Crappie Fishing Salamonie Lake
The only thing that makes this very cold spring better than last year is our lakes are not high and muddy. This cool weather is stretching out the good crappie bite in shallow water. Reports from most lakes have been good. In fact, the pressure on some waters has been tremendous. Weekends at Summit Lake have seen boaters having to park their trailers in overflow along the beach.
“The crappie and bluegill bite has been good but the lake is under a lot of pressure,” according to Joe Hale one of my confidants. Westwood has been closed but was supposed to open sometime this week. I may give it a try today. Steve Jett and I did a little Salamonie Lake crappie fishing on Sunday. It was cold and windy with intermittent rain. I forgot my rain gear and left home in a t-shirt. I improvised to stay warm wearing two life jackets, one, I put on backward.
We fished up-river, finding the fish in shallow water as well as suspended high over the channel.
Three years ago, through trial and error, I found a grub these Salamonie slabs really liked. There was no reason to think anything had changed. My first lure of choice was a Strike King Joker pumpkin/chartreuse. I fished it on a Z-Man aspirin-type jig head 18-inches under a weighted bobber.
A strong wind was probably giving my offering enough action, but the late Lewis Layman taught me a retrieve that is subtle but deadly. Imagine, you are cold and shivering just a little. My rod tip looks like it is shivering. I use a light, up & down wrist action that is not the least bit tiring. When using a weighted bobber, the top, ever so lightly, teeters kind of like a locomotive chugging up a steep hill. Most anglers, I try to teach this method tend to overdo it at first.
Anglers have had to fight strong winds all season. I took a friend to a local pit and told her not to be afraid to cast her lure into the shoreline cover (meaning at a low trajectory). Explaining, getting your lure hung is part of fishing. Her next cast went high in a tree. I did not want to lose the new $15 lure but could not shake it free and had to break the line. There seemed no way to retrieve my lure from those unreachable branches.
Another fellow was fishing for crappie from a small kayak. He quit and was loading his truck the same time as we. He was breaking down a 16-foot B&M crappie pole. I explained our dilemma and he agreed to let me use his rod.
On a sloping bank on my toes, I could just barely reach the lowest set of trebles. Finally, I caught the hook in the eye tip of the rod and shook it loose.
I haven’t given an update on my daughter Jourdan in a while. She has a private marriage counseling practice in Nashville, Tenn. My soon-to-be 28-year-old daughter is engaged to marry Ryan Blue, this August. Recently, they saw a robin in the middle of the road. They pulled off, let traffic pass, then, picked up the stunned bird. They tended to the redbreast and soon it flew off. Jourdan thinks the bird was hit by a car and had a temporary swelling of the brain. The local car wash will appreciate this couples’ good deed.
White Crappie
Salamonie Lake offers excellent crappie fishing throughout the year. Success is found throughout the lake for anglers using a boat. Boat anglers will find good crappie fishing throughout Salamonie lake near fish attractors, off points, and standing timber. There are plenty of good bank-fishing spots on Salamonie Lake.
Ice fishing is excellent for crappie, when the winters cooperate. During this time of year, fish are concentrated due to low water. The SR 105 causeway, Dora-New Holland, and the beach are popular ice fishing spots. Look for fish attractors installed for fishermen at various places and marked with a buoy. You can get lake map at the Visitor Center.
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