Welmans today


Damn. That sucks.


----------



## MuskyFan

Lil Crappie said:


> I have wondered this in the past. We need a study on the effects. And do they alternate flooding lakes, to keep fish levels up? Or does it matter?


It’s a flood control lake and has nothing to do with the fish. With the rain we’ve had and still going to get, it will be 10’ + up by the end of next week.


----------



## Carter Crappie Crew

Good video for some crappie info from a biologist. Good podcast too. Bobby Garland one real good too.


----------



## 9Left

crappiedude said:


> I think the fishing will remain good if you can find decent water quality.
> Last year when we had all that rain in the spring I was catching plenty of fish along the bank when the water rose and as it declined.
> Even in muddy water the fish can be had shallow but it seems it takes a day of 2 for the fish to adjust to their new conditions.
> Don't be afraid to look super shallow like in the newly flooded area.
> I fish EF and it's a yo-yo in these rains, way worse than CC. Water was up about 6' yesterday and I was catching fish on jig and cork set 1'-3' deep. I started to fish for a few hours today and I have no doubt I would have caught a few even though the lake went up an additional 8' overnight. That cold wind blowing across the lake changed my mind and I just went for a walk.
> I don't know if the incoming warming temps will help the fishing but it will do wonders for me.
> The biggest problem I have catching fish this time of year is they close all the ramps at EF when it gets like this.


Thanks crappiedude, maybe i'll give it a try in the next couple days


----------



## Vin

The muddy water and even moreso, the falling temps (water temp dropped 7 degrees to ~55) are keeping me from making the drive to the lake. I’m an impatient angler and really hate slow fishing on jig/bobbers. Anybody have any experience as to when they’ll start chasing lures again? Will we have to wait for temps to come back up? And will they still be up shallow or do you think they’ll go back to deeper water (No boat)


----------



## crappiedude

To do a little follow up on my earlier post I stopped by the lake (again EF) late this morning.
The lake crested yesterday at about 15.8' above summer pool and had dropped maybe a foot by the time I got there.
As usual the lower end of the lake had the cleaner water (and is closest to my house) so I started there. Of course it started raining as soon as I stepped out of my truck and without rain gear I kept my session to about an hour.
I started with a purple chart tube 1' under a bobber and had hits on almost every cast but in 10 minutes I only had 1 small gill. I made a location move but stayed fishing 1' deep. Next spot was more hits and a few more gills so I dropped to 2' deep and bingo I got a few crappie then everything went dead.
I moved back to the original spot and changed to a BGBS in monkey milk, still 2' deep. I caught 4 or 5 more crappie. I stayed with that presentation working down that shore and picked up one here and there. This area has a ton of heavy fishing pressure and all but one of the fish were small but the fish were still active.
They usually drop EF 2' per day so we'll be fishing falling water for the next week. I did hear that 1 ramp is open so if I get a chance I'll put the boat in and go after them. I don't worry too much about water temps, I'll simply be looking for shallow active fish. This same thing happened last spring with all that crazy rain we had. I found one shore and it was just loaded with fish and they stayed on that shore until after the spawn.
Good luck if you get out.


----------



## TOS

Anybody know if the boat ramps are accessible at CC yet?


----------



## Lil Crappie

TOS said:


> Anybody know if the boat ramps are accessible at CC yet?


Went out north pool last night.


----------



## bwhntr4168

Lil crappie, what’s the water and debris look like?


----------



## Vin

I fished around the harveysburg point yesterday, no bites. Water is still pretty stained but fishable. I then moved to the coves by the 73 bridge and the water was much clearer, but only managed one small bluegill.


----------



## Lil Crappie

bwhntr4168 said:


> Lil crappie, what’s the water and debris look like?


Debris yes! Stained, with a mud line near shores.did not see big logs. Just be careful.


----------



## bwhntr4168

Thank You!!!


----------



## Saugeyefisher

Lil Crappie said:


> Debris yes! Stained, with a mud line near shores.did not see big logs. Just be careful.


Mudlines can be KILLER this time of year.. I never pass up the opportunity...


----------



## Lil Crappie

Saugeyefisher said:


> Mudlines can be KILLER this time of year.. I never pass up the opportunity...


Was good the other day for crappies.


----------



## Legend killer

How high is the lake up?


----------



## bwhntr4168

Probably up 5ft or so! Caught 30 today!


----------



## Lil Crappie

Legend killer said:


> How high is the lake up?


Was 5’! Down 3 1/2’. One foot over summer pool.


----------



## ruffhunter

Went to a new spot with cove for about an hour and left in the rain. Tried a new rod and line. Only fished a foot deep and it was bite after bite. Kept a couple. Water was muddy and there were at least 20 pleasure boats in the cove. Didnt want to leave because i had the LIMIT feeling if i had been there earlier. That rain was heavy. 

9LEFT inspired.......


----------



## ruffhunter

Back to the cove, 1830 till dark. Got 14 fat ones and equal amount of shorts. One white and the rest were black. Didnt start biting till 1900


----------



## 9Left

Nice haul ruffhunter! Are you using jig n bobber or just casting jigs?


----------



## ruffhunter

small bobber with toothpick, 1/32 jigs with longer, red sickle hooks i get from chuckanddeb.com (ohio city, oh). With berkley gulp chartreuse 1 inch minnie or a small chartreuse bug thingy about 1.25 inch long tipped with silver sparkle crappie nibble were the primary go to. Sometimes i added a imitation wax worm with the other two. orange/chartreuse crappie magnet and a 1.25 dark purple worm with paddle tail didnt have the action today. I actively and lightly twitched them. Ill post a pic sometime of the jigs and lures if i ever find my camera, cell camera not working.

Talked to a guy that was there on sunday next to me saugeye/catfish fishing. He said he came back after the rain and caught 15 saugeye, drum and other fish. He caught a quite of few short saugeye last evening too. 



9Left said:


> Nice haul ruffhunter! Are you using jig n bobber or just casting jigs?


----------



## bbsoup

After all the rain and the holiday weekend, I finally went again yesterday, but mostly acted as a guide for my older brother and sister. Neither of them can cast accurately or retie when they break off, which happened a lot. Also, it was brutally hot, so my sis wanted shade whether we were catching anything there or not. As a result, we only brought home 10 crappie (I saw a lot of guys catching a lot of fish, though). Can't explain it, but we caught a lot of short fish, probably 2 out of 3. Most of our fish were caught on minnows, but I did catch a few on a jig/twistertail. I had them troll some Flicker Shads because it was easy for them, but all we caught were 6 tiny white bass, just way too small to keep. Now you ain't gonna believe this, but I'm tellin' ya', the water temp was 76 degrees. Seventy freakin' six! Main lake. Hotter up shallow. I know what the website says (less than 62 deg), but I swear my sonars read 76. Maybe the brutal sun/very little wind caused the surface layer to spike? Please, anyone who went yesterday, comment here and corroborate my story. I mean, that's a huge jump in just one week.


----------



## ruffhunter

i have to add, I could hear a pleasure boater out in the cove telling another boater. There were 50 people on 4 "rented" pontoons tied together with 50 people fighting on them by the island. He said One boat was ramming another and hit it hard enough to break the motor mount. That was about all i caught. He was real detailed.


----------



## 9Left

Well... i hiked around early this morning...Fish are definitely still up shallow… I bet I caught at least 50 crappie on a 1" chartreuse jig..No Bobber needed… Mostly males… I did catch maybe three females that still had eggs… But out of 50 fish I only kept five that were over 10"... I honestly don't need to put any more in the freezer… But I kept those five and had a nice fish fry with my wife and daughter tonight… Couple of three nice fillets, lettuce, tomato, tartar sauce, on toasted Rye bread...It hit the spot.


----------



## s-moore-937

bbsoup said:


> After all the rain and the holiday weekend, I finally went again yesterday, but mostly acted as a guide for my older brother and sister. Neither of them can cast accurately or retie when they break off, which happened a lot. Also, it was brutally hot, so my sis wanted shade whether we were catching anything there or not. As a result, we only brought home 10 crappie (I saw a lot of guys catching a lot of fish, though). Can't explain it, but we caught a lot of short fish, probably 2 out of 3. Most of our fish were caught on minnows, but I did catch a few on a jig/twistertail. I had them troll some Flicker Shads because it was easy for them, but all we caught were 6 tiny white bass, just way too small to keep. Now you ain't gonna believe this, but I'm tellin' ya', the water temp was 76 degrees. Seventy freakin' six! Main lake. Hotter up shallow. I know what the website says (less than 62 deg), but I swear my sonars read 76. Maybe the brutal sun/very little wind caused the surface layer to spike? Please, anyone who went yesterday, comment here and corroborate my story. I mean, that's a huge jump in just one week.


My sonar read 76 also yesterday. Looked at the website when I got home lastnight and saw where it said 62..... Pretty sure the temp readings are from the Dam. Maybe its so low because they are pulling water from the lake and its reading the cooler water from the lakes bottom.


----------



## bbsoup

s-moore-937 said:


> My sonar read 76 also yesterday.


Thank you sm937. I knew it would be hard for people to believe. You saved me from sounding crazy. I agree that the location/depth where the temp is taken is probably the reason.


----------



## Bait catcher

bbsoup said:


> Thank you sm937. I knew it would be hard for people to believe. You saved me from sounding crazy. I agree that the location/depth where the temp is taken is probably the reason.


I was at acton lake on monday and also got 76 deg. on my sonar.Hard to believe


----------



## 9Left

s-moore-937 said:


> My sonar read 76 also yesterday. Looked at the website when I got home lastnight and saw where it said 62..... Pretty sure the temp readings are from the Dam. Maybe its so low because they are pulling water from the lake and its reading the cooler water from the lakes bottom.


The temp readings you were getting are most likely surface temperatures…That's pretty much what you're going to get when you use sonar on a boat… The transducer is only about 6 inches below the surface of the water.


----------



## 9Left

bbsoup said:


> Can't explain it, but we caught a lot of short fish, probably 2 out of 3.


bb... I had the exact same experience yesterday… I would say nine out of ten fish were 8.5 or 9 inches...I remember this happening last year also… I had a bang up year catching slabs before the actual Spawn right up to the Spawn … And then afterwards was nothing but shorts.
IMO... The best fishing is when the water temp is in the low 50s a couple weeks before the Spawn.


----------



## Saugeyefisher

9Left said:


> bb... I had the exact same experience yesterday… I would say nine out of ten fish were 8.5 or 9 inches...I remember this happening last year also… I had a bang up year catching slabs before the actual Spawn right up to the Spawn … And then afterwards was nothing but shorts.
> IMO... The best fishing is when the water temp is in the low 50s a couple weeks before the Spawn.


I experience this as well on the deeper lakes I fish. Prespawn is def my favorite. When you hit it just right,a few days into a gradule warm up water temp creeping up. Can be a great time. 
I have found tho,on warm rainy days,like this morning here in cbus,occasionally you can find those females coming back up and fighting off the males to gorge on there own spawn,or any other young of the year swimming around shallow.


----------



## fishdealer04

I fished for about an hour and a half today. I put new units on my boat so mainly went to test them out and then I was fishing some rigs for saugeye. Only caught a few short eyes, but a lot of white bass and I did catch 5 slab crappies. 12-14.75" All of them were females and all still had eggs in them when I cleaned them tonight. They came out of 10-16ft of water on flats. Surface temp was 73-75 on the main lake. I didn't go into any coves.


----------



## Lil Crappie

Had about the same experience. 3-7:30. With wife and daughter. Daughter doesn’t fish ,really wife doesn’t either. But she matched me. All about the troll! Mostly main lake. Some spots I have not tried. Put a few in. I caught a few short blacks jigging, kept 5 crappie 11-12,kept oneWB, but caught a bunch. Released 4 saugeye. 2-14 3/4, 2-12”.a lot of shorts! Had too buzz around for daughter a bit for fun. Would not want to be a charter boat capt!


----------



## Thinkum Hooked

I can finally comment. Do be careful on USGS temperature gauge for CC as it is tailwater & does not always reflect the rest of the lake...especially after big change with dam flow levels?


----------



## Thinkum Hooked

I vote 2020 crappie spawn season @ Caesar Creek the 2nd most unusual in last 20 years. #1 was when the lake was drawn down 10ft for new docks. It seemed like the pre-spawn started early & got stuck there 6-7 weeks. I did find actively spawning crappie yesterday in an area & they were stacked like wood. Usually, the spawn is basically over before Memorial Day & here it is the end of May & they are still spawning in places?


----------



## Harry1959

Went to CC for about 2.5 hrs yesterday. Musky fished most the time. Didn’t see any. Flipped a crappie jig for about 45 minutes. Had one nice one, that got off. Caught 3-4 real small crappie and a dink saugeye. Was still nice being out


----------



## ruffhunter

Took out the boat today with a buddy, this time for the north pool. Went to my main cove and no bites from shore to out in the open. Shocked that spot went from frenzy to nothing this week. Did get out at 8am so that factors in. All my other fishing is evening. Got a few in the north pool, but the frickin speed boats and ski's buzzing us fish boats at shore were nutz. Couple of us fish boats had to yell at a ski boat that was repeatedly coming at us 100yds or less. They were rocking us bad and really stirred up the debris. Of course i knew it was the weekend. I really wish the natural resources would actively patrol by boat on the weekend.


----------



## MuskyFan

ruffhunter said:


> Took out the boat today with a buddy, this time for the north pool. Went to my main cove and no bites from shore to out in the open. Shocked that spot went from frenzy to nothing this week. Did get out at 8am so that factors in. All my other fishing is evening. Got a few in the north pool, but the frickin speed boats and ski's buzzing us fish boats at shore were nutz. Couple of us fish boats had to yell at a ski boat that was repeatedly coming at us 100yds or less. They were rocking us bad and really stirred up the debris. Of course i knew it was the weekend. I really wish the natural resources would actively patrol by boat on the weekend.


The Rangers were out there but with only one boat it would be hard for them to really make a difference. I would like to see them doing something like Alum where there there is no skiing or wake boards boats south of the 73 bridge or at least south of the south island. There isn't enough room on the south side for the number of boats trying to ski/wake board/cruise in the narrow area.

And they need to out that last dock at north pool in, the one sitting in the parking lot. That would help when you have the idiots tied up and taking up space while doing nothing but flapping their gums.

I fished from 8 to 5. Parking lot at NP was already 3/4 full at 8am. Just about everywhere I fished (for muskie) I saw guys pulling crappie out. Mostly deep water right off the bank but some in shallower water. But the number of boats was nuts trolling the shoreline was damn near impossible, even had a Bayliner go between me and the bank (he was in 2' of water on top of the rock flat near the bridge). Definitely had to have your head on a swivel to keep an eye on everyone.


----------



## Lil Crappie

I don’t get annoyed anymore with pleasure boaters. But I do get ticked when someone sees you trolling, catch a fish then spot lock behind you. Theses are fishermen. Not pleasure boaters! Kayakers are just as bad. Saw a kayaker with a drone on Walkers island one day. Sure he knows sign language? Not to get off the track!


----------



## 9Left

Well...Took another hike this morning looking for some crappies… I took my ultralight spooled with 4 pound line And a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig…

....Looking back I have no idea how I pulled this off… At first I thought I was snagged on a log… I pulled, tugged, and yanked and almost even decided to break the line… Then this behemoth of a freakish size surfaced and jumped about a foot out of the water… That's when I realized I was connected to it!… The fight took about 10 minutes…Being very easy to apply a little pressure and using the drag setting to the best of my ability… My hands were shaking when I landed it…

6 pounds 23 inches
























In my experience… This is pretty darn rare for Caesar's Creek… I realize the fish was spawning… But they don't gain that much weight during the Spawn! LOL.... had her out of the water just long enough for a couple pics and a measurement… And she was released healthy.


----------



## Carter Crappie Crew

My daughter's first "jig" fish on her second cast. 18.5" saugeye, she said help but she fought it and I netted. Wife got two decent channels on minnows. Big fights on crappie gear. Saugeyes was feeding, caught 10 with 4 keepers. Crappies slower than Wednesday/Thursday but still got our share yesterday. Plus first ring perch. Good day with family.


----------



## Lil Crappie

9Left said:


> Well...Took another hike this morning looking for some crappies… I took my ultralight spooled with 4 pound line And a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig…
> 
> ....Looking back I have no idea how I pulled this off… At first I thought I was snagged on a log… I pulled, tugged, and yanked and almost even decided to break the line… Then this behemoth of a freakish size surfaced and jumped about a foot out of the water… That's when I realized I was connected to it!… The fight took about 10 minutes…Being very easy to apply a little pressure and using the drag setting to the best of my ability… My hands were shaking when I landed it…. 6 pounds 23 inches
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats! Awesome fish! Biggest I’ve seen at CC. Caught a 5 lber once trolling for Saugeyes. Looked girthy too! Get yourself a FO pin for that one.


----------



## Hammerhead54

That is one heckuva largemouth 9 left. One of the most impressive locally caught largemouth I've ever seen, especially on ultralite gear and 4 pound test line. Congratulations!


----------



## Lil Crappie

I’m impressed that you walk the bank with a scale? That positive thinking!


----------



## 9Left

Lil Crappie said:


> I’m impressed that you walk the bank with a scale? That positive thinking!


Lol... funny story... I don't think I've ever owned a scale… There was a nice fancy bass boat in the cove at the time so I Put the bass on the stringer… And walked down the shoreline to get closer to the boat… I waved him over and asked him if he had a scale… He pitched it from the boat and I caught it and he let me use it…… After I was done I pitched it back to him… LOL


----------



## Thinkum Hooked

Nice fish 9Left, that is quite a Caesar Creek Largemouth....it has been quite a 2020 Spring for odd & good things happening!


----------



## ruffhunter

Here is some stuff i use. The top right hook is the 1/32 with #4 hook i believe. Lil nasty is the hook brand. My main size and last two or three, The little purple and chartreuse bugs (aka crickets at chuckanddeb.com), i use as backers for live bait. That itty bitty one (1/80?) on the bottom left are panfish or trout magnet jigs. Had some other colors my dad gave and got a mess of crappie and gill with them one evening. The orange/chartreuse crappie magnets gets me more gills with the crappie with a nibble between the tails. The bigger chartreuse legged thing tipped with the fake wax worm has worked really well but below the gulp 1 inch chartreuse this year.
Ive gone smaller and my catch rates have gone up. There are quite a few loramie,kiser,indian guys that use ice jigs year round.


----------



## Saugeyefisher

ruffhunter said:


> Here is some stuff i use. The top right hook is the 1/32 with #4 hook i believe. Lil nasty is the hook brand. My main size and last two or three, The little purple and chartreuse bugs (aka crickets at chuckanddeb.com), i use as backers for live bait. That itty bitty one (1/80?) on the bottom left are panfish or trout magnet jigs. Had some other colors my dad gave and got a mess of crappie and gill with them one evening. The orange/chartreuse crappie magnets gets me more gills with the crappie with a nibble between the tails. The bigger chartreuse legged thing tipped with the fake wax worm has worked really well but below the gulp 1 inch chartreuse this year.
> Ive gone smaller and my catch rates have gone up. There are quite a few loramie,kiser,indian guys that use ice jigs year round.
> View attachment 360207


Thanks! I've been looking for a good source for the 4 legged crickets!!! Plus all the other options on that site!


----------



## ruffhunter

I believe the 2 legs are what they call crickets. not sure what they call that longer 4 leg green. They shut down the store front but continued the net site. I spent about 50 bucks in march. They have a lot of odd stuff you just dont see anywhere.



Saugeyefisher said:


> Thanks! I've been looking for a good source for the 4 legged crickets!!! Plus all the other options on that site!


----------



## Saugeyefisher

these are local favorite here at buckeye


----------



## bwhntr4168

I fished Monday from 9 to 1 for a limit! Got several females with eggs(returned) also had some that were spawned out! Hard to believe this late!


----------



## TOS

Anybody ever use the Haines ramp for fishing boats? ive got a 16 foot bass tracker I am thinking of launching there. Is the creek there too shallow to fish and how is the crappie fishing there. Thanks.


----------



## bwhntr4168

I’ve used Haines rd before, it’s really shallow if you get out of the creek channel!


----------



## ruffhunter

That ramp area out to the creek channel seriously needs dug out. When they drained it for the marina. They put in 12 to 16ft tall metal posts every 50yds along the creek channel, both sides, in the first cove when i walked it while down. Not sure if they left them or why they were installed, but they are waiting to tear into a boat. Anyone with electronics verify?


----------



## 9Left

TOS said:


> Anybody ever use the Haines ramp for fishing boats? ive got a 16 foot bass tracker I am thinking of launching there. Is the creek there too shallow to fish and how is the crappie fishing there. Thanks.


Yeah, launching from that ramp can be tricky…When you leave the boat ramp… You can follow the white poles to the right, that is where the deep channel is marked… If you don't stay in that, you'll definitely bottom out and be in some serious trouble...Just a little ways down from the ramp, before you get to the lake, there's a big "belly" of water on the right side of the channel… It is full of dead trees… That shoreline can be very good for Crappie in the spring… But lots of people know that, so it gets pressured pretty good


----------



## MuskyFan

ruffhunter said:


> That ramp area out to the creek channel seriously needs dug out. When they drained it for the marina. They put in 12 to 16ft tall metal posts every 50yds along the creek channel, both sides, in the first cove when i walked it while down. Not sure if they left them or why they were installed, but they are waiting to tear into a boat. Anyone with electronics verify?


I use the poles as channel markers going up the creek. Several are missing on the northern most end but if you make straight for the creek in front of Haines ramp after the last one you're ok. They don't appear to be steel put PVC, probably why some are missing. Just go slow and watch your graph. SI doesn't show any obstructions but it does get shallow (under 5') in spots.

The creek itself is more dangerous than the channel entering it IMO. There are several stumps in the middle that I've hit with the motor, and while the creek appears to be wide in spots, the channel running thru it is not. Barely two boats wide at times. And it does get crowded with boats and shore fishermen.


----------



## Thinkum Hooked

As bwhntr4168 said, it is hard to believe there are still some crappie spawning this late @ CC & doubt I will ever see something like this again in what remains of my life. Got my 1st pre-spawn crappie on 4/2 & last spawning crappie on 6/2, but the weather & water levels have been more of a roller coaster ride in 2020 than usual.

I caught over 100 crappie yesterday with about 40 being over 9” & 25 over 10”, but the biggest was only 11.5. All the females with eggs that I saw were small. I only kept 12 fish (11 crappie/1 saugeye) as don’t need anymore fish in my freezer & have eaten fish @ least twice a week over the last 2 months. Guess what I had for breakfast today?

Hope everybody has a good Summer & doubt I will fish CC again until October.


----------



## TOS

Thanks guys. I may give it a shot. Any bait shops on that side?


----------



## Thinkum Hooked

Let us know how it goes as I would not have targeted that part of lake you asked about?


----------



## Lil Crappy

Saugeyefisher said:


> View attachment 360257
> these are local favorite here at buckeye


the 2 legged jig ,black and chartruese body. Is called a Joker! My favorite for jigging with nibblets.


----------



## 9Left

TOS said:


> Thanks guys. I may give it a shot. Any bait shops on that side?


Not that I know of… But in my honest opinion… You really just don't need live bait right now


----------



## NightcrawlerNick

9Left said:


> Well...Took another hike this morning looking for some crappies… I took my ultralight spooled with 4 pound line And a 1/16 ounce chartreuse jig…
> 
> ....Looking back I have no idea how I pulled this off… At first I thought I was snagged on a log… I pulled, tugged, and yanked and almost even decided to break the line… Then this behemoth of a freakish size surfaced and jumped about a foot out of the water… That's when I realized I was connected to it!… The fight took about 10 minutes…Being very easy to apply a little pressure and using the drag setting to the best of my ability… My hands were shaking when I landed it…
> 
> 6 pounds 23 inches
> View attachment 360087
> 
> View attachment 360091
> 
> View attachment 360093
> 
> In my experience… This is pretty darn rare for Caesar's Creek… I realize the fish was spawning… But they don't gain that much weight during the Spawn! LOL.... had her out of the water just long enough for a couple pics and a measurement… And she was released healthy.


Nice! Fish Ohio winner there.


----------



## Lil Crappy

Fished 7-11am debris in north pool. More stained near mouth of river. 74* caught a few short Saugeyes, one nice crappie. They did not fish as they did Tuesday. No schools in areas where they were 4days ago. Saw a few getting caught. Lots of boats moving around all morning. Sure sign of a struggle.


----------



## MuskyFan

Water was 76 at wellman at 9am yesterday. By the end of the day temps were up to 80-81 everywhere I fished. The north creek past 380 was 78 but moving. Water was muddy in the coves and along the shoreline. Some paces had less than 6” visibility. It’s crazy that the water came up almost 30 degs in 4 weeks. It was only 53 not long ago.


----------



## bbsoup

9Left said:


> 6 pounds 23 inches


Wow, 9L. That is indeed a great fish for public Ohio water. Congrats and certainly a great job with 4 lb. line.
I've been mostly AFK (away from keyboard) this week. I went to CC four days in a row, Sunday to Wednesday, only once by myself to where I could fish effectively. Sorry I didn't post. I have a tendency to imbibe a little after fishing, and usually wait until the next day to post. Then my health problems put me down the last few days. Just not used to pushing myself like that. FWIW, I think the spring bite is close to over. The last day was the day I was alone, and I only kept 20. We had been catching them at less than 2 ft Tuesday night, but I found I had to fish at least 5 ft down on Wednesday. My biggest was actually a 12" male. Caught very few females, period. Marked fish at 12 to 15 ft very nearby, but the big girls just were not interested.


----------



## 9Left

I agree bb...Spring crappy bite is definitely on the downhill side…


----------



## 9Left

However I took a walk yesterday afternoon about 2 PM… Armed with 100 wax worms and my ultralight… I went home with a basket full of nice 'gills...When I say nice I mean 7.5"

I have fished Caesar's Creek for years… I never can seem to find a school of fish that are over 8 inches.


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## bbsoup

9Left said:


> However I took a walk yesterday afternoon about 2 PM… Armed with 100 wax worms and my ultralight… I went home with a basket full of nice 'gills...When I say nice I mean 7.5"
> 
> I have fished Caesar's Creek for years… I never can seem to find a school of fish that are over 8 inches.


Yea, I caught one about 6.5" the other day, and thought "this is a nice 'gill for CC." I have NEVER caught a nice bluegill from there in 25 years of fishing. Can't recall a single one.


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## bbsoup

Sorry, 9L. On hindsight, my past post could be taken as derogatory. Not intended to be. Good on ya' for the mess of gills. I'm thinkin' of Georgia Giant pond 'gills, though I have never caught one. A 7.5" 'gill is a nice one. Hell, I kept the 6.5"er .


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## 9Left

bbsoup said:


> Sorry, 9L. On hindsight, my past post could be taken as derogatory. Not intended to be. Good on ya' for the mess of gills. I'm thinkin' of Georgia Giant pond 'gills, though I have never caught one. A 7.5" 'gill is a nice one. Hell, I kept the 6.5"er .


Lol... its all good bb


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## flyinghappy

Went out yesterday with the family. Didn't try to hard, just wanted to make it a fun day on the lake with my wife and 4 year old daughter. Wellman ramp was insane! What ramp is the best bet for not having 1000 people lined up waiting to put in? We got there early and were able to put the boat in easily, but pulling it out around 1:30 was horrible.

On a good note, we did manage to get my daughter a small largemouth and small crappie. She was excited enough that when we had to leave, she wanted to stay to catch one more. She may end up being a one more cast type


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## 9Left

[QUOTE="flyinghappy, post: 2932967, member:What ramp is the best bet for not having 1000 people lined up waiting to put in?[/QUOTE]

unfortunately, with everyone being so cooped up over the last few months… Nice days are going to be pretty packed on the lake.... The best advice I can give you is to do what I do with my wife and young daughter.... I get to the lake at like 6 AM… The ramp is all mine and I put the boat in with no one around… And my wife and daughter meet me there whenever they want and I just pick them up on one of the side docks...It works beautifully because it gives me a good four hours to fish by myself and scratch the itch… And then I pick them up and we have a nice afternoon on the lake and they bring lunch


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## flyinghappy

9Left said:


> [QUOTE="flyinghappy, post: 2932967, member:What ramp is the best bet for not having 1000 people lined up waiting to put in?


unfortunately, with everyone being so cooped up over the last few months… Nice days are going to be pretty packed on the lake.... The best advice I can give you is to do what I do with my wife and young daughter.... I get to the lake at like 6 AM… The ramp is all mine and I put the boat in with no one around… And my wife and daughter meet me there whenever they want and I just pick them up on one of the side docks...It works beautifully because it gives me a good four hours to fish by myself and scratch the itch… And then I pick them up and we have a nice afternoon on the lake and they bring lunch[/QUOTE]

Funny enough, it wasn't putting in that was the issue. We got there about 10 and only waited 5 minutes to launch. Taking the boat out was the hardest part, I need to teach my wife how to load the boat or back the trailer! haha. I don't think having them meet me at the ramp would work. My daughter would be in the truck before I left lol. Hope she can keep the fishing bug up, it's a lot of fun.


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## bbsoup

flyinghappy said:


> What ramp is the best bet for not having 1000 people lined up waiting to put in?


More than likely, all ramps will be crowded on the weekend in the afternoon. If people would just use a little common sense and courtesy, however, the North Pool sailboat ramp would be best for those fishing alone or with guests who can't back a trailer or drive the boat. This is because there are effectively 8 spots outside the 4 lanes for boats to tie up, out of the way. Of course, most novice boaters don't think about what they should do, and just end up having someone holding the boat right there in the lane. Other than pontoons, most boats are easily led around the end of the dock by using 2 ropes for control. Or, the boat driver should take a minute and drive the boat around to tie it up. Not long ago I had to sit for 15 minutes as all 4 lanes were blocked with tied up boats or wives holding boats, while only one guy fishing alone had moved his boat to a courtesy spot. There may not be anyone around when you put your boat in, but by the time you park at the far end of the lot and hit the restroom, others usually show up. Please move out of the way. It only takes a minute. If they ever put the courtesy dock in, there will be TWELVE spots for people to tie up out of the way at the North Pool. Of course, people won't think to do this. The Wellman ramp sort of has 4 spots to tie up out of the way, but only 2 are usable for larger boats because the two closest to shore are very shallow. You just have to be patient. Most people don't block the lane with malice in their heart. They are just, well, you know.


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## flyinghappy

bbsoup said:


> More than likely, all ramps will be crowded on the weekend in the afternoon. If people would just use a little common sense and courtesy, however, the North Pool sailboat ramp would be best for those fishing alone or with guests who can't back a trailer or drive the boat. This is because there are effectively 8 spots outside the 4 lanes for boats to tie up, out of the way. Of course, most novice boaters don't think about what they should do, and just end up having someone holding the boat right there in the lane. Other than pontoons, most boats are easily led around the end of the dock by using 2 ropes for control. Or, the boat driver should take a minute and drive the boat around to tie it up. Not long ago I had to sit for 15 minutes as all 4 lanes were blocked with tied up boats or wives holding boats, while only one guy fishing alone had moved his boat to a courtesy spot. There may not be anyone around when you put your boat in, but by the time you park at the far end of the lot and hit the restroom, others usually show up. Please move out of the way. It only takes a minute. If they ever put the courtesy dock in, there will be TWELVE spots for people to tie up out of the way at the North Pool. Of course, people won't think to do this. The Wellman ramp sort of has 4 spots to tie up out of the way, but only 2 are usable for larger boats because the two closest to shore are very shallow. You just have to be patient. Most people don't block the lane with malice in their heart. They are just, well, you know.


I hear you on that. I always get the boat out of the way within at least 2 minutes, this weeked I did leave it in the way, but there was a close parking spot and I actually ran back to the boat. A lot of others aren't so nice and end up loading everything in the boat on the dock. Can get crazy.


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## sjwano

flyinghappy said:


> I hear you on that. I always get the boat out of the way within at least 2 minutes, this weeked I did leave it in the way, but there was a close parking spot and I actually ran back to the boat. A lot of others aren't so nice and end up loading everything in the boat on the dock. Can get crazy.


I'm usually out of a kayak and try to avoid the ramps. But the Haines/Young Road ramp and the Camper Ramp are usually less crowded than Wellman and North Pool.

I forget the name of the steep ramp (across from the main park entrance) but it is somewhere inbetween. I tend not to use it because its less convenient to park and walk down the hill for me. I did like to fish the hump a couple hundred yards out from that ramp through.


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## MuskyFan

^^^ Furnace Rd


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## ruffhunter

I took the boat out last thursday morning on the south end of the lake. I got about 10 short crappies. Had 4 out of the same spot in 2 minutes. Shallow 3ft on a chart/orange crappie magnet. Went to cowan the next day and took 4 hours to catch 5 fish, 3 crappie and 2 gills. Only 1 crappie was a keeper. Tried every color/bait and Didnt keep any. Only about 5/6 of us out there. At about 11am it really started to pick up with bank fishing and more boats as i was leaving. 

As far as the ceasars gills, my buddy and were just talking about caesars gills a few weeks ago. Neither of us have caught a gill there worth filleting there.


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## bwhntr4168

Found a few saugeye this morning had 2- 15 1/2 also had a 16 1/2 and this guy was a little over 26” and weighed 7# 4oz what a Stud!


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## 9Left

That's a freaking pig saugeye!


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## s-moore-937

bwhntr4168 said:


> Found a few saugeye this morning had 2- 15 1/2 also had a 16 1/2 and this guy was a little over 26” and weighed 7# 4oz what a Stud!
> View attachment 364823
> View attachment 364825


Nice!!!! Deep or shallow??


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## Lil Crappy

Is the side dock at Northpool ramp, still sitting in the parking lot?


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## bbsoup

Finally went to Caesar again yesterday from 7:30 to 4:15 with my youngest son. We immediately started catching small crappie under a huge laydown hanging over 20 feet of water, about 15 feet down, using minnows on a double dropper rig. This was repeated everywhere we went, non-keepers, no matter the depth. I was marking fish everywhere from 10 to 20 feet. I think when you don't go often enough, you lose track of where the good fish are. None of my old summer haunts produced anything good yesterday. I've lost my mojo. Ended up long line trolling Flickershads through some pretty good groups of fish, but only caught a couple small saugeye. I wasn't even gonna post, but I thought I'd go ahead and make anyone else who's done poorly lately feel better.
Coolest thing we saw all day was a 40"+ musky come through the first tree we fished right at the surface, then another porpoising later. Probably useless info though since most musky guys ain't fishing for 'em right now.



Lil Crappy said:


> Is the side dock at Northpool ramp, still sitting in the parking lot?


Sorry, Lil C, I was too busy dodging wake boats trying to get back to the Wellman ramp before the Tuesday night tournament started to pay enough attention to notice if the side dock is in now. Wow, that was useless too. Sorry guys. Wish y'all good luck.


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## Thinkum Hooked

Nice saugeye *bwhntr4168! *I got 1 like that a few years ago.

So, I have a question as I enjoyed the thread in 2020 & those that contributed. What's the plan for 2021? Do we start a new thread? BTW, it is spelled Caesar Creek vs. Ceasar Creek....it does make the thread harder to find. Anybody have a suggestion for 2021 to keep in touch?


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## 9Left

I'll be starting a new 2021 CC crappie thread sometime in late March/Early April


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## Thinkum Hooked

9Left said:


> I'll be starting a new 2021 CC crappie thread sometime in late March/Early April


Very good, I will look for it & follow.


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