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Crappie Trip (Update)

Coker

Coker

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Jun 9, 2014
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White Co. TN
I am looking for a good crappie guide/fishing trip for my daughter (age 18) and me in early spring. We have been going crappie fishing for the last few years and it has become a trip both of us enjoy. 1st year went to Chicamagua, 2nd year to Percy Priest, last year was a bust due to Covid. We would like to try a different lake this year but don't have any ideas on who or where (Kentucky, Barkley, Center Hill....etc). Any ideas would be much appreciated.

UPDATE........
Crappie fished today with Terry Elliott (www.elliottsguideservice.com). First let me say, Terry is a very good guide and I would strongly recommend him. From what I gathered today, he is a stand up guy as well. We met at the boat ramp at 7:30 and arrived back at 4:30. He had everything we needed for the day excluding snacks and drinks, which we brought. The fishing was tough with muddy water and post storm conditions but the day was beautiful and we enjoyed being out there. Terry had multiple stake beds marked and there were definitely plenty of spots/options to fish. Spider rigging was something I had never done before but it quickly grew on me. All my daughter and I had to do was watch the rods and bring in the fish. Terry did everything else. We ended up the day with 15 and let go about half of that of short fish. Terry even cleaned and bagged our fish before we left for home. Overall, great trip, great guide, and beautiful day.
 
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If you don't mind the drive I would call Brad Chappell and go out with him on Lake Washington.

HOME - Brad Chappell Guide Service

Booking for 2023! Time to knock down some slabs. Give me a call to book your trip, it is going to be a great year. Hi, my name is Brad Chappell. I am the owner of Brad Chappell Guide Service where I specialize in catching crappie on the beautiful Lake Washington in Greenville, Mississippi...
bradchappellguideservice.com bradchappellguideservice.com
 
Spurhunter said:
If you don't mind the drive I would call Brad Chappell and go out with him on Lake Washington.

HOME - Brad Chappell Guide Service

Booking for 2023! Time to knock down some slabs. Give me a call to book your trip, it is going to be a great year. Hi, my name is Brad Chappell. I am the owner of Brad Chappell Guide Service where I specialize in catching crappie on the beautiful Lake Washington in Greenville, Mississippi...
bradchappellguideservice.com bradchappellguideservice.com
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Or patrick stone if going to miss.
 
Spurhunter said:
Good thing about him is he fishes Grenada. Probably your best chance to catch a 3 pounder.
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He fishes everywhere,got a buddy thats pretty tight with him,he a goodun.Hes gonna do his best to put you on fish and have a good time.He says if he does his job right he will have repeat customers.
 
blueball said:
He fishes everywhere,got a buddy thats pretty tight with him,he a goodun.Hes gonna do his best to put you on fish and have a good time.He says if he does his job right he will have repeat customers.
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If I was booking a guided trip with him it would definitely be on Grenada. That's the 1 lake of the Big 4 I know nothing about and that's where the 3 pounders live. I've never caught one close to 3. Two and a half pounders are catchable at Sardis, Enid or Arkabutla, but 3 pounders are rare. I'm planning to spend some time at Grenada this year.
 
Coker said:
Thanks guys. Looking to stay in TN as I don't want to waste too much time driving for a 1 day fishing trip.
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I'd highly suggest a 2 day MS trip since you missed last year....gotta catch up!!
It will be worth it I promise.
Lots of great suggestions here depending on what technique you wanna use.
As mentioned for KY lake- Terry is a spider rigger, Brandon is a long liner and Doug is known for pulling crankbaits.
On the livescope side id prob say any of the MS guys or Chase Petty for KY lake and other TN waters.
 
Not been r
Spurhunter said:
If I was booking a guided trip with him it would definitely be on Grenada. That's the 1 lake of the Big 4 I know nothing about and that's where the 3 pounders live. I've never caught one close to 3. Two and a half pounders are catchable at Sardis, Enid or Arkabutla, but 3 pounders are rare. I'm planning to spend some time at Grenada this year.
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Not been as rare since livescope,buddies have caught 3 3lbers in the last 2 months in miss.Been hearing of others being caught also,but you must know how to open water livescope and fish for the biguns.
 
X-Tennessean said:
I'd highly suggest a 2 day MS trip since you missed last year....gotta catch up!!
It will be worth it I promise.
Lots of great suggestions here depending on what technique you wanna use.
As mentioned for KY lake- Terry is a spider rigger, Brandon is a long liner and Doug is known for pulling crankbaits.
On the livescope side id prob say any of the MS guys or Chase Petty for KY lake and other TN waters.
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I would love to do a 2 day MS trip but at $400 a day, that adds up quickly....not counting all the other expenses for an out of town trip. It is very tempting though.
 
There is a fellow who lives in Maryville and fishes Fort Loudon and Tellico and guides $200 1/2 day $400 8 hrs. He has a youtube channel Wired for Crappie ,his name is Matt Xeon or something like that.
 
Kentucky Lake would be good.
Know it's a bit too far to drive but an area called the Chicken Coops on Toledo Bend is awesome. Back in 1983, I saw a paper graph from that area. So many crappie staging to scatter and spawn that the graph showed a solid black stripe! The area got its name from several chicken houses on the bluff overlooking the lake.
 

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