drumking, chickamauga, crappie, 2/25/09, alone

[FishNews]

I picked up my boat this am around 10:30. They don't know for sure if they fixed the problem or not, so we will see when I fish some more. The mechanic did find that my kill switch wasn't working properly and repaired that. Whatever they did, fixed my speed odometer at the same time. It had quit working some time back and now it works again. The boat performed perfectly for them. Started everytime and didn't quit a single time. So, we really don't know if I have the problem fixed or not.<br /><br />I took the boat out and ran it for a while this afternoon. First thing that I did was plant 3 more stake buckets in the lake. Then I fished for a couple of hours. I saw Reliable fishing and talked to him for a while. Also met Lone Oak and his son. Good talking to all you folks.<br /><br />While fishing, I caught 25 crappie and lost a nice spotted bass at the boat. Most of the fish came on 1.5" crappie stingers (not ringer stingers), pearl/chartreuse on a 1/32 oz minnow head. Only 9 were keeper size though and I had 16 throwbacks. Some just barely under 10". I was fishing docks and the depth was a 6 count. Water temp today was 48.7. Lone Oak gave me a BG shad in a color that I hadn't fished before and I caught 1 keeper crappie and lost the bass on it before hanging it up and breaking it off.<br /><br />There was a chilly south wind blowing and it was overcast. Boat runs good. Great to be back on the water, although I have practically lost the best 2 months of fishing this year. emoBig emoGeezer<br /><br />BTW, Hamilton Sports Shop on Hway 58 has a good supply of ringer stingers right now. I don't know how long they will last with the crappie spawning season just around the corner.