# Lake Talquin Specks



## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Decided to give the catfish rods a rest until next year and break out all the crappie rigs. We only trolled a few hours this morning and probably caught 15-20 but we only kept these. Wind was in full force so it limited a few spots on the lake, but the specks are everywhere out there.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

Great photos and a nice mess of sacalait. Tell us a little about your rod holder on the back of yout boat and your technique. I don't know a thing about trolling for crappie.


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## frog03 (Aug 8, 2011)

*lake talquin specks*

good looking mess of fish some good eating right there


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

That's just a cheap plain pvc rod holder we built after my June boating incident :whistling:. Not much too and it's designed for catfishing (rod tips up) so I wasn't sure how it would work for trolling for crappie. Our old rolder holders were adjustable so you could tilt the rod tips down and closer to the water when we were crappie fishing and upward when catfishing. Most people like for their rod tips to be parallel with the surface of the water. This allows them to keep a good idea of how deep they're letting their jigs/baits run. This is very important when crappie fishing because they WON'T feed down! This time of the year the specks are basically scattered across the lake, so all you have to do it cover water. Just keep an eye on your depth finder for fish and try to troll with your baits at that depth.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Good job, I think its time for me to hit my crappie hole. You know which one I'm talking about walt.


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

Nice. I love me some dang ol' crappy! Have you tried dropping back a crankbait or two?


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Yakavelli said:


> Nice. I love me some dang ol' crappy! Have you tried dropping back a crankbait or two?


No not yet. I've got a few crappie cranks, but I just can't muster up the courage to try one. Just too many hang ups... I might try it when it gets really cold and they go into pre-spawn. I might could get away with one of them cranks in the channels.


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

Yeah, it's stumpy in there. I don't use crappie crankbaits though. I catch 'em all on bass lures. Found out the crappie love 'em, on accident. Tried both sizes all day on Talquin. Caught every fish on a cotton cordell grappler shad. Done this with crappie/bass in Talquin and Seminole. Plus, you never know, could get a surprise bass or striper, even catfish...don't use 6lb test lol.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

ill be on the water tomorrow chasing them crappies.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*crappie*

Sure do Cathunter. Just yesterday I was looking at the map and roads to the area. . I haven't made it over there yet but I'm going to do it if I have to go by myself like I did to Ocheesee.

Tomorrow me and buddy planto fish specks and reds in a place on the Choctaw Bay we haven't fished before. Getting reports big specks are hitting trolled lures. Not sure how the cold front coming in tonight will impact the bite. Usually it's better to wait a couple of days, but I'm one that goes when when the urge hits, and the urge has hit.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

fishwalton said:


> Sure do Cathunter. Just yesterday I was looking at the map and roads to the area. . I haven't made it over there yet but I'm going to do it if I have to go by myself like I did to Ocheesee.
> 
> Tomorrow me and buddy planto fish specks and reds in a place on the Choctaw Bay we haven't fished before. Getting reports big specks are hitting trolled lures. *Not sure how the cold front coming in tonight will impact the bite*. Usually it's better to wait a couple of days, but I'm one that goes when when the urge hits, and the urge has hit.


Id say you may have good timing. This cold front will be a few days old by then, add in the Big moon with the rising tide and I think you will be pleased with the way the conditions will work out. Take some good pics for us Walt.

Tyler is over there just having a blast.


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

CatHunter said:


> Id say you may have good timing. This cold front will be a few days old by then, add in the Big moon with the rising tide and I think you will be pleased with the way the conditions will work out. Take some good pics for us Walt.
> 
> *Tyler is over there just having a blast.*


Haha what do you mean by that?


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Tyler*

Where Tyler is is a secret. :whistling:


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

fishwalton said:


> Where Tyler is is a secret. :whistling:


I'm still lost? :confused1:


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## jstblsd (Jul 6, 2010)

Awesome catch it's good to know that they are starting to bite!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

skiff89_jr said:


> Haha what do you mean by that?


Catching them crappies


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

I have fall break thanksgiving week so i'll be back out there slaying them slabs :thumbsup:


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Here's the video. Please bare with me as i'm still learning this camera and video editing.


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## Donald811 (May 17, 2011)

Skiff can you give us a little better pic of the rod holder?:notworthy:


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Donald811 said:


> Skiff can you give us a little better pic of the rod holder?:notworthy:


Yes, i'll try and take one tomorrow and post it. :thumbsup:


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## Donald811 (May 17, 2011)

Thanks man, I been tryin to come up with some to use trollin for Spec Trout.


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Here's a few pics


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## Donald811 (May 17, 2011)

Thanks Skiff, I like that, you just saved me a lot of brain work.:notworthy:


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Donald811 said:


> Thanks Skiff, I like that, you just saved me a lot of brain work.:notworthy:


No problem man. You can see in the last pic that we put rubber washers between the holders and the boat to give it a little flex room under pressure. Not sure if it actually helps any, but it sounded good. It would be nice if the outside holders were tilted at a slight angle outwards, but it's not a big problem. Overall it's very cheap, strong, and easy to make :thumbup:


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## Donald811 (May 17, 2011)

2 Tee's instead of cross.:thumbsup:


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## in the boat (Mar 5, 2010)

I was at Talquin just before Thanksgiving and the bite was a little slow then. The fish we ended up with were all quality though. Biggest speck was 15 inches and my wife caught a white bass that was 16 inches.


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

in the boat said:


> I was at Talquin just before Thanksgiving and the bite was a little slow then. The fish we ended up with were all quality though. Biggest speck was 15 inches and my wife caught a white bass that was 16 inches.


Were ya'll trolling or fishing minnows? We fished sometime around Thanksgiving and it was real slow also. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't keep our speed right. Finally tied on some crank baits and started trolling with the outboard and within 10 minutes we were hooked up. Fought something for about 5 minutes while it was screaming drag and made a hard run and snapped our line. Needless to say we've bought more cranks and will be back very soon! It had to of been a good striper :thumbup:


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## in the boat (Mar 5, 2010)

skiff89_jr said:


> Were ya'll trolling or fishing minnows? We fished sometime around Thanksgiving and it was real slow also. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't keep our speed right. Finally tied on some crank baits and started trolling with the outboard and within 10 minutes we were hooked up. Fought something for about 5 minutes while it was screaming drag and made a hard run and snapped our line. Needless to say we've bought more cranks and will be back very soon! It had to of been a good striper :thumbup:


We tried the trolling with very little luck. switched to minnows and it got a little better but still slow. The wife caught her bass on a crank bait. They have some awesome stripes there. If you have any bucktail jigs try giving them a troll through.:thumbsup:


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

Yeah we got a few buck tails to troll with. Should I tail the jigs? If so what with?


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