Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishin' 2010

My couple of crappie were not near as impressive as the above haul, but maybe you guys could give me a few tips on getting a better catch if i elaborate the details.

The entire area I fish is filled with cover, except the deepest spots that i can't cast to, where the boat launches are, i wouldn't be able to tell you. Mainly 12 ft of water, with a quick draw up to 3ft depth about 10ft out from shore, then slowly raising up to me. a fast current comes out of the creek, but slows in the mississippi. I don't hit any fast current parts of the Miss. Depending on the lure i am using and the time of day, i either cast straight out perpendicular to the miss, or diagonally into piasa creek and let the current put a little more action on the lure.

Tons of cover. There are thousands of old dead trees that have washed up on shore, and tons of them submerged (damn snags, never use an expensive lure there) or hung up on each other. Can't wait till summer when i can throw a topwater in there, should be awesome.

There's even an old fridge that's submerged there, when the river draws down you can see it popping out of the water.

Not many good sized crappie, all are pretty small. Once and a while you get a good one, but honestly, it's not all that exciting. The sauger are the real draw. (Which i assume means there would also be walleye around, but i never see them). No i haven't seen any eggs, although i honestly wouldn't know what to look for. h20 temp was pretty frigid, i'd say just over 30 degrees to tell by touch (yeah, still big sheets of ice floating down the Miss too...not optimal fishing conditions).

This is just south of where the illinois dumps into the miss, so the lumber littering the river is abundant, and you have less than 5, 6 inches of water clarity through the silt at the creek mouth, a little more when you're in the river proper, or upstream in the creek from the mouth. I guess i never really have tried much besides different plastics, but i would assume otherwise there are tons of fish in the area.

Any thoughts?
-SB