Post by righttacklebox on May 21, 2009 10:48:04 GMT -5
5/20/09
Raced home from work, fed the cats, hit the lake by 4:30. A beautiful, picturesque day: Blue skies, sunshine, very warm air temp with super low humidity, not the perfect weather conditions for crappie fishing though, USUALLY.
Slipped on the waders and attempted to quietly ease into Struble’s stain tinted edge. (Me, quietly easing anywhere is a misnomer but hey, give me a break, I’m 225!) The water’s finally warmed to the point of being comfortable wading. (A few weeks ago I think I gave myself hypothermia!) Was fishing extremely light: 4 lb test mono, micro-lite spinning gear, size 12 olive/white Clouser minnow fly tipped with a Gulp Maggot and about 3 feet up, a small weighted bobber to help cast and keep er off the bottom. The very first cast produced a fat perch out of the cattails. First cast fish = bad luck. Nope! Not this time. Second cast and a small crappie was reeled in and released. I caught several specks but far too many were doing the old nibble and spit, so I took off the bobber. This helped some and my strike to catch ratio increased, however, I was still missing more than a few fish. Switching to a tiny white jig w/ a larger, size 8 hook took care of that problem and the action was insane. Was the most crappie I have taken in quite a spell and I’ve been fishing them a long time. The majority were on the smaller side, with every 5th to 6th being a slab.
As the sun started to inch closer to the horizon and the breeze picked up, so did the action! I had to tear myself from the lake so as not to be killed when I got home by the wife! I hate a leavin’ ‘specially when they’re a bitin!
BTW, they all got released so we can catch them again.
