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Latest Report...
11/9/08
OK - cold weather is
finally here. It snowed for the first time here in East
Tennessee last week. Most nights the temperature is in the mid
to low 30's. That will drive the water temperature down and
make the crappies go on a big time chew for the winter.
Follow the bait - rule #1
in the fall. You have heard me say that a zillion times. But I
can't say it enough. Fish follow the food source this time of
year. Bass will be caught chasing shad in the creeks from
morning to night. Crappies are not far away, after all the
feed on the shad too right... So follow the shad and you
should find some crappies. As I have found out lately though,
there may be too much bait in a certain area.
This year on our lakes here
in East TN, the shad have been very thick. Must have been a
good year for them. And the channels and creeks have been full
of them. The depth finder screen is literally blacked out in
some places because of all the bait fish. So trolling through
that soup is usually not going to produce. Once the water
cools down into the 40's, a lot of that bait will be gone and
the crappies will be more interested in your jigs or
cranks.
So what to do when faced
with this situation? One thing I do is to look for some
structure on the bank in 15 - 20 feet of water. No matter
where you live, some of the crappies in your lake will be on
that shoreline structure this time of year. Cast and flip jigs
to that structure and let it fall on a slack line. Watch for
the line to stop or twitch, set the hook. I also like to
"shoot" docks this time of year. This is a simple
technique where you pinch the jig between your thumb and index
finger, pull the jig back putting a bend in the rod, aim and
shoot the jig under the dock. Shoot it as far as you can back
under the dock. Let the jig fall on a slack line and again,
watch the line. If it stops, twitches or goes off in another
direction, set the hook.
I have found dock shooting
in the fall to be most effective during the middle of the day.
Especially on sunny days. Large marina cover docks are a hot
spot that I look for. Shoot your jig in those tight spaces
between the boats and let the jig do it's thing. You may
surprised how many quality crappies you can catch from a very
small area with this method.
I generally use very small
jigs for dock shooting. I prefer 1/64th oz, with 1/48th and
1/100th standing by for special situations. This smaller bait
seems to get bit a lot more than my standard 1/32 and 1/16th
oz jigs when shooting docks. The smaller bait sinks slower
too. I put a 1" tube jig on the small jig head, generally
a light color as I'm usually shooting docks on bright
days.
Last point - I like to
shoot docks on the main lake in the fall. I rarely go very far
back into a small creek. Stick to the larger creeks and the
main channel. Once it gets too cold to shoot that jig, it will
be time to start trolling again!
10/10/08
October ushers in some of
the best crappie fishing of the year for many parts of the
country. The cooler weather makes a day on the lake a whole
lot easier to enjoy as well. Not too many jet skies and
pleasure boaters out when the mercury drops below 40F. And
here in NE Tennessee we have already had two frosts and the
air temp has dropped down near 40F or below nearly every night
for about month.
This colder weather will
drop the lake temps pretty quick. The crappies know winter is
coming and they will eat like crazy trying to fatten up for
winter and the eventual spawn in the spring.
In our part of the country,
the bait fish move into the creeks and up the lake to the
point where the feeder creeks and rivers dump into the lake at
this time of year. One of my favorite Winter time crappie
honey holes is the Eno River in North Carolina. This is the
river that feeds Falls Lake North of Raleigh. No where is the
migration of crappies into the river that feeds a lake more
evident than at the Eno. Once it gets cold, the river is full
of crappies and the shad they feed on. The anglers that are in
the know on this spot can't wait for winter to arrive. If you
have a large creek or river that feeds your lake, you would be
well advised to toss a jig or some live bait over the side and
see if there are some crappies there right now.
Believe it or not, I love
to troll crankbaits or crank/jig combo's this time of year.
I'll be in or near a creek or up the lake in the river,
fishing the channel edges. The upper half of the lake is where
I'll be fishing from now until spring. And I can cover a lot
of water trolling crankbaits. If I catch a fish I'll mark the
spot on my GPS an keep going. I'll run a mile or so of a creek
and try to pinpoint where the fish are concentrating. I can
move quickly with the cranks and they will stay at a precise
depth. Once I know where the fish are concentrating I'll
change, if needed, to whatever technique will allow me to stay
in the strike zone. Sometimes you will need to tightline and
move slowly over a creek channel edge with live bait. The next
day you may need to troll two 1/16th oz jigs along a sloping
point. You need to be versatile this time of year and be
prepared with the right equipment on hand. You never know what
the fish will want from one day to the next. Unlike the spring
of the year, fall patterns can change quickly.
You have heard me talk
about the "magic depth" for a long time. Down here
in the SE US that seems to be between 15' and 18' during the
winter. This is driven by the thermocline. A point at which
oxygen rich water meets oxygen depleted water. This is a
subject for another time. But the point is, the crappies will
hang at this depth for several reasons - food, oxygen and
water temperature. Find the thermocline depth in your lake and
fish some structure right at that depth. You will catch some
fish.
A more subtle tip for this
time of year is size and color of jigs to use. I prefer the
more natural colors in the colder months. But the old stand
bye red/chrt, blue/chrt, black/chrt and purple/chrt should
always be in your spread somewhere. Salt and Pepper, clear
with silver flakes, 4th of July, Firecracker are all jigs I
will be using heavily this time of year. White crankbaits are
my primary choice if I'm fishing cranks that day. The smaller
Shad Raps, Bandits and Normans are my favorites. The key here
is to have several different sizes handy. The fish may prefer
one size over another based on the forage base size. Use a
crank that's too big and you may get skunked while the guy
next to you is loading the livewell with tasty fillets!
9/2/08
September is here baby -
yeah!
While you can catch some
nice crappies during the summer months, especially at night,
all die hard crappie fishermen look forward to Labor Day and
the end of summer. The days get a little shorter, the nights a
little cooler and the crappie fishing gets red hot!
In the coming weeks the
fish will be on the move and eating every thing in sight to
fatten up for the winter and next years spawn. They will bite
all day long, and if you can find them they aren't very picky
either.
Follow the bait. Let me
repeat that - FOLLOW THE BAIT! Locate the schools of shad that
are moving out of the main lake and into the creeks and you
will find crappies. Also, head up the lake to where the main
river dumps into the lake. Bait fish will move into the main
creek channels at the head of the lake as the water begins to
cool. The "magic depth" in NC, as Jay used to call
it, was between 17' - 18' in the fall. It seemed that most of
the lakes we fished in Central NC had a sweet spot at that
depth. Troll some jigs or crank baits or fish with live bait
and you were bound to catch some crappies.
As the years went by we
realized that depth was where the thermocline was at that time
of the year. The bait fish would suspend in a column of water
between 15' and 20' for about 2 months leading up to fall turn
over. You could where the crappie out if you were able to
locate some bait at that depth near a creek.
The main point here is to
watch the water temperature, use your electronics to find
schools of bait, and then choose a technique that will get
your baits down to that precise depth or slightly above it.
Experiment with colors until you find one the fish prefer. One
thing to keep in mind is that if you find some fish this time
of year they probably won't be scattered out too much. They
will be packed in an area pretty tight. So if you catch one or
two, mark the spot on your GPS. Keep on going for a bit. If
you don't catch a fish within a few hundred yards, turn around
and go back. I have literally had to troll in a circle at
times to stay on a bunch of crappies in the fall.
Once they are in the
creeks, the fish will scatter out a little and even run up
shallow to munch on bait fish. Shooting docks and shoreline
brush will produce for a short time once the crappies have
come in to feed up for the winter. This doesn't last a long
time. But if you can hit it just right, man it's a blast!
7/15/08
Not much to report this
time. A few die hards here in East Tennessee are catching some
fish at night and early in the mornings. Personally I haven't
been on the lake in over a month. Although it is hot and there
are a lot of pleasure boaters on the lake this time of year,
you can still catch some crappies for dinner.
You may have to try several
different techniques and move around a little to find some
fish but it can be done. Without a doubt the best time to go
is through the week and early in the morning. I always start
my morning super early if possible, before the sun comes up.
I'll head straight to some lighted docks and boat houses with
some water depth under them. A trick my old buddy Terry
"Grizzly" King taught me was to cast tiny plastic
jigs to crappies feeding under the lights. And when I say tiny
I mean 1.0" or less in length and 1/64th or 1/100th oz
jig heads. Use two lb test and about a 5' light action
spinning rod. Cast that little jig up into the light and just
let it fall on a slack line. It will sink really slow because
of the light weight jig head. Watch the line! If it stops or
twitches set the hook easy and reel the fish in carefully.
Make sure you have a net as even a small crappie can pop that
2lb line. He used to swear by "Crappie Snacks" for
this technique. And he caught a lot of fish doing it. As soon
as the sun comes up I will fish some of my favorite marina
slips. I'll pitch minnows and small jigs into the empty boat
slips and around the boats where I can. Schools of small shad
fry will congregate under the massive floating docks. You can
usually pick up a few before the boat owners show up and the
fish go deep. From there I will head to some brush piles on
the main lake points. I'll fish from 20' - 30' deep depending
on the level of bright sun. I won't even pick up a jig rod, I
stick with live bait. The bite will only last an hour or so
after the sun is up so go to the high potential spots first.
As soon as I see the first skier, I'm headed home. This whole
fishing trip will only last about three hours. But I can
usually get enough for supper.
Go back to that same
marina at night. The big floating docks are a super hot spot
for crappies at night. Get permission first! Get a bucket of
minnows and some spinning rods and go have some fun. You might
be surprised how many fat slabs you can catch with very little
effort.
6/3/08
After the spawn bass and
crappies get pretty hard to catch for a few weeks. There
really is no magic formula to make these fish bite. They are
worn out from the spawn and need some time to recover. Most of
the time they will retreat back off the bank to the first
creek channel, major piece of structure or run out to the end
of a long tapering point and just suspend and recover. You can
see them on your depth finder but they just won't hit a thing.
Patience is the key here. And finding feeding fish is the
objective. This will require covering a lot of water.
There is no better
way to do that this time of year than with crank baits.
Trolling crank baits has quickly become a popular way to catch
summer time crappies. About 30 years ago my father and I
trolled crank baits for bass throughout the summer. We used
big ones and small ones, but some produced netter than others.
And occasionally we would catch a big crappie mixed in with
the bass. Little did we know that if we would have fine tuned
our technique a little and focused on the areas where we
caught those crappies, we would have been able to load up.
Many years later I
did fine tune my crank bait trolling technique and it has
produced well for me ever since. I do a few unique things to
crank baits when I'm trolling that have paid off for me over
time. First is to make darn sure the crank is running
straight. Let it back in the water and watch the line. Twist
the line tie in one direction or the other to get it running
dead straight. I use small bait clips which help to quickly
change cranks. On most cranks I remove the belly hook and
replace the rear hook with a bigger treble or #2 bronze hook.
They won't get hung up nearly as bad with that belly hook
removed. If you are trolling around cover this will save you a
lot of baits. In open water it's not necessary. Get a good
plug knocker just in case and keep it handy.
I generally troll
with six crank baits at a time when I am alone. Spread the rod
tips out to help keep the baits apart in a turn. I use 6 lb
test line, occasionally 8 lb. But the thinner the line the
deeper the crank will run. I only let them back about 45 - 60
feet max. Any more than that in my opinion is too much. Fish
pull off when trying to reel them in from 100 feet back and
that crank won't run much deeper due to line drag. A big bow
forms in the line under water pulling the crank closer to the
surface. You can control the whole spread better if you keep
the cranks closer to the boat, trust me on that one.
I pull them from
about 1.2 mph to about 1.9 mph. The baits will reach max depth
from about 1.5 mph on up to about 2.5 or even 3 mph. Any
faster and some have a tendency to twirl and swim off to one
side. Experiment and find out which speed works best for
you.
I usually stick to
big main channel flats that butt up against the main creek
channel in the summer. Schools of bait fish will hang out on
these flats. The crappies and many other game fish will be
right there with them. Mark the bait and determine the depth
they are suspended at. Pick some cranks that will run right
through them or just above them. Now pull the cranks right through
the bait and around it as well. Keep your drag set light
because a big bass, striper or catfish might inhale your crank
bait.
I prefer the Bandit
series 200 and 300 above all others. I have about 25 different
colors and they all work. The Bandit web site has some great
depth charts that are dead on with 10 lb test line. Print out
the graphs and keep them handy. I laminated some and keep them
in the boat. I can get my cranks right in the fish. But my 6lb
line will let the bait run a little deeper than the chart.
Like I said earlier, you will need to experiment a
little.
3/9/08
I fished Cherokee
lake last Sunday 3/2/08. Man what a beautiful day. 60 degrees,
a light wind and bright sunshine - I got sunburn on my face -
in March! How can you hate that...
The fish are
starting to move in on Cherokee. I have heard similar reports
from around the South East and Central US as well. This is the
time of year when trolling can be extremely effective. You can
cover a lot of water and present multiple baits to the fish.
Flat line trolling or "long lining" as some people
call it is my preferred technique this time of year.
Look for fish at
the mouth's of the major creeks and coves. Water temperature
is the key. Look for the warmest water you can find. Crappies
will be near bye. They can be on the bottom, six inches under
the surface or anywhere in between. But they will be facing
into that warmer water and getting ready to move in. They are
maximizing their body temperature and preparing to be in the
right place when the time comes to move in and spawn.
Your mission is to
intercept them on the way in. Follow the routine I described
last week. Look for the report on the
"Reports" page for the report from last week.
Experiment with colors and keep plenty of minnows handy to tip
your jigs with. Try two jigs tied several feet apart to get
deeper and to cover two depth ranges at one time. One of my
favorite rigs this time of year is a 1/16oz road runner with
another 1/32oz road runner tired 24" above it. I can fish
this combo from 2 feet deep down to 18 or 20 feet deep. The
flash, noise and vibration from the RR blade really gets some
nice fish to bite. Another good one is a large jig on the
bottom, say a 1/8oz with a 2" tube jig and then a live
minnow on a snelled hook 18" up the line. That one is
double trouble for finicky crappies. Most can't resist a
lively minnow right in front of their nose.
Experiment with
different rigs and techniques. This is one time of year when
you can catch fish with a wide variety of methods. You can
hone your skills, tune your rig and catch fish pretty consistently
until they move really shallow.
Most of my fish
are still coming from 13' - 19' of water, suspended between 1'
and 6 feet of the bottom. Surface temp is 51F - 53F. Purple
and Chart seems to be the ticket for me right now in slightly
stained to off color water. Trolling .7 - .9mph on the GPS
puts the 1/8oz jig right in the fish.
Good luck, keep
the pictures and reports coming - and take some one new to our
sport, hopefully a young person, with you next time. You won't
regret it.
3/3/08
Pre-spawn fish are
the target right now. The key to catching these fish is
locating them. Water temperature plays the most important role
right now. Having some bait fish near bye helps but the water
temp is going to be the ticket. I have caught fish on the
banks in water temp as low as 49 F and as high as 70 F. They
go when their internal clock tells them to. And they all don't
go at the same time. Personally, I don't fish for spawning
fish anymore. Now, now - it's ok if you want to, but I stopped
a long time ago. The way I see it, if they get by me on the
way to spawn, they have earned the right to do so without
being bothered by me. But I get my fair share when they are
moving in I promise ya' that much! And here is how I do
it.
I always start at
the back of a prospective creek or cove first. I start shallow
and work my way out. I know that is where they are headed so
I'm bound to run into some fish on the way out. I would much
rather find out the fish have moved into shallow water early
than eight hours later after looking all day. Yes, they may
move shallow as the day goes on, but I have found using this approach
helps me locate fish faster.
I'll start with
1/64th and 1/48th oz jigs and troll the back end of the creek
in 3 - 5 feet of water. Check the water temp, remember
it. I move quick and cover that area fast. I generally
use brightly colored jigs even if the water is clear and the
sun is out. No decent fish in 30 minutes or so, I'm moving out
a little. I'll now try the first drop out from the bank in the
mid section of the creek. I'm looking for staging fish in 5 -
8 feet of water. I'll switch to a 1/32oz jig and adjust my
speed watching the depth finder all the time. I now have a GPS
every where I go. If I get a fish I mark the waypoint
immediately. And I do this every time whether it's a big fish
or not. I'm trying to put a pattern together so all the data
counts. I'll pull that area down both sides of the creek for
another 30 minutes or so. Pay attention to which side of the
creek the sun hits first. That can make a difference. Again,
I'm watching the depth finder constantly monitoring depth,
contour and temperature. No good fish, I'm moving to the
center of the creek in that mid range and fishing the channel
in 8 - 12 feet of water. Check the temp. You are looking for
the warmest water. The fish could be right up near the surface
in the center of the creek. So watch the depth finder closely.
At this point I'll use my hand help temp gauge and check the
water temp at different depths. If I find that the water down
6 or 8 feet is warmer than the surface I will change to
traditional "long line" tactics and troll on out of
the creek. The fish may be staging on the points or channels
leading into the creek. I'll switch to a little heavier jig
like a 1/16oz or even a 1/8oz and get the bait down to them.
They will be easier to see on the depth finder if they are out
in the deeper water. Just get the jig and speed right to drag
the bait right at the depth the fish are holding or
slightly above them. Remember they won't go down for a bit,
keep it above them. Experiment with colors now and use the
basic rule of thumb. Bright colors on a bright day and dark
colors on a dark day. Tip your jigs with minnows and keep them
lively.
This entire
process will take me no more than an hour or so, maybe an hour
and a half. I fish fast, I cover a lot of water. I can put
together a pattern pretty quick using this approach. I will
generally only fish 4 rods when running this routine simply
because I can change them out quick and control them better.
But once I zero in on some fish, I'll go to 8 or even
10.
2/5/08
Sorry for my long
absence - been busy. Some of the best crappie fishing of the
year is right around the corner. All the Killer Kid pictures
above have two things in common - happy kids and spring time
crappies. This is the time of year to take your kids or a new
crappie killer fishing. Wait for a nice day, get some
"minners" and a few jigs and go catch some
dinner.
The key this time
of year is water temperature. If you don't have a water
temperature gauge in your boat, go get a portable one. It's a
must this time of year. You can get an inexpensive one at
Wal-Mart for under twenty bucks. And it will be money well
spent.
I start in the
upper end of any lake or reservoir this time of year. That
section of the lake will get the longest exposure to the sun
and warmer creek and river water is coming in there as well.
Warmer - are you nuts? No I'm not. Rain water and run off
water is always a few degrees warmer this time of year. It may
be muddy, but that's ok. The particles in the muddy water hold
heat. It will be slightly warmer than the lake, trust me on
this one. Look for areas where feeder creeks come in at the
backs of coves/main or secondary creeks. Use your temp gauge
to measure the temp from the mouth of the creek all the way to
the back. You should see the temp rise a little as you move
back. Watch the depth finder as you move along the creek
channel edge or in the channel itself. Somewhere between the
main channel and the back of that creek you will find some
crappies bunched up. Sometimes they will be suspended, others
they will be flat on the bottom. So look close and don't go
too fast. When you see a distinct temp change or mark some
fish, throw out a marker or put in a waypoint on your GPS.
Keep looking. Ride around and scout the area good before
setting up to troll. Yes troll. The water is too cold you say
- not... As soon as the water temp starts to rise from the
stable temp your lake reaches in the dead of winter, crappies
will move in. They point their noses straight into that warmer
water and start swimming!
If the sun is
bright they may move up to within a foot of the surface over
50 feet of water at the mouth of a creek. It's all about
getting their body temperature up and getting ready to lay
some eggs. Intercepting the fish on the way to the spawning
areas is what you are trying to do. So look for a place you
know they want to spawn, then look out in the deeper water
they are coming form, and somewhere in between you will find
them. Usually in the warmest water you can find.
One tip to keep in
mind is to run right up to the bank and measure the water temp
before starting to troll. The water up at the bank will warm
faster as it is shallower and has the bottom to help warm it
up. The surface temp may be 40 in the main lake and 55 at the
bank in your creek. The fish will be up there and you will be
trolling for blanks.
Old reports below
High Rock Lake - Spring
Crappie Outing 4/8/06

Some
of the guys from the Spring Outing on High Rock Lake
Another
Crappie Outing is in the books. This was our sixth event if I'm
not mistaken. The decision was made to hold this event on High
Rock Lake for several reasons. The biggest of which was
participation. And this is driven by the location and the
possibility of catching lots of fish. The Rock is centrally
located and has tons of crappies that are very willing to bite.
The only thing that could present a problem was the weather.
And, as usual, the weather presented a problem. I
left Winston at 5:30 AM headed for Tamarac. The wind was calm,
no rain and I could see a few stars. I was happy to see that the
weather man missed it by a little and hoping that the he would
continue to be wrong. Arrived
at the Marina at 7:00 AM and met Cherokee and his family.
Grizzly and his dad were already fishing. Several other die
hards rolled in around 7:15 and Don Robinson and the Waxhaw crew
were quick to follow. Nat and Jay were there and ready to go.
Les Tate showed up as promised and was prepared to take some new
comers Kenny Bainbridge and his daughter Alexis on there first
crappie trolling trip. Some of the boats took off in spite of a
really nasty looking thunderstorm that was pressing down on us
from the East. The rest of us took shelter under the deck on the
restaurant. Sure enough the rain, lightning and wind started
just minutes later. Jay got a few adult beverages and coffee and
we waited the storm out. 20
minutes had passed and we were all ready to get on the lake. The
storm cleared and the sun actually came out for a short period
of time. Everyone took off in there own direction with smiles on
there faces. Boyce "Crappie Crazy" Bishop and I went
to Duck Creek to start trolling. With
the slightly overcast skies and off colored water we selected
jigs in the mid to dark range. Seeing that most of the fish
appeared to be just off the bottom we started with 1/16 oz jig
heads and a few road runners as well. Within 100 yards of
starting we had a few small fish in the boat. Generally this
time of year I like to start at the very back of a creek and
work my way out. Slowing my speed as I go to get the jigs down
to the depth I see the fish on the finder. However if you have
wind it sometimes forces you to do the opposite. One of my rules
is never troll against the wind. Whenever possible troll with
the wind. The wind causes a slight bit of current. And the fish
will almost always be facing into that current. Therefore you
will be pulling the jigs up from behind the fish if you troll
against the wind. They get less time to see the bait as it just
passes over them and disappears quickly. Pulling it
towards them, with the wind, gives the fish more time to see the
bait and react to it. Anyway - I digress. We ended up with a few
keepers coming from 6 - 9 feet deep on the few road runners we
had out. We quickly changed to get a few more road runners out
and switched to shades of blue and green jigs. We had a pretty
good pattern figured out after several passes. Problem was, as
is the case often on High Rock, the fish were small. One keeper
out of 5 or 6 fish. Ultimately
we agreed that the fish were tight to the bottom, 7.5 - 10 feet
deep, they preferred blue/chart 1/16 road runners and they had
to be close to the bottom. This was a classic transition zone
scenario. The fish were mid way back in the creek. Water temp
ranged from 59 - 61 degrees. They were setup on the first break
out from the bank and holding. When the sun popped out they
would move up a little in the water column and feed more
aggressively. But there was very little sun today. Boyce
and I tried a few more spots picking up a few more keepers as we
went. The wind and off and on threat of T-storms kept us from
trying any main channel spots. I'm sure there were bigger fish a
little further out in the creeks suspended. But they were in a
very negative mood and seemed to be un-catch able. We stuck to
our shallow water pattern and caught some nice fish for the
cookout. We headed in at 1:30 PM with 14 keepers with the
largest fish weighing right at one pound. 
"NC
Nat" and Boyce "Crappie Crazy" Bishop cleaning
some fish for the cookout When
we returned to the marina we met several other boats that had
arrived early. Everyone had fish. But the comments were all the
same - glad it didn't rain anymore and the fishing was slow.
Although no one really seemed to crush 'em, everyone had some
fish. Terry Grizzly King and his dad had the largest fish for
the day. A nice white crappie that weighed well over a pound.
Many others had fish that were nearly as big but once again they
had the nicest fish we saw. For numbers I think Don Robinson and
his friends form Waxhaw had the most fish. There were a few new
comers at this outing including Alexis Bainbridge and her dad
Kenny from Charlotte. 
Alexis
Bainbridge getting her fish out of the live well - Les Tate
looks over her shoulder A
big Crappie Killer thank you to Les Tate for taking Kenny and
Alexis fishing. They really enjoyed it. Nothing like seeing a
kid smile after they caught a fish - killer...

Don
Robinson and his buds from Waxhaw cooked up a great meal -
Thanks Don! We
ate at 3:00 PM right on schedule. Don and his buddies were
really prepared. They had everything and made it all look easy.
The food was excellent and there was just enough to feed the 25
- 30 people we had to feed. Many thanks to everyone that helped
out with the food and preparation. Del, we'll be looking forward
to more of those hush puppies ; ). The desserts Sandy Bainbridge
brought were excellent. I won't soon forget that chocolate chip
cake - yum... 
I
would like to thank Nat for setting up the gazebo and grounds at
Tamarac for the outing. Nat is a great guy and is always a big
part of every event we have. I also want to thank Nat for the
hospitality and allowing the old, fat, tired crappie killer to
sleep at his house after the event. After
talking with most of the guys that fished today, the story was
about the same. The fish they caught were on or near the bottom.
Most were caught between 8 and 15 feet deep. Colors that were
effective were in the mid to dark range. The most popular were
red/chart, green tri colors, blue/chart and black/chart. Water
temp ranged from 58 - 64 depending on where you were fishing on
the lake. A
large time was had by all again this year. The weather was rough
in the morning but gave us a break for most of the day. Boyce
and I along with Nat and Jay went back out after the cookout to
try to catch a few more. But the weather took a turn for the
worse and we had to head back in. All in all I think the event
went very well. We had over 100 people that had said they were
coming to this event. We ended up with about 30. I'm sure the
threat of bad weather kept most at home. I can tell you that you
missed a fairly decent day and a great cookout. It takes a lot
of planning, time and money to make one of these events happen.
I want to thank all the people that helped with this one. Super
Job! We will continue to have these events no matter what. I
hope more of you will come and join us - we always have a great
time. and I promise, at the next one, I'll have twice as much
stuff to give away as I couldn't bring a thing this time...
Best fishes',
Mark
The moon phase can play a big part in your success, click on moon phase to
see what the moon will be doing on the day you plan to go.
Moon Phase
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