05-01-2015, 08:06 PM
[#0000FF]Call me a masochist but I hadda have one more shot at the Willard crappies before it's all over. Figured there would be an armada of other masochists to contend with. Almost baqged the trip when this morning's weather forecast showed 10 mph winds at 7am...planned launch time. Glad I din't. Lake was flat calm all morning. Sometimes I love it when they're wrong.
Day started off good. Slept soundly and woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Like many fishing addicts I sometimes sleep poorly before a fishing trip...afraid I didn't set the alarm...or it won't go off...or whatever. Glad I still get excited enough about fishing to do that at times.
Next on the positive side was getting in the gate at Willard 10 minutes early. Got there about 5:45, hoping the gate might be open. Nope. But a few minutes later I saw the lights of an exiting vehicle driving up to the gate. Restarted my engine and slipped through behind him as he came out. Had my tube prepped and ready to launch by 6:30.
Two other boats launched and hit the open lake before I got out the channel. But as soon as I was past the buoys I put out my double hangershot rig with two weightless tube jigs. Before I could get my other rod ready the first rod took a bounce and my first crappie reluctantly crawled in my net. It was about an inch under a footlong so I let it swim. As I did about the next half dozen. Couldn't believe the smaller sizes after catching numerous 13 and 14 inchers my last two trips. Must have been a lot of pressure on them.
Besides the double hangershot rig...resting in the quick draw holder...I was casting a pair of 1/32 oz. marabou jigs. One was white with a red eye. The other was white with a yellow eye and black pupil. I briefly threw a couple of crankbaits later but came back to the first two rods and never had to change.
The growing number of boats began circling around me. I was catching fish with some regularity...more than anybody in the boats. So I got popular. But every time I would move away from them I found some new shiny fishies that wanted to play and then the guys in the boats got friendly again.
We all started out pretty close to the channel outlet. But I kept moving further and further north...and catching fish...and gaining new friends. From the descriptions of others on previous days there were not nearly as many boats as before, but enough to make me feel crowded. So, at one point I moved into fairly shallow water (4 feet) and started back the other way. Whaddayaknow? The crappies were in the shallows too...and they loved my little jigs. Caught more.
By this time most of the crappie cru
ers were at the far northern part of the ZONE. As I worked my way back around them I did see a few of them catching crappies. So they weren't fishless. But I still delighted in catching and releasing a lot more fish as I left the field of battle. I had culled a limit of 12 to 13 inchers and was not keeping any more.
It was just after 9 when I decided to get off the water and go play with my bow. Had seen some carp working in the shallows earlier and figured that as the sun got warmer the "carp Lambada" would go into full orgy mode. I figured wrong. By the time I got my tube and fishing gear packed up and got out my bow there weren't no carp to be seed. Probably came out later after I left. About the only real downer for the day. Coulda been worser.
Oh yeah. Water temp was 60 at launch and didn't warm up much in the short time I was there. But I'll bet it hits the mid sixties by end of day.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Day started off good. Slept soundly and woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Like many fishing addicts I sometimes sleep poorly before a fishing trip...afraid I didn't set the alarm...or it won't go off...or whatever. Glad I still get excited enough about fishing to do that at times.
Next on the positive side was getting in the gate at Willard 10 minutes early. Got there about 5:45, hoping the gate might be open. Nope. But a few minutes later I saw the lights of an exiting vehicle driving up to the gate. Restarted my engine and slipped through behind him as he came out. Had my tube prepped and ready to launch by 6:30.
Two other boats launched and hit the open lake before I got out the channel. But as soon as I was past the buoys I put out my double hangershot rig with two weightless tube jigs. Before I could get my other rod ready the first rod took a bounce and my first crappie reluctantly crawled in my net. It was about an inch under a footlong so I let it swim. As I did about the next half dozen. Couldn't believe the smaller sizes after catching numerous 13 and 14 inchers my last two trips. Must have been a lot of pressure on them.
Besides the double hangershot rig...resting in the quick draw holder...I was casting a pair of 1/32 oz. marabou jigs. One was white with a red eye. The other was white with a yellow eye and black pupil. I briefly threw a couple of crankbaits later but came back to the first two rods and never had to change.
The growing number of boats began circling around me. I was catching fish with some regularity...more than anybody in the boats. So I got popular. But every time I would move away from them I found some new shiny fishies that wanted to play and then the guys in the boats got friendly again.
We all started out pretty close to the channel outlet. But I kept moving further and further north...and catching fish...and gaining new friends. From the descriptions of others on previous days there were not nearly as many boats as before, but enough to make me feel crowded. So, at one point I moved into fairly shallow water (4 feet) and started back the other way. Whaddayaknow? The crappies were in the shallows too...and they loved my little jigs. Caught more.
By this time most of the crappie cru
ers were at the far northern part of the ZONE. As I worked my way back around them I did see a few of them catching crappies. So they weren't fishless. But I still delighted in catching and releasing a lot more fish as I left the field of battle. I had culled a limit of 12 to 13 inchers and was not keeping any more.It was just after 9 when I decided to get off the water and go play with my bow. Had seen some carp working in the shallows earlier and figured that as the sun got warmer the "carp Lambada" would go into full orgy mode. I figured wrong. By the time I got my tube and fishing gear packed up and got out my bow there weren't no carp to be seed. Probably came out later after I left. About the only real downer for the day. Coulda been worser.
Oh yeah. Water temp was 60 at launch and didn't warm up much in the short time I was there. But I'll bet it hits the mid sixties by end of day.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]