Crappie Fishing At Houston Woods (Acton Lake)

On a recent Sunday of fishing on Acton Lake (located in Houston Woods State Park) the crappie were definitely biting. Though the normal routine is to drop minnows on a Kentucky rig with a ½ or 1 ounce weight, today was different. The crappie only seemed to be hitting the drop shots when the wind was moving the boat around giving some movement to the presentation. Being this was the case we switched over to casting small 1/16 to 1/8 ounce roadrunners fitted with a small tube-like black and chartreuse skirt. Then we tipped them with live minnows. So how’d this work out? Over 130 crappies were caught between 7:00 am and 3:00 pm. Not a bad day. On top of the crappie numbers we pulled in 4 saugeye, and a mess of bluegill. Now of these 130 only about 30 were kept for an upcoming fish fry. Although Acton Lake requires no size limit on crappie, we self impose a 9 inch limit. In my opinion a 9-10 inch limit on crappies should be the standard throughout Ohio. There is no need to keep potato chips so we let them go to grow for next season. So if you’re looking for crappie, Acton Lake at Houston Woods is the place to be this part of the summer. If you’re looking for good crappie fishing and a bigger variety of species, however, drop a fishing line in over at Caesar’s Creek which is located in Waynesville, Ohio.

A Day At Houston Woods State Park

Below are some recent photos of a trip to Houston Woods State Park in Ohio, home of  Acton Lake. Being that I live not too far away this was just a quick trip to check out the lake and do a little sightseeing. We first went down to the docks and of course seen the ducks having a field day. There were also a couple of families alongside the shore enjoying some quality fishing time.  Moving over to the boat storage area you could see dozens of sailboats ready just waiting to be launched in the coming weeks. My girlfriend is into mushroom hunting (which I’ve never done) so we spent a little time in the woods looking around. We were not lucky that day but we did meet a few people who had found some and were proud to show them off. Moving down the lake we caught up with a couple young guys fishing. They were asking about what kind of fish were found in Acton Lake and what kind of fishing gear to use. I told them that the crappie were really starting to hit as well as some decent size saugeye they could pull off the bottom. All in all not a bad way to spend a few hours. Enjoy the pics!