Branson Area Yields Giant Crappies

Branson Area Yields Giant Crappies

By: Tom Berg

On a recent trip to Branson, Missouri, I wanted to do some fishing. Crappie fishing, to be exact. My friend Bill Cooper and I had scheduled a half day fishing excursion with Capt. Josh Isaacs from Branson's Full Throttle Fishing Adventures, and he recommended that we fish Bull Shoals Lake. He explained that the crappie bite was really heating up at Bull Shoals, and the crappies there are really nice-sized. Who could argue with that?

Most people that visit Branson opt for fishing nearby Table Rock Lake, and it is indeed a great fishing lake – especially for bass. But it seems to get all of the publicity, and Bull Shoals tends to go unnoticed. I figured that might just work in our favor. Less people might mean more and bigger fish!  Although Table Rock is located right next door to Branson, the Missouri waters of Bull Shoals are only a short 20 minute drive from Branson. Perfect!

Bill and I met Capt. Josh at the boat ramp at sprawling Bull Shoals Lake a little before noon on the appointed day. The sun was beating down and it was already hot, although an afternoon breeze seemed to be kicking up early, which I hoped would keep us a little cooler.

Josh was still cleaning fish for his morning customers when we arrived, and we saw that they caught some really nice-sized crappies. Some of them approached 15-16 inches!  That was the good news. The bad news was they said the hot bite tapered off as the sun got higher in the sky in the late-morning. That did not bode well for us, since the sun was now directly overhead in a clear blue sky.

“Bull Shoals is an overlooked hotspot for big crappies!  Photo by Tom Berg.”

As soon as Josh was ready, Bill and I piled our stuff into Josh's boat and we were on our way. We were hoping to catch some big crappies of our own. Josh motored over to a nearby bay that he had not fished recently, and he turned on his electronics so that he could find the submerged brush piles that he knew were there.

Josh stopped the boat and I cast a live minnow under a slip bobber from the front of the boat where he said the underwater brush was located. He told Bill to cast a soft plastic jig to the side since there was submerged wood there, too. It didn’t take more than a minute or two for something to grab my minnow, and I set the hook on a nice 11-inch crappie. As we put it in the livewell, Bill hooked a crappie of his own. His was closer to 12 inches, and it went in the livewell, too. We had a couple more hits in this spot, but then it went dead. Josh said it was time to move, so we reeled up and he motored to another small bay not far away.

“Guide Josh Isaacs smiles over another nice crappie from Bull Shoals.  Photo by Tom Berg.”

A few wispy white clouds appeared overhead as Josh positioned the boat between two underwater brush piles. I was in the front of the boat and I only needed to make 10-foot casts to get my minnow within striking distance of the submerged tree branches. Almost as soon as my minnow disappeared into the depths, the bobber went under. I set the hook but missed the fish. Josh was chiding me about my poor hookset when Bill announced that he had a good fish hooked.

Josh quickly grabbed the landing net and got to the back of the boat just as Bill brought a large crappie to the surface. It was a big one indeed!  Josh slipped the net under it and hauled it aboard. It was a 16-inch white crappie!  We put it on my scale and it weighed exactly two pounds. That’s a trophy crappie in anyone’s book!

I turned my attention back to my minnow and bobber and the bobber disappeared again. This time I hooked the unseen fish, and I fought a 14-inch white crappie to the boat. Josh netted it, too, and we added it to the livewell. As soon as I tossed my minnow back to the submerged brush, another fish inhaled it. I set the hook and I could feel that this was another big crappie!  Josh grabbed the net and we both saw that it was big as it flashed at the side of the boat. After another couple of runs Josh scooped it up. This one was a giant black crappie, measuring just over 15 inches long with a huge girth. We put it on the scales, too, and it was another 2-pounder!  Wow!

“Bill Cooper lifts a pair of bragging-sized white crappie.  Photo by Tom Berg.”

This action continued for quite a while, and the bite seemed to get better as more clouds started to move in. There was no threat of rain, but the cloud cover seemed to help. Bill quickly landed two more crappies that topped 14 inches, and another 15-inch white crappie. I caught several more in that size range, too. By the time we were ready to quit, the livewell had enough crappies in it for Bill and I to both host a great fish fry!

“The author holds a giant black crappie that inhaled a live minnow.  Photo courtesy of Tom Berg.”

Capt. Josh Isaacs is truly an expert when it comes to finding and catching big crappies, as Bill and I discovered first-hand. He fishes all of the waters around Branson year-round, too. Besides crappie fishing trips, Capt. Josh is also very skilled at catching everything from bluegills and largemouth bass to trout and trophy-sized striped bass. Give him a call (or text) at 417-251-0433 or send him an email. You can also find more information on his website.

We stayed at Lilleys’ Landing Resort and Marina on upper Lake Taneycomo while we were in Branson, and it was the perfect base of operations for us. It was just a short drive to downtown Branson for restaurants and attractions, and the fishing on Lake Taneycomo was great, too!  The Lilley family runs a first class resort and we can’t wait to make a return trip.

The next time you visit the Branson area, be sure to check out some of the other great things to do, too. Besides crappie fishing on Bull Shoals and bass fishing on Table Rock Lake, there is world-class trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo, too. For the non-fishermen in the family, don’t forget Branson’s live music shows, restaurants, outdoor adventures and many other attractions.

So start planning your own Branson adventure right now – you will be glad that you did.

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