Hunter's Moon today! Who's fishing and what's the plan?

[Slip Sinker]

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Hey Slip we follow the Hunter's Moon down on the Albemarle for the peak of Fall Crappie Fishing.........Personally I like the week behind the moon based on more than 20 years of note taking........we are looking to time a shift in the wind tomorrow and should do pretty good on the tidal crappie.........water temps are in the mid 60s and the fish will lean towards feeding on shallow cover during this event.......we expect to fish jigs under floats in two to three feet of water for both sows and males.........this is also our traditional start to shallow flat trolling as well.........big numbers through Veterans Day now with slabs mixed in...........My team of coanglers are excited about the next couple of weeks although we didn't expect to be brushed up by an Eastern Pacific Hurricane during this window so making adjustments this weekend will be key...........We have been saving Bagley's Swamp for a late October trip and that gets real exciting with some of the largest Black Crappie in our region..........Thanks for adding the discussion my friend......

[Slip Sinker]

Thanks for the response Jeff!

Sounds like a great plan! Can’t wait to see the snaps of the B.Crappie you tag.

Yep… Nothing beats time on the water and good notes and pictures to back you up for knowledge base and you have that. Makes future trips much more successful and easier to plan from the start…

Good luck on the upcoming period!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Slip.......looks like this quick little burst of wind and rain should be gone by morning and we can get back on our Hunter's Moon pattern...........looking for an exciting weekend............

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

We wanted to be shallower yesterday but the water was out and didn't come back as fast as I had hoped for......light winds.....we did find the fish in three to four feet yesterday and manged to have a productive trip......icing 50 male Black Crappie with most in the 10 to 11 inch class and a few gills also liked our offerings.........

[Slip Sinker]

The game plan for this moon period and the choice of lake will be made at the end of the drive this morning. One lake is great for both species B.Crappie and B.Gill but is private and the trophy tag doesn’t  count towards the DNR data base. The other lake has some huge B.Crappie in it and I have tagged a few nudging the 14” mark while Earl tagged one in April at 15”

the DNR lake is a small reservoir with some projecting stump fields as well as some nice weed beds. Mainly shallow averaging 6-9’ with a creek channel that runs to near 30’ at the dam. The crappie look robust and fast growing the b.gill are numerous with some lunkers at the top of the chain. I haven't broke the 10” mark with the gill in this lake but got a few p.seeds over the 9” mark.

I have a blast long-casting the Lil Minnow as well as the LCD baits shallow and in between the many docks and boats during the summer periods. at this time of year, the docks and boats will be gone. interesting to see if the gills will be there.

There is a small shallow bay that holds many gills during the warmer periods. It would be nice to know if the gills are still there also during this fall coldwater period. That is why I'm leaning towards this lake as my selection. Why not? I'm already very familiar with the private lake and a trip there would surely be a success. I pick the challenge. Fail or succeed will greatly enhance the knowledge base for future planning.

The rod bundle for today will be my popular combination… (2) slip float and (3) long cast micro jig set-ups.

I would like to be on the lake by noon with the Major.Period starting at 12:55 and extending to 15:25.

I will be without my side scan imaging with the HOOK2. That unit would have been great for spotting random crappie schools on the flats. I hooked up the rusty old Elite 7HDI in its place just for this trip or until I get the new unit back from warranty service. All my waypoints were transferred to the unit.

I will be greeting mid to upper 40's for surface temps. clear sunny skies and mid 50's for air temps with mild winds.