Short but sweet

[vancleaver]

Got up to the lake yesterday a little after 10am. Fished from shore with a bobber and Trout Magnet; 4# test; the usual drill. Beautiful weather; sunny and 70s. It was flat calm for the first hour or so and then a light breeze kicked up til I left a little after 12. The bite was steady but for the most part pretty subtle. The bobber only went full under a couple times and the were a lot of bites. Brought to hand 6 or 7 crappie (all small) one small perch, a silly no. of gills with 4 or 5 actually respectable (8"). Most fun was a Largemouth 15-16"; didn't measure but a nice fight and healthy looking specimen. I was encouraged by the fact that I caught a couple gills worth keeping though I don't in the warm weather. Too bad I can't ice fish there; taking me awhile to figure the lake out from shore.

[zigtherat]

I'm not much of a panfisherman but 8" gills sound real nice! Not a bad largie either for such light gear.

[vancleaver]

8" is pretty much my bench mark for eating gills, though mostly I eat them in the winter when the water is cold. Went back for a bit yesterday late afternoon. Bright sunshine and very windy; same basic technique as previous. Tough to even see a bite in the chop but caught several gills, two small bass and most encouraging,two crappies. I found that a little surprising considering how bright it was and the fact that I was fishing shallow. One of them was decent a bit over 9". Nice stress relief though only an hour or so. One of these days I'll get a Kayak...

[cvllebanger]

Fall crappie is coming can't wait. If you find the right depth yellow perch are abundant as well

[vancleaver]

This unusually cool weather might ramp up the bite a little bit earlier; fingers crossed.

[icemole]

May have to scope out Ontelaunee before the fall crowd. What are you guys paying for fatheads down that way ?

[cvllebanger]

Icemole if you heard of Kurtz in elverson that's the cheapest. And you can buy by the pound

[icemole]

Yeah I know Kurtz I dealt with them when I worked in the bait shop. Summertime I have no way to keep them, winter I can keep a dozen or two shiners and some fatheads alive in buckets between trips

[cvllebanger]

Kurtz is really only deal in town besides driving to Gordon's. Other than that it's bait vending machine which definitely ain't a deal but works in pinch. The days of the ma and pa tackle shop is coming to a end

[fishinforlife]

I miss Tony Cazzile's tackle shop in the west end of Coatesville it was a nice little shop.

[cvllebanger]

I have his brothers number and address. He building me a boat spot fishing pole now and is fixing 1 of my reels. Yea Tony's was great my grandfather and him were great friends. I even won fishing supplies as a kid from there with biggest fish as a kid.

[fishinforlife]

Wow! Do you mean Bob?who used to have a tackle also in the 80's in Parksburg I believe. So you won the old Mister Wiskers Catfish tournament they used to have ?

[cvllebanger]

Yea Bob is building my pole. No Mr whiskers Tony's use to give out prizes for biggest fish by kids 1 year I had a picture of a 10lb seatrout which won me a pole another year picture of a 12lb carp which won me a tackle set. I know who keeps carp that big but my grandfather knew people who ate almost any fish so he sold it for a fair late 70s Price

[fishinforlife]

A 10Lb seatrout!! Monster. Thinking about hitting Matsh Creek today for panfish. Never fished there before

[cvllebanger]

Yup crisfield MD I was 8 yrs old. 1st deep sea fishing trip grandfather didn't let me eat breakfast before getting on the boat. Once I got hungry I was destroying fried Chicken. Capt told my grandfather he would rather pay my rent than feed me. For those who remember that's when tide runners were thick in the bay.