After a brutal winter and our lake water temp dropping down to 37*F with shore ice out to water 20' deep the water warmed up to 48* at the end of February, warm enough for some long line trolling. Depending on the water temp. I troll from 0.8 to 1.4 mph (gps). The warmer the water the faster the trolling speed.
I troll a 2" plastic curly tail grub on a 1/16 or 1/32 oz. jig with a #2 hook:
We had lots of rain and wind this spring that kept the water pretty muddy and the best jig color combinations were junebug grub with either a pink or dark red head and popsicle (half purple and half pink with a chartreuse tail) with either a junebug or pink head. Other colors worked too, but the above colors were the most productive.
I fish 2 impoundments on the Coosa river here in central 'Bama, lake Logan Martin (17,200 acres) and lake Neely Henry (11,000 acres) so these aren't little pond fish with no place to hide. These lakes are dammed with hydroelectric generators for electricity production. The current on the lake depends on how much water they pull through the dam and how many turbines are running and usually the more current there is the better the bite is. No current is a tough bite, but turn on some turbines and it's like ringing the dinner bell to the fish.
I'm not sure if 2/22/14 was the first mess of fish or if it was the first mess I remembered to take pics of, but here they are (crappy cell phone pic):
Forgot to put something in the pic for scale to give an idea for size, but I try not to keep any under 11". We have a minimum size limit of 9" on most lakes but 9" is smaller than I like to keep and this years 9 incher will be next years 11 or 12 incher.
I have a Frabill EZ checker measuring device designed for checking Crappie and Bluegills quickly and easily. I do keep some of the 9-11 inchers that are deep hooked and aren't going to live because I hate to waste fish. This is how they look in the EZ checker:
About 10"
This is the size I like to keep:
As you can see he didn't fit and "bottom out" all the way down in the checker because he was too "tall" and wedged in the checker.
And this is what a "slab" crappie looks in the EZ checker:
She wedged at the gills and was to "thick" to be pushed in any further.
The "mess" for 3/21/14:
... continued:
