Fairy Lake Fishing – Early Summer Patterns

Considering how often I have written about fishing Fairy Lake, and how many other times we visit this lake without me writing about it, it was a shock when I realized it had been over a month since our last visit. That’s a long time to go without chasing my favorite Fairy Lake crappie, so we packed up the boat and drove to Prospect Park in Acton. It’s amazing how much things can change in a month – the splash pad was full of families enjoying the beautiful weather, anglers lined the banks, picnics were set up throughout the park, the trailer park was full again, and no one was wearing a jacket. The most important change, in my mind, was all the weed now growing in the lake. Cover!

The water level had also dropped drastically since our last visit and Darrell had to put the truck in pretty far before hitting the drop so the boat could float away. Even picking Darrell up at the dock was a little tricky since the water was low enough that I had to raise the electric motor to keep it from getting stuck in the mud. However, lower water has no impact on our favorite spots to fish and we quickly set up in the bay by the launch. Our normal summer pattern here would have us fishing the edge of the weed lines and the pockets so we started by targeting these areas.

Well, well, hello Mr. Crappie.

Not expecting anything to bite, I started by casting small cranks that I pulled right in front of some crappie. They didn’t even move. Darrell started with a curly-tail grub on a light jighead and landed a crappie on his third cast. Deciding to use the proven tactics I swapped rods and started casting my own jig around. Targeting clumps of coontail we were able to start landing fish – all coming from the upper three-feet of the water column. The bite was slower than normal and we decided to move around the lake to look for a more productive area.

As we started casting around it became obvious that we have not spent enough time in the boat as of late. We each had terrible balance while standing up, and more than once we had to prevent ourselves from going for a swim. It was really quite comical as the boat would shift ever-so-slightly and one of us would pitch forward. Both of us need to get our sea-legs back.

Darrell moved the boat into another patch of weeds in five to six feet of water. While crappie will set up in most weeds, they seem to have a particular affinity for coontail, and those weeds are where we focus most of our efforts. With the surface water temps having risen from 70F to 72F, and the sun having broken through the clouds, the crappie were looking for some relief from the heat. Both of us took a few casts and started to notice the crappie were not hiding deep among the weeds, but were taking shelter directly under overhanging clumps of coontail.

It’s a little difficult to see with the glare, but the coontail was forming clumps at the surface that created an overhang. The fish were hiding snug against the weeds.

Once we figured this out, it was pretty easy to target each individual fish. Darrell continued to use his jig with great success, swimming it in front of each crappie. I was having problems keeping my power nymph within range so I grabbed my slip-float rod (also rigged with a power nymph), set a short length, and tossed it out. The sunfish thought this was a great presentation and would absolutely smash my bait, making the float disappear under the water. For the crappie, I used the float as a way of helping me keep the lure within the strike zone, and would swim it along, giving it as much action as I could, and pausing it close to the fish so they had a good look. It worked pretty well and I started pulling fish in more frequently.

The pumpkinseeds are always fun.

The slip-float also made it possible for me to drop my lure directly in front of fish and leave it there for a second as the boat drifted away with the wind. There were several times when I didn’t even open my bale – I just dropped the lure down and picked up the fish. The bite was aggressive as long as they didn’t have to move far. While Darrell hadn’t needed the slip-float, it certainly improved my hook-up percentage for the day. I used to think a slip-float meant you just took a cast and waited, but it has proven to be a variable technique that works well in almost every way you can imagine to fish it.

Just one of the many fish Darrell landed.

It’s never a boring day on Fairy Lake. I caught several, but they sure didn’t want to cooperate for the camera.

This crappie measured 11-inches. Definitely not the biggest one we’ve caught here, but still a very nice one.

Our pattern of catching the fish from the overhanging coontail held up for the rest of the day. We fished in three to fifteen feet of water and pulled them all out of the upper portions of the water. We were still able to find crappie without the coontails, but they were in fewer numbers. Interestingly enough, we only had one non-target catch when a little bass took Darrell’s jig. It will be nice to target bass when they open in two weeks. We spent some time watching a few larger bass in a shallow bay and it appears that they are done the spawn. I almost had another non-target catch when when a large snapping turtle took aim at my nymph. I popped my lure out of there so hard that it ended up back in the boat.

It was another excellent outing to Fairy Lake and I feel so much happier for having visited my ‘home’ lake once again. I was thrilled to see so many other people out there enjoying a beautiful day. This lake really is a gem.

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argosgirl

Sporadic blogger and sometimes podcaster who loves fishing, the outdoors, hanging with her animals, gardening, and reading manga.

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