Walleye and crappie, anybody finding them yet with the lake down?

I'll admit up front that I'm more of a sit-on-the-dock-with-a-cane-pole-and-a-thermos fisherman than a serious one. But my brother-in-law Gene has been holding court at my kitchen table every Sunday since the first cold snap, and I'd like to know whether any of it is true before I have to hear it again.

Here's what he's telling me. The lake is down a good bit from where it sat in summer, and he says that moves the crappie off the shallow brush they were hugging in August and puts them on the deeper piles and along the channel edges. He's also sure the walleye bite switches on after we get a few real cold nights in a row, and that we've had enough of those now. He says this with great confidence. He also said the same thing last year, and as far as I could tell he came home with one skinny hybrid and a sunburn in November.

So, for those of you who actually get out there, a few questions:

1. Are you finding crappie on brush piles, and about how deep? Gene says 15 to 20 feet. I suspect he's guessing.
2. Has anybody boated a walleye since it turned cold, or is it still too early? From what I hear it's mostly after dark, which is a hard sell for somebody my age.
3. Do the piles you fished all summer still hold fish with the water this low, or do you have to go find new ones? I know some people sink their own cedar trees, and I'd like to know how much of that is a secret and how much is just bragging.

The Corps page on the lake says Greers Ferry still holds the world record walleye at 22 pounds 11 ounces and the state record hybrid striped bass at 27 pounds 5 ounces. Those records have stood a long time. I figure that with all the talk and all the boats going out of Higden and Sugarloaf, somebody ought to be catching something worth a photo. I pay lake-area property taxes and I would like some fish out of the deal.

On a related note, I picked up a whole tackle box of jigs and crappie lures at a yard sale off Highway 16 two weekends ago for four dollars. Gene looked through it and went quiet, which tells me I did well. If any of you know what a marabou jig is actually supposed to be doing, I'd be glad to hear it, since I now own about forty of them.

Not a serious fisherman either, but a buddy of mine fishes out of Sugarloaf and says he's been catching crappie on brush somewhere around 12 to 18 feet the last couple weeks. So Gene might not be totally wrong this time. He said the shallow stuff went dead once the water dropped. Walleye he hasn't tried, since it's all after dark and he's not sitting out there in November.

On the marabou jigs, from what I understand you fish them slow, a little 1/16 oz one either under a float or straight down over a pile. The feathers move on their own even when you're barely touching it. Forty for four bucks is a good yard sale.

The real estate nerd in me also has to say, with the lake this low you can see exactly which docks around Higden are sitting in mud. Good time to look at lake lots if you're ever shopping, you see what the shoreline really does.

Your buddy's numbers match what I've seen off the Sugar Loaf side. 12 to 18 feet on the piles closer to the channel edge, and the shallow brush quit on me right about when the water came down. Mid-morning has been better than first light lately, for whatever reason.

Walleye I've only tried a couple of times in the cold. It's dark, your fingers hurt, and you earn every fish. I mostly leave that to the younger guys and offer to cook what they bring home.

Shirley, on the marabou, what blake said is right. Go 1/16 oz, fish it slow, and don't overwork it. If the bite is light, tip it with a small minnow. Gene will pretend he already knew that.

With the water this low you can also see stumps and old shoreline you'd never know were there. Good time to learn where the piles and structure are if you've got a lake map handy.

- Wayne