Fished on Thursday and Friday before the tournament. Launched at Cholla and started in 75 to 80 FOW down lake. We were using double jig rigs tipped with minnows, and had inline weights of 1 and 2 oz. trolled at 1MPH 20 to 25 feet down. Anything with chartreuse seemed to be the ticket. Fish were very scattered, but enough to keep us in the area for most of the time. We also spent some time on the buoy line, and found a ton of fish near the north shoreline over some trees.
On tournament day I had a different back seater. We tried to emulate the deep pattern, but it really was hit and miss until about 10am, when we got 5 fish in about a half an hour. We ended up moving up lake to find some fish with size. Fished from 20 FOW all the way back to the buoy line over the cottonwoods that are just coming out of the water. We also used bare minnows up there, but still had more success with the jigs. On my livescope the fish are really tucked up into the trees near the bottom. Occasionally we would get one to come out, but for the most part they wouldn't play.
Ended up with 14 crappie Thursday, 8 Friday, and 14 Saturday. Water temps were at 67 to 71. Lake looks amazing. Should be a good winter and spring once they start to really move up and school.
