Lake Hartwell 3-12-12

[StumpHunter]

Well guys, like Scott has already said the spawn is on in the South.. Hit Lake Hartwell yesterday to see what the fish were doing. Took just a little while to find some crappie biting in 6' depth and fished the next 5 hours fishing the shallows and there never were any slack time. Caught 141 crappie total with a lot of 8'' fish but did manage to keep my limit of 30 fish with them all over 10'' and a few real nice crappie. The roe in the fish are ready to be layed in the bigger fish and the smaller size 10'' to 14'' fish still like a few weeks but they are up on the flats also.
Pulled 1/16 jigs (hackle and hair) under a cork @ 2' deep at a speed of .04 mph about 30' behind the boat. Had a storm roll in at 3:00 pm and left the fish bitting. I do plan to go back this week on Thur or Friday. Days like this one don't come to often...
A few pics of the day and of the roe in one of the fish.

 

[Ron Don]

WOW! Cant beat that!

 

[ScottV]

Dang Ronnie, you've got to get you an ironing board for catches like that. Good job buddy!

 

[StumpHunter]

Forgot to post on the biggest fish. Was 2 pound 6oz and 16 1/4''. I have been blessed this year with catching some nice crappie over the 2 pound mark on a lot of my outings and hope I can keep catching em.

 

[StumpHunter]

I thought about the board you have Scott, LOL. These crappie this year fight like they are mad at the world. They were still fighting when I cleaned em.

 

[Radtexan]

Forgot to post on the biggest fish. Was 2 pound 6oz and 16 1/4''. I have been blessed this year with catching some nice crappie over the 2 pound mark on a lot of my outings and hope I can keep catching em.

Great outing Ronnie....Any 2 # er makes a great trip ,much less multiples...Cograts,,were till 3-4weeks out here...But hope to do as well.

 

[Radtexan]

Most of what you post seem to be blacks???? Do you see many white's in your neck of the woods ?

 

[StumpHunter]

Rad, there are white crappie in the lakes I fish but 90% of the crappie I catch are blacks. Hartwell is a very big lake with a lot of clear water. I know people that fish other parts of the lake that catch more white crappie. I fish four big lakes and three of them are on the same river and set back to back to each other. The last lake in the line (Clark Hill) has about a 50/50 white and black pop. That lake is a 70 mile ride for me one way so I don't go there much since the gas got so high priced. The second lake or middle lake I have never caught a white crappie there in 30 years of fishing or since the lake has been built. Hartwell is my closest lake at 20 miles to the first ramp and the other end of the lake takes me over an hour to drive to. Lake Greenwood is a 40 mile drive from my house. It is on the Saluda River that runs 1/4 mile below my home. I have caught white crappie in that river all my life or since I was old enough to fish. The odd thing is I have never caught a white crappie out of Greenwood lake? Same river feeds it and I have fished just as long as I have the river, lol.
So yes there are white crappie here but I seem to be a black crappie guy.

 

[AtticaFish]

You guys are killing me. 141 in a day.... that about beats my crappie count fom the last 2 years - combined! Congrats and sure sounds like a fun day.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I can't count past 10. Wow, 131 in a day is fantastic. I love watching the cork go down and it went down plenty for you. It must be nice having a few lakes to fish close to home, I wish I had that here.

 

[LedHed]

Holy smokes - that is an outstanding catch - WTG SH

 

[Fatman]

Outstanding!!!!!!! You posted all but two things in your report buddy!! You didn't show the finished product so we could bust on you for nice cruchy fillets and not sharing and ya didn't post which of your jigs you got em on???????? Details man details LOL

 

[Hawnjigs]

Shoots, 141 beats my lifetime crappie count.

Is the roe edible out your way? My grandma used to fry up local species eggs but I never cared for it.

 

[StumpHunter]

Fatman, I would post some pics but for some reason my computer started acting up today. When I try to downsize the pics it makes the pictures go to a format that is missed up!! Running a scan on the computer now to see if I can fix it.
The jig that worked the best was (any of them) LOL if the jig got close to em they would hit it.. I was running a black/silver/black kiptail, pink/blue/chart hackle tail, orange/fire-tiger/chart hackle.
The water may be clearer but I'm going back tomorrow and try red/white/yellow, red/yellow/white, red/silver/white and pearl/red/squirrel tail. If they don't work I'll change back over to the other colors.

 

[StumpHunter]

Shoots, 141 beats my lifetime crappie count.

Is the roe edible out your way? My grandma used to fry up local species eggs but I never cared for it.

I know of some that eat the roe. I have never wanted to try it myself May be great but I'll stay with the fillets

 

[StumpHunter]

All right, got the computer restarted to yesterday and it fixed the problem with the pics so here are a few jigs that I'm going to try out tomorrow and here is a pic of the finished fillets Ready for the fridge.

 

[Lost Pole]

Eye popping report, Ronnie.
Pics, especially the finale, is great.
Your jigs are right up my alley.
Looked up Hartwell, hoped you may be closer!
Pretty sure most fish here are spawned out or close to. Missed most of em again with high river waters.
Mid Jan to lay Feb seems to be the norm.
Hope you slay em again next go round again!
Gotta learn that trolling thang one day.

Adam

 

[StumpHunter]

Adam, with this warm winter we have had I think a lot of people will be missing the spawn here too. I have been fishing the 12 Mile Creek up next to Clemson all winter but decided to try 6 & 20 Creek on Monday and they are turned on there.. had to get some smaller jigs tied because I have been using 1/8 and need to use maybe down to a 1/64 but going to try 1/32 jigs 16'' under the corks. Been having good luck in the clear water with the red/yellow/white fox tail. With the little rain we have had lately the water up in the back of the creeks has stained so the yellow tails should be a killer jig to use. Going to start pulling in 20' depths and work up to 2' depths. May be able to find some of those big gals waiting to run shallow
If you ever decide to come this way to fish let me know and I'll try my best to put you on some crappie.

 

[Fatman]

Nice Stump - I was hoping to see the golden fried example LOL but that'll do - I see you're a fellow Food Saver packer!!! I love that machine - and here's a tip for ya if you ever get so many unpainted jig heads and don't want them to tarnish put them in the food saver bags and seal them up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keeps em nice and clean!!!!!!!!!!