04-19-2010, 09:00 AM
CCSM and I had talked about a fishing trip for crappie for his son in law, Jordan, and his father James. He had also hoped that we would be able to pic up Jordan's dad late in the morning and get him some fish too. It's great to have a bunch of friends out on the boat but it is a challenge to keep them all in a position to catch fish. I figured that most of my open water spots would have fewer fish on them since the spawn was near the end and so docks would be the place to be once the sun got high in the sky. We started out on a spawning flat hoping that there would be some late spawners there and we got lucky and got 3 keepers there but the bite was very slow. We ran to a main lake dock but there wasn't much flow and it was just a bit too early for there to be numbers there. We did get one nice keeper there however. We did stop on a "tweener" dock, hoping that there would be some fish there in transition but couldn't even get a bite there. We ran to another main lake dock and caught one or two there but the bite just wasn't happening there either. Most of the fish to this point were on a 6 count or so. We ran to a dock that had been good to CCSM and me last week and got one fish on the first cast but none after that. We decided to run to WT to catch some numbers as initially we had decided to go mostly for keepers but with the bite being so slow we decided that numbers would be a good thing. We ran to what I lovingly call "the best brushpile on the lake", and CCSM caught one on the first 3 casts. We ended up catching quite a few there on a 10-12 count, just at the top of the brush. When the bite slowed there we ran farther back into the creek and fished few docks but only caught non keepers but they still were fun. CCSM's dad was ready to quit so we took him to the dock and we tried some deep brush in the creek while waiting for Jordan's dad to get to the ramp. Finally we picked him up and ran out to the main lake docks hoping that the flow had increased and the sun on the docks would be better. We did catch a few good ones here and there but the bite was still very slow out there. I had to quit by 1:30 so we ran back to the house. Of course, "the best brushpile on the lake" is close by my house and CCSM, Jordan, and his dad stayed and caught fish from my dock for a while and they were still there enjoying the day when I pulled out from the house. It was a beautiful day on the water, the fish weren't being really cooperative but post spawn sometimes they are a bit finicky. Good friends and nice weather are a great combo. Better fishing days are on the way when we get into the summer fishing pattern.