10-14-2009, 09:00 AM
I got bored Sunday afternoon and had been wanting to try something new! I live close to the water, but not on the water, so hooking the boat up and trailering it to HBSP can be a problem if I don't have but a few hours to fish. I have a 14' canoe with a trolling motor bracket so I thought -- - I wonder if I could get the canoe and all the stuff loaded and launched close to my house in a reasonable time and could I shoot docks for crappie out of it! I gave it a try on Sunday afternoon in WT. First problem was that someone had broken the key off in our community lake lot. I've launched my 20' Fish & Ski there a couple of times and it is really too tight but it is perfect for a smaller boat or canoe. Like I said, a key was broke off in it so off I go to the ramp beside the bridge on Snow Hill Road. I get in the water and make my way to the first dock. First cast and I have a crappie on! It is a small one, but it is a fish!! I was using pan fish assassins on 1/32 oz. jig heads. The count seemed to be 4 or 5. I tried letting it go deeper to find bigger fish but nothing. With a shallow count of around 4 I would get small 8 to 10" crappies. I didn't fish long and caught 9 crappie and 1 bluegill. I think the canoe works great in some ways. You are lower to the water and it is easier to shoot way back under the docks. Wind is a bigger factor with the canoe and next time I might consider putting out an anchor. The problem with an anchor up in WT is that with any boat traffic waves are a problem and I think being tied to the bottom could make it worse. All in all a fun evening. I also noticed that when going 5 or 6 miles an hour versus 40 or 50 miles and hour that I noticed things that I hadn't before so "slow" can be good!