Normandy...Willamsport Lakes...Laurel Hill Lake
 

Having to go to library to use PC is frustrating...get my new one this week. Trout at Normandy are hard to come by...only can find them in deep holes. The water is very warm there....but went to base of dam and fished the catch pool and caught all I wanted...water is about 10 feet there.

Fished Willamsport lakes this morning for only an hour...fished Bluecat Lake. Caught 40 Black Nose Crappie all from 8 to 10 inches long...very pretty fish.

Laurel Hill Lake is already producing 10 inch Bluegill. Water temps are 63 degrees. Lake is in need of fertilization....moss...alage...whatever it is called is already taking hold...water is clear. TWRA should fertilize this week.



regards

bait
 

So Crappie is new to me, what bait do you use? I grew up salt water fishing in Florida so this river/lake fish is new LOL.

I know how to catch cat :)

and I use Night crawlers to catch what I catch, seems to be a lot of drum and perch. So I was wondering what do you use to catch crappie?

oh and at the dam, what size weights are you using to keep your pole still? this is my husbands question, hes afraid the normal "trout" stuff he uses is so light weight it wouldnt work.

i use minnows for crappie and they seem to love it everytime no matter what time of day it is. i go fishing at williamsport sometimes and have a lot of luck there. i usually use a bobber set a couple feet from the hook with a little split shot weight near the middle been workin everytime caught a 14 1/2 crappie from there a couple weeks ago fishing from the dock but ive also caught them from the rocks too...good luck

Went back to port today. Went to Bluecat for the first time this year. Crappie are definitely bigger in that lake than shellcracker, but there is not as many. Witnessed some huge bass spawning which was pretty cool. Caught a ton of fish, however, jmull65 did outfish me lol. Freezer is FULL of crappie! Had an awesome time without a boat and knowledge of the rest of middle TN

I fished the base of the dam Saturday late morning with only TM and caught so many fish. Blacknose crappie, lots of bluegill, one beautiful rainbow that had to be pushing the 20" mark and after several minutes of carefully fighting on 4lb test, shook off right as I was leaning over to pick it up out of the water (made me feel sick to my stomach lol). Not too much later I caught another rainbow that measured 14" on the nose. I used a float and threw it into the catch pool, the slight riprap gave the TM all the action it needed and I am now a believer in this lure. It's almost too easy to catch fish with them.. the challenge, however, is being careful to fight the fish on such light line. Looks like a purchase of an ultralight rod is in my future...

Bluecat is full of 8 to 10 inch BlackNose Crappie. Last week I caught over 200 in 3 days of fishing from the bank. Fished by the ramp next to the metal box that is in the water. The fish were not two feet out from the bank...hanging at just where the water drops off. I fish at Nickajak and catch a lot of 14 to 16 inch Crappie. I don't keep any of those from Williamsport. Since getting my kayak I confirmed what I thought...the lake is loaded with those size Crappie. TWRA never stocked it with Crappie...so someone must have put some in there and they have taken off. Once each year.....for the past three....I have caught one 16 inch Black Nose Crappie from Bluecat. If you have never seen a 16 inch Black Nose it is a big fish. While the Crappie look healthy enough they should have a lot more girth on them than they do. A ten inch Crappie form Nickajack will almost weigh twice what a ten inch Crappie will weigh from Bluecat. There are plenty of shad for forage but yet the Crappie are just not as heavy as they should be. Went out Monday to test anchor on kayak and caught Crappie all over the place...then finally located a Gill bed that had really nice size fish. Lost my Trout Magnet jig on a hangup and reached down in my kayak to get my Trout Magnet box and it wasn't there. I had left it at the boat ramp rushing to get in the water. Rushed back to get it but too late...someone took it. Checked with the manager there and no one turned it in. There was a hundred bucks worth of Trout Magnet stuff in there. My fault for leaving it there but sure wish whoever took it would turn it in.



Regards