# Lake Cresent/ St. John's River System



## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

All these years that I've been a member on crappie.com, and I've read countless threads about people putting their 2 cents on wether Talquin or Cresent was the "supreme"waters of Florida. Well after fishing Talquin for several years, I've finally gotten in on a little Cresent action now that I'm living in Gainesville. 



Got to the lake at 6am and the lake was white-capping (seriously). Launched at 3 bananas and headed to the north end of the lake hoping to get out of the wind. Carolina Skiff j16's just aren't built for this kind of weather. Long and wet ride all the way to the north end. 



Trolled about 8-13ft of water all day with the wind pushing us too fast most of the day. Just couldn't keep our baits in the strike zone for any long periods of time. 



Even with such a horrible wind all day we managed to catch 41. Only kept 21 but we had 10, yes 10 fish, at or over the 2lb mark. I haven't even caught a total of 2lbers in my life before today. Definitely a trip for the memorie books. It was dads and I first of many trips to Cresent. Big fish went 2.4lbs. All fish were caught on litewirehooks and grubs. 


Btw, I wouldn't normally keep 10- 2lb crappie. We had already made up in our minds we would keep fish from today that were of size and throw EVERYTHING back tomorrow. 4 quart bags of fillets will last me awhile. 



Talquin will always seem like home but I'm on to something good down here at Cresent. 















































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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Pics don't even do these fish justice. Incredible day!!!


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

I knew you would get over to Cresent sooner or later. After that incredible day you will be burning up the road when your studies allow. Thanks for the great report and photos. We don't get them like that in the Choctawhatchee River, which I'm headed to this moring looking for more crappie.


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

fishwalton said:


> I knew you would get over to Cresent sooner or later. After that incredible day you will be burning up the road when your studies allow. Thanks for the great report and photos. We don't get them like that in the Choctawhatchee River, which I'm headed to this moring looking for more crappie.



You're right JB, we don't get too many true 2lbers around the Choctawhatchee. I'm fishing Newnans lake just outside of Gainesville right now and Cresent has me spoiled. All dinkers here. I bought a 16ft Spectrum vhull last week that I'm gonna be working on for a few months. Maybe I'll have it ready by January/February. It'll be at Cresent a lot. 


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Dang what a fine mess of slabs!!!! Congrats fer the haul!!!


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

Good job! Hard to catch-and-release fish that taste that good.


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## Spoolin Up (May 3, 2011)

Goodness!! You know how to catch em up skiff


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Caught 2 last spring that went 15.5". Decided anything over 16" was going on the wall. 
I have noticed that a 12" fish has a fillet that's twice as heavy as a fillet from a 9" fish. 
Dink bluegills and spike deer made me fail out of college! Don't see how you can concentrate with fish like that close by. 
Nice day for sure! Congrats

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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Off of 20 crappie we got 4 quarts of boneless filets. That's a lot of meat considering. 

We usually only keep fish 12 inch range or bigger. They seem to be the better filleting size. 

Yeah I told myself that if I got a 2lber he was going on the wall. Got a few last year at Talquin but they just didn't seem big enough. So now I'm telling myself it's got to be a 3lber or pretty dang close. 

If Cresent keeps this up I don't see a 3lber being out of range. 

Glad we decided to keep the fish from Cresent. Yesterday we fished a local lake outside of gainesville and it sucked. 


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

excellent!


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## Rickpcfl (Nov 12, 2013)

I lived in Keystone Heights for a few years (between Gainesville and Palatka). I fished for bass in Newnan's lake once. I saw more alligators there than any other lake I've fished. 

If you like catfish, I can turn you on to an easy to find spot out of Palatka. I wore them out there every time I went - as long as the tide was moving.


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Rickpcfl said:


> I lived in Keystone Heights for a few years (between Gainesville and Palatka). I fished for bass in Newnan's lake once. I saw more alligators there than any other lake I've fished.
> 
> If you like catfish, I can turn you on to an easy to find spot out of Palatka. I wore them out there every time I went - as long as the tide was moving.


I'm familar with Keystone Heights. I took my kayak out on Newnans this summer when I first moved down here. You are very right about them gators...I sold it the week after that trip :thumbup:

Would be interested to hear about this catfish hole. :whistling:


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## Rickpcfl (Nov 12, 2013)

skiff89_jr said:


> I'm familar with Keystone Heights. I took my kayak out on Newnans this summer when I first moved down here. You are very right about them gators...I sold it the week after that trip :thumbup:
> 
> Would be interested to hear about this catfish hole. :whistling:


 PM Sent. 

I fished Lake Sante Fe a couple of times and never caught a fish. I did catch a 8-9 pound bass in lake Brooklyn. My mother-in-law lives on that lake, so I would use their canoe. I caught a ton of bream flyfishing at dark.


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