Back when I lived within 2 ½ miles from the Liberty Reservoir launch ramp, I had a great neighbor, Dale Kirk, who introduced me to cold water crappie fishing. Beginning in late fall, Dale would fish for crappie that schooled up over deep water and take them in great numbers, sometimes over 100. He would then fillet, package and freeze the fish to stock up for the winter.
I partook of this bounty, too, but didn’t harvest the fish to the same degree. Later I used the same techniques and achieved the same results at Triadelphia Reservoir and adapted the techniques to other waters.
Times and conditions change, with the proliferation of big stripers in Liberty and introduction of white perch in both reservoirs. But the schooling behavior and fishing tactics continue and can produce good catches of crappie and white perch in these and other waters along with such incidental species as bass, yellow perch and others.
The basic techniques were simple: I would troll slowly sometimes along breaklines but often in the middle of the reservoir, with my eyes glued to a depth finder. The depth finder didn’t need to be sophisticated; even the old “green box” of years ago would detect those huge schools of fish. There were times in Liberty when the screen would light up to the point I thought I was getting an echo, since it showed fish from just below the surface to nearly 80 feet. Often it wasn’t an echo but a huge school of fish. Once in Triadelphia, I came across a Christmas ornament-shaped mass from 10 feet below the surface to 10 feet above the 60-foot bottom — all crappie.
As I tolled over these formations one or both rods would buckle and bounce as the fish hit. My tackle was dead simple, a pair of noodle-action ultralight rods, matching reels with 4-pound test monofilament and on each two 1/16th-ounce to 1/8-ounce chenille and marabou crappie jigs or the same size jigheads with 1 to 2-inch plastic twister tails. White and chartreuse were standard colors plus sometimes black. I would add split shot between the jigs to run them deeper and let out enough line so I estimated the lures on one rod ran about 10 feet deep and the other about 20 feet. With open water, snags were not a concern.
Once fish were located I stopped and fancast the area. When action waned, I resumed trolling and searching. Simple.
I later refined the basic rig by use of a dropshot rig, with a curyltail grub on a VMC or Gamagatzu dropshot hook and a jighead and grub or 1/12-ounce silver Kastmaster spoon on the bottom in place of the weight.
Carroll County Daily Headlines
Daily
Get the day’s top news and sports headlines.
Flyfishes can get into this action by use of a full sinking line, long leader and fly like a white, size 8 Crystal bugger or weighted Wooly Bugger. This is a variation of a technique I learned lake fishing for rainbow trout in Idaho. A 5-weight rig is ideal, but heavier sizes can work.
These techniques can bring some surprises. I have taken some big yellow perch in Liberty on the two jig rig and an estimated 8- to 10-pound channel catfish in Piney Run on the jig of a dropshot rig. But the most unexpected was a 2-pound smallmouth in Triadelphia taken on the double jig rig. I had cranked up the electric motors and was moving to another location without reeling in my rigs when the fish hit. So the jigs were probably less than two feet under the surface in about 35 feet of water. Only the super noodle rod and light drag allowed me to get the bass, but what it was doing there is beyond me still.
This approach can be used in salt water for white perch and other species. Here I use medium casting or spinning tackle and line of 10-pound test or more. My rig of choice is the dropshot rig with a ¾ ounce Li’l Bunker single hook spoon in silver or white on the bottom. Stripers and trout can be not bycatch.
Shore fishermen can get in on this action in some waters by making long fancasts and slow retrieves with the rigs described above set beneath a slip float. An extra split shot or two can help with casting distance and pulling the rigs through the slip float. I have seen anglers at Centennial Lake take crappies, bluegills and fall-stocked trout this way. (Some use jigs below heavy wooden floats, but slip float rigs are more versatile.)
So far these techniques deal with deep water. But crappies and white perch school in shallow ponds, too. You can troll or cast and retrieve with fly tackle with a floating lie and 9-foot leader or sinktip line with a 3 to 4-foot leader and one of the flies listed above. You can likewise try one of the flies or jigs below a float with spinning tackle. In waters with major pickerel populations, like Loch Raven Reservoir and most Delmarva ponds, I recommend a 20-pound test bite leader; you may need to use duolock clip to attach the fly or jig.
The float-and-fly rig is a proven method of taking bass in winter. I have had success with this approach taking reservoir bass and the occasional sizable panfish. The key is to retrieve very slowly.
Finally, crappie can be taken fishing from the Nicodemus Road Bridge over Liberty Reservoir and the Dulaney Valley Road Bridge over Loch Raven Reservoir. Use standard medium tackle with mono of 8 to 10-pound test. There may be some bycatch surprizes.
Credit: Source link
