Lake Sam Rayburn Fishing / Lake Nacogdoches Fishing/ Lake Naconiche Fishing
Crappie and Bass Fishing/ pontoon rental
Donnie and Lois Howard’s crappie trip on Sam Rayburn with guide Clark Moore resulted in near limits. Photo Courtesy Jackson Hill Marina
DONNIE HOWARD'S FAVORITE WAY of fishing is running a trotline for catfish, but since his crappie Trophy Quest fishing trip with fishing guide Clark Moore, he is now thinking that crappie fishing is a lot of fun, too.
Howard and his wife, Lois, who live in Brownfield, were fishing out of Jackson Hill Marina on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. They arrived the night before the trip and stayed at the Jackson Hill Marina Lodge, courtesy of owner Terry Sympson.
“We had the chance to meet Clark and Terry over a great brisket dinner with all the trimmings that Terry served up,” said Donnie.
In addition to a great meal, Howard and Lois were able to get in a little fishing from the dock at the marina. They knew they were in for some great action next morning when they hooked a 17-inch crappie from under the dock.
The Howards and Moore were fishing large brush piles in 20 feet of water 2-3 miles south of the Highway 147 Bridge.
“Every spot we hit, we caught four or five 11- to 13-inch crappie, then moving on to the next one,” said Donnie. “The weather was perfect, nice and warm, very little wind.”
They used some minnows, but the main bait of choice was small chartreuse or white bucktail jigs.
“I don’t anchor,” said Moore. “I use the trolling motor so I can continually stay on the brush pile, stay on top of them for my customers. We use a 6- to 8-pound-test line and 1/16- or 1/32-ounce bucktail jigs. Chartreuse and a white with white and black heads are the best colors. We count them down. The top of the brush piles was about seven feet deep. We put the jigs right on top of them.
“The jigging action is kind of like a smoker-he kind of thumps the cigarette, dropping ash. You just kind of pop the jig like that. A lot of times if I am trying to hide a brush pile I will cast out there and let the jig drift across like a pendulum. That works really well too.”
Donnie hooked a 5-pound largemouth bass off of one the brush piles with a jig, adding more excitement to an already good day.
The Howards went back to Lubbock with 49 cleaned, bagged, crappie filets. Donnie now mixes catfish and crappie fishing “I’m learning more about crappie fishing,” he said. SPECIES: Crappie
