# 2021 Caesars Creek Crappie



## 9Left

Hey fellas! The time is here again for some spring slabs at Caesars!! I haven't been able to get out a whole lot yet but I have made two trips on foot so far… Both were fairly successful and both times I caught fish about 2 to 3 in the afternoon...
Paying attention to the temperature this year looks to be consistent with last year… Temps seem to be rising around 10 AM to noon and that's when I started catching fish both days… Mind you, I only caught maybe five fish but they were chasing a chartreuse twister tail jig in about 8 feet of water. Pretty slow retrieve on the bottom.
I will hopefully make another post later this week when I have some time and I will also post up some of the temperature graphs and mark them just like last year…

anyone else having any luck? Would love to hear it… My annual spring crappy campout is still almost 3 weeks away and I'm getting a little worried because the temperatures seem to be rising pretty quickly… I don't wanna miss it...Should be spot on at 60 to 62° in a few weeks


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## bwhntr4168

I was out yesterday caught a few all on jigs! All males!


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## Lil Crappy

Caught a few dragging Flicker shads today. Water temp 55* . Heard 1 boat had 20 most 4 or 5. To lazy to buy minnows. Noon too 6pm


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## crappiedude

I always look forwaqrd to your annual spring crappie thread.


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## 9Left

So heres the first graph ,which covers the last week or so... The trend of rising and falling temps is very very consistent over the last few days… Today should be no different and a decent bite should be around 10 AM and later ( my guess would @ 4pm for the best bite today.)..Wish I didn't have to work… Let me know if you guys do any good I will be out there in a couple days!


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## Thinkum Hooked

I’m going this afternoon from 4 to dark.


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## BIGTCAT'N

Went last weekend and go 24 keepers. Most females. All came on slip bobbers and minnows in 16 to 24 foot of water around timber. 8 to 12 ft down. Larger minnows worked better.


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## CCD

Was there today.Caught 8 crappie and 3 saugeyes.all on minnows around 8 to 10 ft.was fishing from shore with my son.all crappie over 10' two over 12'.


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## ruffhunter

went 4-7 about 4pm till dark. In a cove south, on a bank. Got 3 quick, 2 were fat (10, 12, 12.5), 2ft deep with gunk on the surface. Missed more than I hooked. 
Current was coming in. After 430 or so, the current switched and all the top gunk flowed out of the dead ends. Once the current turned out, coves cleared of surface junk the bite stopped, even the gills stopped. Guy near me had same experience


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## ruffhunter

By the way, why is the lake drawed down so low. Unusual to see so much bank and stumps this time of year


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## 9Left

Ruffhunter, the lake level still reflects the winter pool drawdown levels... we haven't really had a whole Lotta rain this year yet so it's just going to come up slowly ... they've already started bringing the lake level back up though.... Even though this graph I posted below is from last year… The dates are pretty much the same every year


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## bwhntr4168

9Left said:


> So heres the first graph ,which covers the last week or so... The trend of rising and falling temps is very very consistent over the last few days… Today should be no different and a decent bite should be around 10 AM and later ( my guess would @ 4pm for the best bite today.)..Wish I didn't have to work… Let me know if you guys do any good I will be out there in a couple days!
> View attachment 467874


9left, got there at 11 to 4 today had 19 good ones! Threw back probably 25! They we’re still 12 to 15’ in 20 to 25’ of water!!! Good Luck Guys!! Waiting on more reports!!!


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## 9Left

Nice job bwhntr!
My experience today was a little bit different than yours although I still had some good success… And paying attention to the last week or so… The temperatures seem to rise late morning to afternoon… I got there today around 10 AM... and I sort of knew this was going to happen… I didn't catch a darn thing for several hours...Then around 2 PM to 6 PM I did great… However, I couldn't get a fish to chase a jig for the life of me… No matter how slow I retrieved it…As soon as I switched up to the jig and Bobber set at 2 feet deep, fishing in about 3 feet of water… I started catching fish pretty consistently... I wouldn't say I caught anything impressive… Definitely nothing over 11 inches… Most fish were between nine and 10...








I would catch a dozen or so fish on the jig and bobber... and get excited and switch up to just a retrieved jig and strike out again… As soon as I switched back to a slower presentation with a bobber… It was Fish on again.








I took note of the temperatures and it was spot on in line with what I noticed last year… As soon as that temperature started rising… My success increased.








One thing I'm definitely happy to see is the cool down in the colder temperatures coming next week… I'm so afraid that this water was going to warm up super quick and we would miss a good bite for the May 1st crappie camp out weekend...I'll probably be out in the next couple days just scouting out some new spots… Good luck everybody!


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## 9Left

Even the retrieve on the jig and bobber today was a super slow retrieve… Two or three twitches, pause for about 3-5 seconds… The fish would take the jig on the pause... I could confidently say that the fish are sitting in shallow water just like last year, waiting on the temperatures to rise and begin spawning. But right now the rising temperature is definitely the key to a good bite


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## 9Left

..￼


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## bwhntr4168

Went today 12 to 430 got 19 only 2 females!!!


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## Bronson

Next week should be on fire!


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## 9Left

Bronson said:


> Next week should be on fire!


I would think with the temperatures next week, especially the nighttime temps, lake temperature should hold below 60… That's just my theory anyways… We'll see what happens


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## bwhntr4168

9Left said:


> I would think with the temperatures next week, especially the nighttime temps, lake temperature should hold below 60… That's just my theory anyways… We'll see what happens


Agreed!!!


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## ruffhunter

saturday about noon to 1330. stayed till the drizzle got a little thicker. Not a single bite.


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## 9Left

ruffhunter said:


> saturday about noon to 1330. stayed till the drizzle got a little thicker. Not a single bite.


yep...I also took a hike Saturday morning around 10 AM and fished for an hour and a half or so… I caught two fish on a jig and bobber, and nothing on the jig… The entire next week I would imagine will be the same with the temperatures… Unless you're fishing deep with live bait… But I really don't care for doing that...But I honestly think this is great because it'll slow things down a bit and pretty much give us the majority of May to have great fishing


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## TheKing

Yep. I'm thinking that some of these SW lakes that are mostly deep run on a different schedule than the shallow ones.


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## ruffhunter

yep ft loramie has been hot for a few of weeks, shallow equals quick warm up, but always muddy and slow to return to stained...



TheKing said:


> Yep. I'm thinking that some of these SW lakes that are mostly deep run on a different schedule than the shallow ones.


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## bwhntr4168

Has anyone heard anything on acton?


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## Tree_Beard

I put in an hour with a chartreuse curly tail on Saturday from the shore, never even got a bite. That was around 10am. Guess I should have made it an afternoon trip!


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## TheKing

Tree_Beard said:


> I put in an hour with a chartreuse curly tail on Saturday from the shore, never even got a bite. That was around 10am. Guess I should have made it an afternoon trip!


 We fished a bunch of shore structure in spawning depths at Rocky Fork on Wednesday. Not a bite.


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## 9Left

So I took a walk this afternoon about 3:30 PM and fish for a few hours… Not a sniff… Nothing on the jig, nothing on the jig and bobber...I thought for sure today would be good seeing as the temperature rose about 5° in the afternoon… Hopefully next weeks warm-up and after that will bring on the fish… I probably could've done better if I was fishing deep but I was hoping they would still be shallow....The annual crappy campout is only 10 days away… So I will hopefully be posting then


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## garhtr

9Left said:


> ..I thought for sure today would be good seeing as the temperature rose


Struggled on the river today also. Fished a section that had been producing good numbers of good fish--- caught 3 today and they were not the quality I had been seeing. 








Wht/bss was slow compared to recent days also.
We'll get-em tomorrow  
Good luck and good fishing


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## ruffhunter

Went on Monday around 1400hrs. I was excited for the 68 degrees but the wind sucked! Water appeared to be up a foot or so since my last visit. Stayed a couple hours in a cove. Spoke to a guy and he managed 8 but had moved around and started early. He had minnows but said they were not taking them. Went to another spot this time on the north end. Little better wind block. Noticed the chop was flowing hard north from the main lake point. Guy in my spot errrggggh. He was fishing for anything. Said he got a 14 crappie but held his arms out 3 feet to describe the fish lololol. Not a bite!


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## crappiedude

9Left said:


> Hopefully next weeks warm-up and after that will bring on the fish… I probably could've done better if I was fishing deep but I was hoping they would still be shallow....The annual crappy campout is only 10 days away… So I will hopefully be posting then


I think with the warm up coming next week you guys should do well next week. Of course afternoons will be much better than mornings if you can get some sun heating up those shallows a few degrees through out the day.
I'm going to be down at Watts Bar for a few days and I'm glad we're getting this cold snap to slow things down until I get back. I don't fish CC often but I'm still catching fish shallow at other SW Ohio lakes but it's getting harder to find them with this cool down. We'll cover a lot of water before we find a group of shallow fish but once we do it seems every small fish in the lake is in there. We do get an occasional good fish but the action is fast so it's still fun. I will add that most of my spring bank fishing areas are still devoid of fish and I'm hoping this incoming warm up changes that.


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## Smitty82

Anyone go out this morning?


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## 9Left

Not me… Go to work the next four days and then make sure everything is packed up for the annual camp out next weekend… So glad to see 80° temps on Tuesday and Wednesday… Should warm up the water just perfectly for the weekend


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## Bait catcher

Got out on sunday,water was 57 deg,windy with white caps,only got 2 keepers,1 on a lve minnow,1 on jig. Tough day for me.


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## Saugeyefisher

9Left said:


> Not me… Go to work the next four days and then make sure everything is packed up for the annual camp out next weekend… So glad to see 80° temps on Tuesday and Wednesday… Should warm up the water just perfectly for the weekend


This warm up should be enough to put enough fish shallow that the cold front following it shouldn't effect the bite to much. 
Different lake but simaler depths and water temps as C.C. I fished yesterday(hoover). It has an extremely high crappie population. I was able to find plenty of fish from 6' of water up to the banks. And only one had any spawning color to it. You guys should tear them up next week! Can't wait for the report an pics. 
Have fun!


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## 9Left

Saugeyefisher said:


> This warm up should be enough to put enough fish shallow that the cold front following it shouldn't effect the bite to much.
> Different lake but simaler depths and water temps as C.C. I fished yesterday(hoover). It has an extremely high crappie population. I was able to find plenty of fish from 6' of water up to the banks. And only one had any spawning color to it. You guys should tear them up next week! Can't wait for the report an pics.
> Have fun!


You and me both man… I'm super excited, only one more night to work and I have most everything packed up… It's tearing me up to not be able to fish tomorrow when it's going to be 80°… But it looks like this rain may just pass us up over the weekend and the camping/fishing will be nice! I will be sure to post every day of the trip…


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## crappiedude

9Left said:


> I will be sure to post every day of the trip…


...and I'll be looking forward to reading those posts. I hope you guys do well.


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## thedudeabides

Watching this thread. Was at East Fork days ago for a dry run on the kayak. Crappie were biting well when I got off the lake around 4pm. Bank fisherman were catching on every cast on jig under a float. Went to Brookville yesterday for Walleye. Wind was brutal by afternoon. Lots of crappie fisherman. I could see they were spotting fish, just wouldn’t bite. I managed a walleye, a smallmouth and a crappie. Very slow bite. Very warm today, sustained 20mph wind with gusts to 30 will be murder even for a bank fisherman.


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## Smitty82

anyone go out yesterday?


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## Harry1959

Smitty82 said:


> anyone go out yesterday?


I’m getting ready to go for a bit, before the rain starts. You fish cc much smitty?


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## Smitty82

Harry1959 said:


> I’m getting ready to go for a bit, before the rain starts. You fish cc much smitty?


I try to when i have the time to get out.


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## Harry1959

I went for 2-3 hours. Only caught 5-6. 1 was 11 inches, others 8-9. 3-5 ft deep


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## 9Left

Harry1959 said:


> I’m getting ready to go for a bit, before the rain starts. You fish cc much smitty?


Hey Harry!! Let me know how you do… I'm all packed up and will be leaving tomorrow afternoon… Hopefully this rain won't be too bad during camp set up… I'll be in touch with you, hopefully we can do another overnight catfish trip this summer… That was a Lotta fun!


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## 9Left

Lake is sitting at 63° right now… I'm super excited, all geared up… Hopefully we can get out later tomorrow afternoon after camp set up and do some scouting… Friday and Saturday look perfect for a late morning afternoon bite!


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## Harry1959

9Left said:


> Hey Harry!! Let me know how you do… I'm all packed up and will be leaving tomorrow afternoon… Hopefully this rain won't be too bad during camp set up… I'll be in touch with you, hopefully we can do another overnight catfish trip this summer… That was a Lotta fun!


 We will definitely have to go again soon. Was slow for me today. Marked a lot of fish at 7-12 fow that wouldn’t bite. The few I caught were < 6 fow


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## Ravbuck

Water should be up to summer pool. I got almost 3" of rain at my house in Springboro. Nice warm rain, Hope you do well on your trip 9 left. I always enjoy your reports from your annual camping trip.


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## crappie4me

9Left said:


> I will be sure to post every day of the trip…


i will be watchin for slab reports...kill em....and have a ball.


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## 9Left

Well we are on day three now...thursday evening scouting went well and we found fish on a jig n bobber in the coves... water temp was 58, caught a few good fish about 4 feet of water on thursday evening...spawning colors werein full swing and the fish were just plain pretty!








Camp set up on Thursday went OK… Had some high winds and rain but we managed to get a small window of dry weather...








Saturday morning was very high wind... if I had to guess I would say 30 mph gusts...Fishing was very tough but we were able to put together a few plans and find some Clearwater… The south end of the lake looked really good… North end was a hot muddy mess...Most fish on Friday ended up coming on a minnow set an about 10 feet deep everywhere we went. Most fish on Friday ended up coming on a minnow set an about 10 feet deep everywhere we wentWe still managed about 25 good keepers and two 20"+ saugeye. For the life of me tho i could not buy a bite on a retrieved jig....everything came on a minniw or a jig n Bobber... 
Seem to be having a little trouble loading more pics right now so I will load them this afternoon when I get a chance… Some good stuff coming!


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## 9Left

Sorry about posting late… I returned from the camp out on Sunday afternoon and turned right around and drove two hours south east to go turkey hunting…

Anyways I will say this… The crappie are definitely not spawning yet! Most everything we got was 8 to 10 foot of water and four of us on the boat, three full days of fishing, a total of 40 keeper fish (10"+). Jig and bobber bite was nonexistent for the most part except for a few small ones here and there… My nephew did have a lot of fun and caught a few nice fish throughout the weekend...I'm sure by now with all this rain at the lake looks like crap and is up 4 feet… But I will stop down later this week, I think the fish were right on the edge of the spawn during the camping trip.
The first night of the trip was nothing but rain… So my nephew and I took advantage and I showed him how to catch his own bait... he loved it and now he knows what to do!

















































I would have to say that the highlight of the trip was on Friday morning we were pulled into a little Cove catching a few crappies on minnows… I helped my nephew get rigged up and cast across the cove to this little bush that we were catching fish off of… As soon as the bobber hit the water there was a very violent top water hit… The fish took the bobber, the weight, the hook in Minnow… Ate it all in one swipe! The fight was on...My nephew held onto the rod for dear life and I think he probably Peed himself he was so scared… The fish went under the boat and I knew instantly it was going to end when he was four eyes on the fish rod under the water...The fish jumped on the other side of the boat behind us, and I saw that it was about a 3 foot musky… It was amazing… The kid talked about it the rest of the trip… Would've been nice to get pictures but I knew it probably wasn't going to happen on 4# fishing line... we also found a few surprises right behind the campsite in the woods… But it looks like we were a day late and a dollar short








All in all are it was still a fantastic weekend because we were camping with family… Hope everybody has a good luck and I think the spawn is going to happen later this week or next week for sure!


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## Saugeyefisher

Sounds like a great trip! Especially for the nephew! Good stuff!!


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## Harry1959

Loved your story about the kid and the musky taking hook, line, sinker and floater. Looks like some great fish in that live well..,.,, how was turkey hunting?


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## 9Left

Thanks fellas… Harry, the turkey hunting was about level with the crappie fishing...LOL… I think I walk a total of 6 miles on Wayne national Forest on Monday and never struck a bird. Tuesday I hunted some private ground on my brother-in-law's property and I heard a few replies and talked to one about 30 minutes or so in the morning but he never showed his face... i'm pretty sure he already had a girlfriend in mind and to be honest… I would call myself a novice at best for calling turkeys.


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## crappiedude

Tough break on the weather for your crappie fishing. It would have been a totally different outcome if you had a few days of sunshine to warm those shallows in the afternoons.



9Left said:


> on my brother-in-law's property and I heard a few replies and talked to one about 30 minutes or so in the morning but he never showed his face... i'm pretty sure he already had a girlfriend in mind


On those early morning locked up Toms. I've had really good success by just sitting tight, limiting my calling to just 4 or 5 light calling session per hour. The gobblers will head off with his morning love but he is well aware he left a lonely prospect for later in the day. Most times by 11:00 or later I'd get a gobble usually very close. I think the gobblers know you're there but they're busy. On the days you could only hunt until noon, I lost count of the number of birds that fired up at 11:45 or later and I ran out of hunting time.


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## 9Left

Crappiedude, thanks and I appreciate the advice on the turkey hunting… I've really just been into turkey hunting for a couple years now… Mainly because when turkey season starts is when the good fishing starts too! My brother-in-law gave me that exact advice for birds later in the season (" patience is what kills turkeys") ... I did sit for about two hours until the rain started and I finally had enough.


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## Bronson

Great story! Sounds like you made some great memories!


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## Thinkum Hooked

Hey, if anybody is out & able, I would love to get some water temperature readings? What was temp @ what depth & section of the lake (North/Central/South)? I don’t trust the temperature gauge 9Left has posted before especially when the flow is high. Tailwater temperature doesn’t always represent the rest of the lake, especially when the flow is high. As a side note, I did catch a limit of crappie over 9” yesterday, but only kept the ones that were 10” or more. That was the thing, lots of fish between 9-10”, but none over 11”.


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## 9Left

So this afternoon about 4 PM I finally got everything done that the boss asked me to do....And I got a chance to run out to a hot Spot of mine for a few hours...We fished this Cove throughout the camp out and didn't do great… But tonight I probably caught about 25 fish in a 90 minute session...A few came on a retrieved jig and most came on a jig n bobber set at 2 feet deep in about 4 feet of water. The water temperature, I marked at 54°. I was able to keep 4 "ok" fish because my daughter wanted some fresh fish this evening for dinner...


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## Thinkum Hooked

I got 58 degrees @ 1ft where I was & caught 24 crappie in 4 hours, but only 6 were over 10”. None were over 11”. They were almost all males & ALL were white crappie. I’m not sure where the black crappie are so far in 2021, but have not seen many so far.


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## Thinkum Hooked

That was yesterday, 5/8.


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## Thinkum Hooked

9Left, that temperature gauge in tail waters can be off when flow is high, but is still VERY useful! I went yesterday & water was colder than expected...I got 56 a 1ft. The bite was slow/sparse/lite, but did find 4 nice crappie in 4 hours & the rest were less 10”?


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## sjwano

Fished the upper end last night and found multiple crappie schools in 8-15 feet of water. Water temp was reading 65 for me. Wellman today is 61 so that’s probably right. I was primarily looking for bass but pulled in a half dozen crappie on crank baits and swim baits. A few were 10-12”


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## Thinkum Hooked

Thanks for the report, the water temp went up quite a bit over Thursday.


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## 9Left

Yep... I went yesterday with a group of hunting buddies… Myself and one other guy went in my boat and the other three went in another boat.... launched at 7 AM it was a fairly slow pick on jigs until lunchtime… The fish turned on about 2 PM and we absolutely slayed our limits of 10+ " fish.... all on the retrieved jig… Most fish were in about 4 feet of water. Personally, I think it's just now starting


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## fishdealer04

Fishing was decent this past weekend for us. We fished Friday through Sunday. Lots of short crappie and saugeye. Still managed our limit of crappie almost each day. I will say that the crappie this year are probably the skinniest I have seen in a long time from there. Saugeye were all fat and healthy though. Lots of shad spit up in the cooler. This week should be awesome for the crappie up on the banks. We caught a lot of males on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was the opposite, with most of the crappie being females. Caught them with minnows, jigs, and trolling.


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## Thinkum Hooked

I went yesterday from 3:30-9pm. I caught a lot of fish (mostly males) @ beginning (60 minutes), but abandoned spot as all small. I fished another area where I usually find less numbers, but larger crappie...only 1 male crappie @ 10”. I spent about 2.5 hours on that area. I went to another part of the lake @ 8pm & got 4x crappie in an hour & all were 10-11”. All I can say is larger crappie have been elusive for me so far in 2021 with only 1 fish at 12” or more & not that many 11-12”....but tons of 9-10”.


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## bwhntr4168

Fished 5/19 9 to 2 worked very hard for 8 big crappie lots of shorts all returned to catch another day!!! Most all caught on jigs in 3 to 15’


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## 9Left

Bwhntr...I concur with your post!… I spent 10 hours on the lake today… Probably caught 50 fish… 8 fish made it to the cooler... but those 8 Fish were between 11 and 13".... everything we caught was on a retrieved jig in about 10 feet of water… None of the fish had eggs… I hate to say it… But I think they've already dropped… It's been a very weird spring for me On Caesars this year...I guess I should be happy because I still have a whole Lotta fish left over from last year that did not get fried up during deer camp… I was on the lake at 7 AM and stopped about 5 PM… I knew it was over when I started catching decent bluegills in Shallowater and hooked into a few channel cats today in about 5 feet of water...I don't know what to say… Did the fish dropped their eggs earlier in deeper water? Who knows… Every year is a learning experience and that makes it fun… All I can really say it was great to get back and have a cold beer and fillet some nice fish today...









we also had a nice multi species day… Which always makes it fun…


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## s-moore-937

Anybody get a water temp by chance?


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## Saugeyefisher

I have not fished alum or Hoover for a few weeks,well I hit alum for 40 minutes Tuesday when I drove by for work. 
And I plan on trying alum Sunday for both crappie and eyes. 
But 4 weeks ago I caught a pile shallow at Hoover with some really dark ones late in the day. 
And 5 weeks ago did really good at buckeye in areas that if they are there,they are there to spawn. But again didn't get any dark males until later in the day when it warmed up. 
At that time I was also getting females shallow (not many big ones,buckeyes in a small fish cycle I believe). 
I think they have just been slowly moving in and out to spawn in small waves for the last few weeks. And longer in smaller shallow lakes. 
I imagine there's a few still to go. But agree the majority have spawned. 
Time to bust out the twister tails an catch both saugeyes and crappies at the same time! Cotton wood is flying!


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## 9Left

s-moore-937 said:


> Anybody get a water temp by chance?


S-moore...Everywhere I went yesterday in the boat… Water was a consistent 72°. Granted, that's from my boat transducer which is only the surface temperature… But I imagine we were close to that temperature in deeper water also because I caught a small handful of decent bluegills in pretty shallow water.


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## Ohio Crappie

Went out for approx. 4 hrs. late yesterday after work and caught several white & black crappie, but they were all about 8.5", caught a few keepers...but they went back to live another day. I'm not seeing those 13 inch crappie I was getting last year, only dinks. Caught several large mouth, mostly 10-12"....are you guys catching a lot of bass while crappie fishing this year also?


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## bwhntr4168

Went this morning for a few hours, got 20 good ones and a couple gills! A few were females and had eggs still!!! They are Getting a little bloody so it’s very close!!!


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## Thinkum Hooked

9Left said:


> S-moore...Everywhere I went yesterday in the boat… Water was a consistent 72°. Granted, that's from my boat transducer which is only the surface temperature… But I imagine we were close to that temperature in deeper water also because I caught a small handful of decent bluegills in pretty shallow water.


Yeah, I have also caught 2 nice bluegills in last 2 trips & thought...did you really think you could eat that jig!😆


Ohio Crappie said:


> Went out for approx. 4 hrs. late yesterday after work and caught several white & black crappie, but they were all about 8.5", caught a few keepers...but they went back to live another day. I'm not seeing those 13 inch crappie I was getting last year, only dinks. Caught several large mouth, mostly 10-12"....are you guys catching a lot of bass while crappie fishing this year also?


Yes, I have caught more bass this year than normal while seeking crappie & got 3 tonight...I throw them back...nothing stellar, 12-15” & all jumped multiple times. This is crappie thread (CRAPPIE WILL BE TOTALLY DONE SPAWNING WITHIN 7 DAYS), but have you ever caught a bass out of Caesar Creek where you said...I’m not sure what you are? You are SOOOO GREEN for a smallmouth, but your eye looks like a smallmouth...& you a not a largemouth, spotted bass...closest to smallmouth...but still not quite there?


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## 9Left

I've got several bass that look like that at Caesars… My guess is either spotted or mean mouth


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## Thinkum Hooked

They lack the toothy patch on tongue to be a spotted bass & I believe they are mean mouth hybrids. I just mention as got 1 last night & have caught before at Caesar Creek even if rare. Where I have seen them the most is the Licking & Muskingum Rivers in Ohio.


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## Saugeyefisher

Guys I wouldn't give up on shallow spawners just yet. I know you guys are a bit south of me. But come to find out there are still plenty of spawners in the deeper lakes near me like Hoover and alum. 
Some even acting like straight prespawn mode just last weekend. 
Yesterday they were stacked on shallow wood. Hoping to do the same tomorrow.


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## ruffhunter

Went a week ago by boat at Young Rd ramp. Went towards main lake narrowing along creek. Only kept 8 crappie, gills and a cat. Surprising hit a spot of gills. Plus a couple cats. We caught several gills at a stump. Ive had zero luck with gills at caesars worth keeping till this year.

Went to a bank spot last evening. Exactly a year ago I slayed the crappie there. That day, a catfisherman said a lady just left that spot with over 20 also. Well today i only got 2 little ones. I did catch about 30 gills and kept 6. They were chunky like a ft laramie gill. No red ears. 

Feel i missed out on caesars this year with traveling and weather.


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## 9Left

Saugeyefisher said:


> Guys I wouldn't give up on shallow spawners just yet. I know you guys are a bit south of me. But come to find out there are still plenty of spawners in the deeper lakes near me like Hoover and alum.
> Some even acting like straight prespawn mode just last weekend.
> Yesterday they were stacked on shallow wood. Hoping to do the same tomorrow.


Agreed...Went out this morning with the kiddo..,Had an absolute hayday catching the males that were still up shallow... between 9 AM and noon we probably caught 50 fish… Only kept 6 good ones for a fresh fish dinner tonight... of course I had a good captain on the boat the knew what she was doing…Boat control is a key factor… LOL


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## Lil Crappy

Seems like trees they put in for cover ruined some of my lazy fisherman trolling spots? Is there a map of the trees. Like a appp or map?


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## bwhntr4168

Anyone have a update on the lake, after all the rain?


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## Lil Crappy

Clear as I’ve ever seen it. At least 2 1/2 ‘


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## bwhntr4168

Lil Crappy said:


> Clear as I’ve ever seen it. At least 2 1/2 ‘


Thank You!!!


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## sjwano

Fished Sunday morning sunup till 10am. Across from Wellman. Fishfinder was down (bent pin) but I had scouted the area on the map the night before so it was fine. Water was so clear I could easily see 5-6 foot down in the shallows. Lots of bluegill and small bass schools roaming. Saw several larger bass on the banks scoot away from me. Missed the few takers on my texas rig. Must have been 5 boats fish past me across the same cove I was parked in while I focused on every nook and cranny. Tried everything in the box...topwater in morning when fish were busting shad, spinners, swim baits, crank baits, texas rig, ned rig....just tough for me to get the bass bite on most days there. Might have to go to nightcrawlers next visit. Going to keep trying though.


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## NightcrawlerNick

Fished noon to 7 yesterday hitting coves North of Wellman. Got 2 largemouth and 1 Saugeye, all on Ned rig. All 3 fish were pretty small.


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## Thinkum Hooked

9Left, you going to start a 2022 thread? I haven’t fished Caesar Creek since early December.


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## 9Left

Thinkum Hooked said:


> 9Left, you going to start a 2022 thread? I haven’t fished Caesar Creek since early December.


yes sir! The annual spring campout is comin' up in May. i have not been out scouting yet though. The water temp is still around 47/48. i'll probably start taking short trips on foot starting the second week of April and start a 2022 CC thread. Will be sure to post detailed reports, hopefully some great fish porn, and hopefully a great spring!


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## Thinkum Hooked

Ok, I won’t make it to CC for at least another week as heading South to fish a week.


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## 9Left

well dang! looks like I might head out a bit sooner… I just checked the temperature gauge yesterday, looks like that warm day reeeaalllyy gave the lake a boost in the right direction!
If anybody remembers my recordings from last two years… It wasn't necessarily the temperature that made the difference… But the "rise"in temperature that turned on the bite.


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## Thinkum Hooked

Good luck & a big jump can turn things on more than they were, but still a bit cold?


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## 9Left

Thinkum Hooked said:


> Good luck & a big jump can turn things on more than they were, but still a bit cold?


oh ... definitely agree... still have a good 8° to go before it gets good… But seeing that jump in temperature really makes me start to want to scratch the itch


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## 9Left

pretty sure that was just a mean april fools joke.....


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## Thinkum Hooked

I'm not laughing at you, but with you! I ride the same roller coaster? We had our exchange yesterday & couple hours later saw the temp was nose-diving & thought....glad I'm not fishing Caesar Creek this afternoon! I look forward to your "2022 Caesar Creek Crappie" discussion!

My last comment for the 2021 Caesar Creek Crappie thread is that overall, 2021 was not terrible crappie season, but it was off? Here is the good news. I have experienced "off" crappie seasons at this lake before, but the year after is always better!


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## 9Left

well... Personally I thought last year's crappie season was terrific… It just didn't get terrific until after the campout... mid May was pretty great everywhere I fished. The biggest problem I have with the campout is that it usually includes my father, two uncles, my cousin, and nephew… The first weekend of May is the only time we can all get together and do it… We all have wives or mothers so the second weekend of May is always a no go because of Mother's Day. so the first weekend in May has been established as traditional for our camp out. we always catch fish, we always manage enough to have the traditional big satrday nite campsite fish fry for extended family when they all come in from out of town and converge on our campsite for one evening… Lol. 
anyways you're right though, last year, the first weekend in May The weather was cold, windy, rainy… That Saturday last year there was like 30 mph winds… We buttoned down everything as best we could when we headed out for the morning but ended up losing a canopy dining fly, even though I tied that sucker down 10 different ways! It still ended up 100 yards from the campsite Bent and smashed into pieces..
but super excited for this year… The boat is already loaded and packed with camping/cooking gear, can't wait!!


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## sjwano

Fished Caesars 12-5 today from the campground ramp out of the kayak. Large Schools of shad and or crappie all over between the small and larger island. Most in 25-30 foot depth. I wasn’t targeting them directly, but no takers on a Vibe or Joshy swim bait. Water clarity was poor, 3” or so. Most water was in the 48-49 range, back of small coves were 50-51.


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