Truman Winter Crappie

[Mr.T]

The crappie are biting like crazy on Truman, according to the fishing reports and anecdotal "I heard" stories. But apparently I'm the only one who can't catch them.

Went out on Saturday afternoon between rain showers near Bucksaw and tried fishing along the rocky shores near the channel, using 1/16 oz jigs down about 15 ft. Dad caught one nice crappie about 5 minutes after we arrived, so we figured we'd be in the money for sure. Other than one tiny crappie I pulled up a few minutes later, we didn't get another bite. Using pink/white and yellow/chartreuse tube jigs with a very slow presentation - jigging up and down every now and then.

They say you're supposed to keep moving while looking for the fish. But how do you get a 1/16 oz crappie jig to sink 15 ft while moving, even if very slowly? Plus the wind was blowing at about 15 or 20mph and gusty, making it a real challenge to stay in one place.

We resorted to tying up to likely looking tree stumps and fishing around them for a few minutes at a time but didn't get anything other than those first two.

So what am I doing wrong? Wrong time of day? Wrong place? Wrong presentation?

And on a side note, does anyone know of any old flooded rock quarries anywhere near Sparrowfoot on the upper Grand arm? I know of some over on the Tebo Creek arm but "think" I heard about some on the Grand. Looking at the topo maps, I don't see anything promising.

[truman lake guy]

there is a rock quarry at sparrowfoot. its between the boat ramp and the campgrounds. its a small opening on the same side as the boatramp.it is about 50 ft deep there. ive heard its good 4 crappie but havent tried it yet.u can also walk to it from the bank.. i put out some jugs today at sparrowfoot but had no luck. there was only one other boat on the lake all day. bill

[Mr.T]

Thanks Bill - I found it with Google maps...

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Clinton,+MO&t=h&ll=38.296412,-93.725331&spn=0.005642,0.013475&t=h

Think I'll go give it a look this weekend if the weather holds.

[fishingbuddy4]

When i use to fish for crappie we did good in that quarry fishing around the trees in there ,have pulled some good cats out of there too.

[micus]

I've added splitshots above the jig (12"-18") to help in that situation. Go for a drop line if necessary.

[truman lake guy]

mr T, i went by the rock quarry at sparrowfoot at truman lake today!! i had some jugs out but only caught a couple small ones. i did however watch 2 guys with minnows at the quarry fish for about an hour.. thay caught 6 total and 3 small keepers while i watched. they were using minnows about 6 ft deep..hope u catch some ! bill

[xpressed]

Depth seems critical this time of year Mr T. Try a 1/2 oz. weight on the bottom come up 15 in. a dropper loop with your jig, up another 15in. and another loop and jig. Also might not hurt to tip them with small minnows, seems to help in colder water. Your depth sounds about right, but if ya putt it below them ya get nothin, the two jigs just covers the depth angle better. Catch one and they should all be in that depth range. I've done pretty good with 1/8 oz. Black/Chart. the last couple weeks.

[timpndr20]

I dont get to fish Truman much,but I've been catching large numbers of crappie on LOZ between 6 and 10 ft deep on a 1/32nd oz white jig head on red/white,white/chartruce and smoke/sparkle jig bodies vertical jigging over brush in 12 to 16 feet of water.The slower the presentation the better.