On the banks

Made it to Rathbun sunday and got wet and muddy but the fish were worth it. Stayed up in the Chariton River area of Bridge View and found some coves with the needed water temps.
Rained most of the morning but you figuire the fish don’t get any wetter than they already are so you keep after ’em.
Was picking up nice females about 20ft from bank, 1 foot deep in about 4 to 6 feet of water. That told me the males were between the females and the bank or on the bank. It didn’t take long to find out they were at the bank (flooded willows and weeds were twitching from their nest building).
The wind wouldn’t allow the best boat control for us to stay close with the long rods and still not spook them, so we opted to ground pound and sneak on them from shore.
Very muddy and lots of ticks and ants, but it was worth it. Still hard to believe you can pull 15″ crappies from 6″ of water.
I still think with the weather were having this spring that it will be a long, drawn out spawn. It’s not over yet and won’t be for a few weeks. It would be nice for the crappie and the fishermen if the corps could allow another 10 or 15ft of water in the lake.

Way to go Herb! Glad to hear somebody has the time to go and they are biting.

Congrats, Good to here you’re back out fishing. So you didn’t get run over by a cig boat then. Thanks for the report. There is a pm waiting for ya.

Jim, I have a feeling my ‘time on the water’ won’t be anywhere near your’s this year.
Ryan, it’s amazing how far out of the main lake those cig boats will venture.
Thought about hanging around to watch the circus at the ramps but it was getting late so we headed for home.

Hey Herb, Glad to hear you got into them .Are you planing to go back down anytime soon?

I’ll probably wait till after the spawn now Lee. I have more fun with them when they get into the summer patterns anyway. If the Mississippi doesn’t straighten itself out in a couple weeks, I’ll go back to Rathbun or Red Rock.

sounds like those slab crappies at rathbun will be busy for another week at least. some friends of mine were out this past weekend. caught many many 1#+ slabs all weekend. they were on the banks. i’m finding some new fishing buddies, they would rather fish lake sugema for those maybe once in awhile 9″ gills

I am heading to rathbun in a few hours. Hope to have the same luck as I have been hearing about. I have only fished the lake twice once icefishing and once from a boat. Icefishing I got a few and a nice catfish but the one day i was there in a boat was a real nasty day and neither of our 2 boats had a bite. But this was 7 yrs ago so I am hoping my luck has changed. Thanks for the original information Herb. I will report back on how we do.