03-19-2010, 09:00 AM
Hal and I finally had a beautiful day to fish. We didn't get started very early, and we planted a crappie hotel (big cane spread) in about 20 feet of water early, but then it was time to fish. We launched from CFP this AM around 11:00 and fished until about 4:30. A great day to be on the water. No wind early, then just a gentle breeze this afternoon. It aggravated Hal trying to control the boat with the trolling motor, but that's the way it goes sometimes. emoBig
<br /><br />We caught a little over 1/3 of our fish on an offshore structure (secondary point) and hammered the big slab crappie until they finally decided to quit biting. Then we moved into a cove and was fishing over some deep stumps and Hal had a big crappie that I know was a TARP sized fish and while I was getting the net, he grabbed his 4 lb test line and tried to lift the fish over the side of the boat and you can guess what happened next. It was the only time that I have ever seen Hal mad at himself. He beat the water to a pulp with his fishing rod. emoUp Then we tried some shallow stumps and nada thing there. <br /><br />We moved into another cove and fished blowdowns and found the smaller crappie schooled up there and hungry. We were catching about 6 or 7 throwbacks to every 11&quot; keeper in that area and it was much fun. John Faulkner knows where this place is. John, we caught the fish on some of your favorite blowdowns. emoPoke <br /><br />Oh, I almost forgot, while we were fishing the offshore structure today, I hooked and landed a beautiful 17&quot;, 3.0 lb smallmouth bass. I also had one bass break my line after a short fight. Don&#39;t know why the line broke as I had just retied the jig on. Hal and I also caught 3 spotted bass, and 1 yellow bass. I caught 1 little bluegill too. The smallie went back to grow up. There is no way that I&#39;m gonna keep a smallmouth bass. Now, my wife asked me how big this fish was and why didn&#39;t I keep it. I said that it had to be 18&quot; to keep, but that I wasn&#39;t ever going to keep a smallmouth. She said that if she caught one that was legal, she was going to keep it. I&#39;m not going to argue with her. emoBig <br /><br />Pearl ringer stingers with chartreuse tail light was the hottest lure today. We tried other lures and Hal caught several of the smaller crappie on a BG shad with some red color on it. I don&#39;t know the other color. I have to go rest up for tomorrow. Pete (Nauticaman) is taking me to the Riverpark and giving me a lesson on how to catch drum. I need a TARP drum to qualify for the master angler II patch from TWRA. <br /><br />41,800 cfs, water temps from 49 to 52.2 degrees. Two or three days of bright sunshine and the crappie are going to explode. emoBig emoGeezer
<br /><br />We caught a little over 1/3 of our fish on an offshore structure (secondary point) and hammered the big slab crappie until they finally decided to quit biting. Then we moved into a cove and was fishing over some deep stumps and Hal had a big crappie that I know was a TARP sized fish and while I was getting the net, he grabbed his 4 lb test line and tried to lift the fish over the side of the boat and you can guess what happened next. It was the only time that I have ever seen Hal mad at himself. He beat the water to a pulp with his fishing rod. emoUp Then we tried some shallow stumps and nada thing there. <br /><br />We moved into another cove and fished blowdowns and found the smaller crappie schooled up there and hungry. We were catching about 6 or 7 throwbacks to every 11&quot; keeper in that area and it was much fun. John Faulkner knows where this place is. John, we caught the fish on some of your favorite blowdowns. emoPoke <br /><br />Oh, I almost forgot, while we were fishing the offshore structure today, I hooked and landed a beautiful 17&quot;, 3.0 lb smallmouth bass. I also had one bass break my line after a short fight. Don&#39;t know why the line broke as I had just retied the jig on. Hal and I also caught 3 spotted bass, and 1 yellow bass. I caught 1 little bluegill too. The smallie went back to grow up. There is no way that I&#39;m gonna keep a smallmouth bass. Now, my wife asked me how big this fish was and why didn&#39;t I keep it. I said that it had to be 18&quot; to keep, but that I wasn&#39;t ever going to keep a smallmouth. She said that if she caught one that was legal, she was going to keep it. I&#39;m not going to argue with her. emoBig <br /><br />Pearl ringer stingers with chartreuse tail light was the hottest lure today. We tried other lures and Hal caught several of the smaller crappie on a BG shad with some red color on it. I don&#39;t know the other color. I have to go rest up for tomorrow. Pete (Nauticaman) is taking me to the Riverpark and giving me a lesson on how to catch drum. I need a TARP drum to qualify for the master angler II patch from TWRA. <br /><br />41,800 cfs, water temps from 49 to 52.2 degrees. Two or three days of bright sunshine and the crappie are going to explode. emoBig emoGeezer