Jones Sportfishing - We fish the Columbia and Snake Rivers for salmon, steelhead, walleye and sturgeon and our goal is a first class experience on these world class fisheries. We accommodate anglers of all skill levels and love to share our passion for the outdoors with our customers!
A great day on Newman Lake despite the rain all morning. My wife and I arrived around 5:15am and started fishing around 5:30. We ran to the NE end and starting dipping the pads for crappie. Only ended up catching one small one about 7 inches. For some reason this year has started out very tough finding the crappie here. We usually pick up a dozen or better every trip about now. It must be the continuing unstable weather. After about 5 hours of working our way around the north side of the lake and catching a few small bass, perch, and sunfish, we started to get a bit discouraged until BAM!! I knew right away it was a Muskie! This is actually the third one my wife and I have caught on crappie jigs. That's why I run 10# Power Pro braid on my crappie pole when fishing Newman. You just never know when Mr. Toothy will get hungry. I had a secong follow as well from a JR size Muskie about 18" but I noticed him to late to try an oval or figure 8. I think there was a Muskie tournament going on as well because the boats were sure rolling in about the time we launched. And we did see one boat with two anglers boat a Muskie as well. All in all it was a GREAT day!
Great looking fish! Congratulations. Reminds me of a time in Minnesota when my husband had been fishing for perch with a little minnow and #6 hook. We ran a very long distance in the boat to try a spot right before we went into the harbor for the night. He tossed out the #6 hook and now *dead* minnow, and caught a 46.5 " muskie! Now, that was a surprise!
Haaaaa! The longer the Muskie stay in that lake the fewer Crappie your gonna find, that's their job and that is how the state cleans out the lakes that end up with an over population problem... The best thing a guy can do for Crappie is hammer on em so the state won't be inclined to put these monsters in...
BMGW, it's not so much the crappie, or even the perch, but also the carp. I have noticed a major reduction in carp since the Tigers were put in, the crappie and perch are also larger, and the bullhead cats seem to be getting bigger as well.
I'm not convinced the Muskie's are having that large of an effect on the crappie population. I have caught large numbers at Newman and Silver over the past few seasons. And Silver is over run with little crappie in the 8" range. I know because my wife and I caught over 100 two seasons ago in one day and couldn't keep a single one since they didn't meet the 9" minimum.
I am in agreement with tmac03hog, I myself haven't noticed any difference in the amount of crappie I catch at Newman due to the tiger musky being in the lake, if anything I have noticed an increase in the size of these fish increasing. I personally wish we would get more tigers stocked in Newman because they are a blast on the fly rod.. Nothing like throwing a 6-8" streamer for this magnificent predator.
Ya, getting a Tiger by the tail on a fly rod is about as close to heaven as you can get. LOL
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Jones Sportfishing - We fish the Columbia and Snake Rivers for salmon, steelhead, walleye and sturgeon and our goal is a first class experience on these world class fisheries. We accommodate anglers of all skill levels and love to share our passion for the outdoors with our customers!