Get slab happy on Jordan Lake

Jordan Lake’s crappie bite heats up in October

Capt. Travis Bradshaw of Pigpen Guide Service fishes Jordan Lake year-round, but like most anglers across the Carolinas, he really looks forward to October.

“After sweating it out all summer long, this month brings cooler weather, at least in the mornings. And that improves the crappie fishing here. It also makes it more enjoyable for anglers to be on the water,” said Bradshaw (919-669-6989).

This month, anglers should begin to notice crappie ganging up in decent numbers.

“October is a transition month for crappie here, even during years where the summer can seem to drag on into this month,” he said. “The days are already shorter, and the water is cooling down, at least slightly. And at some point this month, the weather is going to finally cool down and not turn back.”

While the past few months have been “shorts and a t-shirt” weather, most of this month will start off with anglers wearing shorts and a hoodie, then stripping down to a t-shirt later in the day.

Something Bradshaw loves about October fishing is that the bite generally stays strong well into the afternoon.

“All summer long, the best bite is in the mornings. But this month, the fish start off the day pretty steady, but as the sun comes up, it gets even better,” he said. “And the bonus is that we as anglers don’t feel like the sun is blistering us all day long.”

Forget the anchor

The two essential pieces of equipment for Bradshaw include his trolling motor and his depth finder.

“I don’t like to anchor down. I like to use my trolling motor to move around in smaller creeks, finding brush and finding baitfish. Even if I don’t see any crappie on my depth finder, I know they will show up as long as I see baitfish,” he said.

After marking a handful of likely-looking crappie locales, he hooks a small minnow on a No. 2 aberdeen hook on eight to 10 rods, then trolls slowly between those spots.

Bradshaw has rod holders located all around his boat, and distributes the rods amongst them as he trolls. This can make for some exciting action.

“I love having a family or group of friends on a trip, trolling slowly. Sometimes, you’ll pick up one or two fish, then another one or two. But other times, you’ll have so many rods bend over at the same time that you can’t catch them all,” he said.

Using an Engel cooler with an aerator to keep his minnows alive, Bradshaw doesn’t fret if he gets down to only having dead minnows.

“If you run out of live minnows, but have some dead ones, that’s not a problem. These fish, when they are hungry, they won’t turn their nose up at a dead minnow,” he said.

If you ask Bradshaw what his overall feeling for this month is, he’ll tell you that it is probably his favorite crappie fishing month on Jordan Lake.

“It’s football season and deer season, and tourist season is over, so that means fewer boats and jetskis are on the water. Plus the fish are beginning to tighten up in groups, and they bite later into the day. On top of that, we start catching some bigger fish as they begin to fatten up,” he said. “It’s just a great time to be on the water catching crappie.”