No one crappie fishing?

[pierfish]

Need some reports

[oldog45]

Got out on Lake Tarpon Tuesday, flost fishing(from a boat) using minnows for bait. Spent the first 3 hrs working the 2 deep holes in the Holly Bay area. Result 1 decent size crappie and 2 undersize bass. Marked lots of fish on the recorder but they just weren't biting.
Around 11am headed down to the south end to work the bridges. Buzzards on the east shore all the way down, cleaning up the fish kill(mostly armored catfish, thank god). No better luck there. Will try again mid Feb., around full moon time.
Tight lines fellas
oldog

[pierfish]

Great report! Let us know how your next trip goes? What is your technique that you mainly use to fish for crappie?

[oldog45]

Finally got out again Mon., March 1st. Managed to catch the last day of the full moon and reasonable weather. Picked up minnows at the lake tarpon marina, then launched at the park($6.00) about 7:30am.
First stop Holly Bay.Tried the deep hole on the north side and got three in the first 10 min., then nothing for the next 1 1/2 hrs. Watched three pontoon boats work the south hole with no success while we were fishing the north hole so we didn't even try there.
Headed down the lake to the outlet canal, stopping to work a couple man-made reefs(or are they called "fish attracters" in fresh water?) on the way. No luck at those. at the bottom of the outlet canal we fished under the bridges and the spots between where the recorder marked fish, still no luck.
After noon we decided to just drift back north up the canal(had a nice mild south breeze,maybe 5 knots) then pack it in. On the drift noticed we were marking most fish about 2 ft off the bottom so I took off my floats, let the splitshot go to bottom, then reeled up about two ft. Result 4 more in the boat on the drift, including one nice slabsider.
By the time we finished the drift it was time to head home. Not the most successful day ever, but nothing to sneeze at. The filets were great, dusted with dill and basted with a lemon butter sauce, then broiled.
Next time I'll try to include pictures.
As Always
oldog

[oldog45]

Just realized - forgot to answer some of Pierfishs' questions. Usually we floatfish about 6ft deep using light spinning tackle with 6lb mono. Rig with a #4 wire hook(aberdeen) and one splitshot about a foot above the hook, liphooking the minnow. The deep holes like the two I mentioned in Holly Bay are the best places to start looking. I'm told there 's some hard bottom areas on the east side of the lake that are productive but I've no numbers so you're on your own there.
Drift fishing can also be productive - carry a marker buoy so you can mark the spot and anchor up if you start catching fish.
Hope this helps
oldog

[pierfish]

Sounds like allot of fun, I need to get out and do more quality fresh water fishing.