# [Crappie Fishing]Speckled Perch outing - Lake Monroe



## jeross (Jun 6, 2009)

I went with a buddy to Lake Monroe today after hearing around a week's worth of good reports on speck fishing (known as Black Crappie in most of the country). We trolled small jigs with curly tail grubs in pink/white and silver/white beginning around sunrise. As soon as the sun came up the bite was on!

I intended to take some pics but I was just too busy. We fished for 4 hours until the wind picked up to 15 mph. We caught over 120 fish and kept 30. We drew the line at 12 inches and we even ended up throwing some of those back to cut back on the filleting work.

I got one quick shot as the sun was setting and I was finishing up the cleaning.










The solunar tables show the next three days as ideal for this type of fishing, so I may be out there again on Friday to get a little stock in the freezer.
[smiley=headbang.gif]


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

man o man - i was just thinking that i havnt seen any crappy reports this fall and wala there it is.. nice catch Thing 
i got the itch now for sure!!!
-anytide


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## EER (Jul 16, 2011)

Nice Report. Would love to catch a mess of specs,had to be a lot of fun.


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Awesome mess of specs. You guys running a spider type rig for trolling? I'd love to see a pic of the set up.


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## jeross (Jun 6, 2009)

Well, the spider rigs are used mostly in the river (a bunch of rods in a single rocket launcher type rod holder on the bow). We use individual rod holders on the gunwales, sort of like an offshore trolling rig.

We fished my buddies boat yesterday. His spread is eight rods. He has two 10 footers toward the bow, two 7 footers amidships, two little 5 footers toward the stern and a pair of rods trailing over the transom. I also fish eight rods but I troll two 18 footers, two 12 footers and four six footers. I'll try to get a pic of my rig tomorrow. Trolling speed is around 1.5 mph.

Most folks prefer to fish the old Enterprise power plant area and the channels, but truthfully the fish seemed to be everywhere.


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## jeross (Jun 6, 2009)

Well phishphood - I did see some boats out there with spider rigs set up. There were at least 30 boats out by the powerplant. At most, 5 were trolling like I do. Got approached by the FWC boat for a quick safety check. He said that most trollers were doing well, the stationary boats were not.

Here are the best shots I could get of my setup (while still being in the boat). The 18 and 12 footers are forward.










Regular 7 and 6 footers are sternward.










Ideally I have a buddy along to watch half the rods, but with a trolling motor tiller extension I can handle it myself if I want to go solo. My buddy Ken worked the long rods on Friday.










We caught around 50 fish in 3 hours and kept 26 for Ken's freezer. Another buddy was out with his son. They caught around 59 as well, but only kept 13 inches and over.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Excellent report and catching!  I keep meaning to take the gheenoe out there for some of that, but never seem to find the time. :


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