Howdy!

Crappie fishing on LOE continues to be slow. It may have to do with the weather or a change in fishing patterns but the net result is right now, the middle of April, when the crappie are usually spawning the action is very slow. A buddy of mine spent 4 hours fishing for crappie this past Friday afternoon and most of Saturday and boated 3 crappie. One crappie was full of eggs and appeared ready to spawn. He caught all 3 crappie shallow over brush in 6 foot of water using a tube jig on a 1/16th ounce jig head retrieved slowly over the brush.

Weather patterns for the weekends have been brutal. For the past four weekends major cold fronts have crushed the area bringing colder than normal temperatures and rain. This is never good for fishing but...!

For many years now I've had family and friends arrive during the second week of April in anticipation we would catch pre-spawning or spawning crappie. For the past 5 years the weather has been cold/rainy/miserable. And the crappie fishing has been miserable as well. A few years ago my brother Charlie was able to make it back to LOE at the end of April and we had a great crappie fish outing boating many crappie 10 inches or bigger. Some fish were ready to spawn and others were still a couple of weeks from it. Our conclusion was the cold weather delayed the spawn.

Last year a new neighbor of mine went fishing on LOE the first week of May. He was geared for crappie so what the heck. To my surprise we caught a fair amount of crappie. Most were over 10 inches. Some were ready to spawn. Some still had a week or 2 before they would spawn. We continued to catch pre-spawning to post spawning fish all through May.

One of my go to for information and advice is a gentleman who has been crappie fishing LOE since it opened for fishing in 1967 or so. He said last year he had one of the best Mays he's had in 40 years.

Hmmmm!? I wonder if this is a trend driven by weather, water conditions or do black crappie spawn in slightly warmer water than white crappie? I don't know but I'm going to try this weekend and all through May and I'll let you know what I think.

Hey! I got a 24 foot single slip dock for sale!!! 4 foot plus decking all around!!! Brand new, never been in the water. Call or email me at 314-614-9290 or mikeo@ubetchaoutdoors.com.

For current water conditions click on the HOME button or www.ubetchaoutdoors.com



Fish On!!
Mike O.
UBetcha Outdoors