Sounds like a good time can't wait to get out myself.

Very good news, JigMan. I'm looking foward to getting back out and crappie fishing some more myself. I finally found my scrounger jigheads(the small ones)....had them with me all day saturday and didn't even know it (bottom of the tackle bag).    i'm going to try those next time out.

Buzz how do you fish brush piles and lay downs?  Just wondering if we do it the same or maybe I can learn some new trick from you or pass something along.

Ha!, I need all the help i can git!   JigMan, Most all the crappie fishing that i have done was on Lake Martin several years ago with the FIL.. I've only crappie fished a few times here, as I mainly bass fish. However, i do like to crappie fish for the freezer some and the few times we/i have targeted crappie here in the past 15 yrs have basiclly been with minnows. But from time to time i have caught a few on the old grubs we used back then also. I've also picked up a few while fishing Lake Tuscaloosa(had minnows then too, just had the grubs to check if they'd work), and i caught some on Lake Harris last year with some success 3 times, which is where i fished the other day and didn't do good.

  The process (lol)... is a good bit different here because of the overall approach, depthes, terrain, lack of electronics, and water clarity locally vs Lake Martin, where the conditions for crappie are much better (imo) for the most part because you are fishing the strike zone in deeper, clearer water unless they are extremely shallow. Here we have more laydowns it seems than brush piles(that i can see w/o electronics). So i just fan cast around the laydown, out deep on the ends of it first really then work my way into the limbs and trunk. Sometimes though i do right the opposite and work my way out(pls remember, i do not have electronics on the little boat).

Before i started fishing this llake alot of the crappie i've caught have been while i was bassfishing on the rivers here using smaller bass lures(small cranks, flukes, etc.) and to be honest the crappie seem to be bigger on the lures mentioned  . Here the crappie are in the grass a good bit, especially in the early springtime. I've caught many along the way here a few at a time with grubs around the grass because my UL rig goes with me a good bit of the time when i fish by myself. Lake Harris was the out of the way clear hole that i started fishing last year as i mentioned. That small lake has cleaner water most of the time, which raises my confidence in it because that's what i'm use to fishing for crappie in. The stinger baits will produce there, i just know it. They are the right size, color for this body of water. I'll jusy have to catch it right to catch them. The best way i've caught them over all on the UL has been with various  typical crappie baits in areas that taper up and have debris on the bottom, fishing just off the bottom in those "do nothing" looking areas.

Sorry it's vague, one eye and half my brain is posting here and the other half and other eye is watching James Spann call out the warnings.(none right here yet though)

ltr!

Buzz

I might be losing some lure control by using the UL rig. My UL is a short rod with a small Okuma micro-reel. We were using regular spinning gear on Martin but the heads were 1/8oz(or 3/16?) and you could cast them the distant to obtain the depth needed for the drop and working them back, etc. and feel confident about it. These smaller 1/16 heads i'm using, i don't think, will cast like that on regular gear. I may have to change heads and gear to gain more control over what i'm doing because it feels kind of odd with the UL. When i get time, i will change my set up and see how that works in the backyard.

My UL is a Shimano SJS-46UL rod and an Okuma Stinson Si 10 reel, 6lb. test max. The short 4'6'' rod is a little awkward to me, always has been ...but it was a gift so  ......

When i get the chance, I will probably try the correct line on the Okuma UL and set my old 1000 size Shimano reel and rod back up for crappie with the braid you mentioned. Does the braid work ok for you in real clear water?