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John's Journal...
Entry
104, Day 4
DOG DAY CRAPPIE
How, Why, and When to Change Water Depths Throughout
the Day
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Roger Gant of Corinth, Mississippi, has fished Pickwick Lake
on the Tennessee River for more than 40 years. Fishermen haven't historically
recognized Pickwick Lake, located on the Alabama/Tennessee/Mississippi
border, as a crappie lake. However, Gant guides on Pickwick Lake more
than 200 days a year and consistently catches good limits of slab crappie.
Most crappie fishermen don't successfully catch crappie during the Dog
Days of summer. But, Gant catches more crappie in the summer than any
other time of the year. This week we'll look at Gant's secrets to catching
Dog-Day crappie.
Question: Describe a day of crappie fishing during the
summer.
Gant: During the summer, I'll start out fishing in water 14-feet deep
because the shallow-water crappie usually will bite first. By noon, I
may fish as deep as 18 feet. By 2:00 p.m., I'll probably fish 22-feet
deep. As the weather cools down in the afternoon, we'll start fishing
shallow again. I don't believe that crappie change depths throughout the
day. I'm convinced that crappie that hold at different depths bite at
various times of the day. In the middle of the day, the fish that hold
in deep water seem to bite more. In the morning and the late afternoon,
the crappie that hold in the more-shallow water seem to bite best.
Question:
What else have you learned about Dog-Day crappie fishing that has enabled
you to catch crappie when the temperature rises to 90 degrees or above?
Gant: Summertime crappie will bite more consistently than at any other
time of the year. During the hottest part of the year, the weather changes
very little. In July, August and September and often into October, the
weather conditions remain the most stable of anytime of the year. In the
fall, spring and winter, the weather conditions and water conditions constantly
change. I must move continuously to various areas and different water
depths to find crappie. Fronts come through more often. The water quickly
can rise extremely high or fall extremely low because more rain falls
during those times of the years. During the summer months, fewer weather
fronts move in, and the water fluctuates less than at any other time of
the year. I believe that crappie fishing becomes easier once you learn
how the crappie hold in the summer months.
Question: Why do you use Bait Mate on your jigs?
Gant: I know that Bait Mate attracts crappie. I also know that the scent
kills the human odor on the jigs I fish. I've put Bait Mate on a cloth
before, hooked that cloth to a bream hook and caught bluegills. The scent
attracted the bluegills to the cloth. I know from experience that I catch
more crappie on Bait Mate-scented jigs than I catch on the jigs not scented
with Bait Mate.
Question:
Once you hook a crappie, how do you get it in to the boat in the summertime?
Gant: As deep as we fish in the summertime, you can set the hook fairly
hard on crappie because much of the force you put into the hook set dissipates
in the amount of line between you and the crappie. Also, we use extremely
limber rods, so you need to make a hard hook set. If you fish in shallower
water, and you make a hard hook set, you'll tear the hook out of the crappie's
mouth. But, the way that I fish, the water depth I fish and the soft rods
that I use enable my fishermen to set the hook fairly hard.
Once you make the hook set, you must keep a bow in the
rod to create tension on the line and keep the hook planted firmly. You
must continue to move the crappie toward the boat. Crappie feed more actively
in the summertime than they do any other time of the year. If you get
any slack at all in your line, the crappie will shake his head and the
jig will come out of his mouth. Just remember that crappie become more
active in warmer water. If you let any slack get in your line, you easily
can lose them. Don't let the crappie reach the surface of the water before
you net it. If a crappie's head breaks the surface of the water during
July or August, that crappie will get off the hook about 98 percent of
the time.
Question: Why do you tip your jig with a minnow when
the air temperature rises above 70 degrees?
Gant: To be honest, I don't know. I just know that when I tip the jig
with a minnow when the surface temperature reaches 70 degrees or more,
I catch two to three times more crappie than I do when I fish a jig without
a minnow. You more easily can hook crappie when you don't tip your jig
with a minnow. So, in the wintertime, I don't use a minnow. But in the
summertime, if I don't use a minnow, I don't get the bites.
Question: Do you troll for crappie at a different speed
in the summer than at other times of the year?
Gant: Yes, summertime trolling is like wintertime trolling. The fish prefer
the bait to move in front of them at a slower rate of speed than in the
fall or the spring when the crappie feed more actively. Crappie become
finicky in the summertime and often don't want to bite. I've found that
the slower you troll when they get in that finicky mood, the more crappie
you'll catch.
Question: How do you catch crappie when they don't want
to bite?
Gant: Crappie behave like children who don't want to eat. A child who
doesn't want to eat will take the fork and move the food around on his
plate, but he won't put the food in his mouth. When crappie don't want
to bite, I go to the thickest cover I can find. Then I tell my clients
that we'll have to force feed the crappie. Instead of setting the hook
as soon as I see the crappie bite, I set the hook on the second bite.
I'll see the rod tip jump when a crappie bites the first time, yet I won't
do anything. When I see the rod tip twitch the second time, I'll immediately
set the hook. I'll usually catch the crappie then.
Question: Why do you think that you can catch more crappie
on the second bite than on the first bite when crappie don't want to feed?
Gant: Crappie don't have hands. So, the crappie can't feel the bait and
decide if it can eat the bait. But, the crappie can come up and put its
mouth on the bait to test it out before it eats the bait. The first time
a crappie bites, it will feel the tail end of the bait. The second time
the crappie bites, it takes the bait deeper in its mouth to get a better
feel. That's why we catch the crappie on the second bite, even when crappie
don't want to bite.
Question:
Why do you use 8-pound Magnathin line?
Gant: A smaller-diameter line enables my jigs to fall deeper quicker and
allows my baits to move through the water at the proper depth or better.
Four-pound-test line probably gets more bites than 8-pound test line.
I use 8-pound-test line because I'll often catch crappie that weigh more
than 2 pounds. Sometimes I'll even catch bass that weigh up to 8 pounds.
And that 8-pound-test line holds the bigger crappie better than the small
line does.
To learn more about crappie fishing with Roger Gant,
call him at (731) 689-5666 or (662) 287-2017. To learn more about Pickwick
Lake, where to stay, where to eat and nearby attractions, contact Tennessee's
Hardin County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Savannah, Tennessee, by
calling (800) 552-3866.
TOMORROW: GANT'S 10 SECRETS TO CATCHING YEAR-LONG CRAPPIE.
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