I've had better success with maggots than meal worms on the crappie. Also, they seem to bite for a few hours and then turn off. Last weekend, we fished all day and it was slow, then we nailed them for awhile around sunset. I would try to be set up by 3 PM and fish until 6 pm or so. I've had better success on the suspended fish than the bottom fish, although they start biting too.
Sometimes a school that is at a certain level in the water column is also noticeably bigger than others too. I was catching small ones last time down low. Then I started fishing for fish I marked on the Vex higher up and starting catching some nice slabs, including 1 hog that was well over 1Lb, the largest crappie I've ever caught at TRR. I also had a nice sized cat come up into my hole, while I was jigging in my shanty, and nudge my Vex float with his nose.
Nothing like a fresh crappie dinner. Yum Yum.
Henckel in today's Billings Gazette mentions a large walleye that came out of TRR last weekend. I'm going down on Saturday and Sunday. Fishing Castlerock in the AM.
Tight lines.
