10-13-2010, 09:00 AM
After our catch last Thursday on the Tims, old Bent Rod just couldn&#39;t wait until we got back after those black nose crappie again, so when Dr Phillip begged off our Tuesday AM fishing trip, I called Rick and asked if the invite was still good. He said come on.<br /><br />We fished 1/2 day again this AM. This getting up in the middle of the night and driving over in the dark is something else. I need a driver. emoBig
Back to the fishing report. We found the fish to be in a more subtle mood today and I expected it to be so because last Thursday was the new moon and we are nearly a week past that now.<br /><br />We started off on the big hump that Rick likes to fish for walleyes to see if any were in a feeding mood, and although there were more schools of shad on top (almost as far as the eye could see), we couldn&#39;t get a walleye bite. After several minutes of dredging the bottom, I hung up on something that we almost got back to the surface with BR&#39;s lure knocker on it, but both of us pulling on the rope couldn&#39;t get it any further up, so we broke the lure off. Tied a new blade bait on and after watching bass breaking the surface near the schools of shad, I change my presentation. Instead of letting the blade go to the bottom and lift/drop as we had been doing, I let the lure settle about 10 seconds and began a steady retrieve when a freight train tried to take the blade away from me. One beautiful jump or two and a very hard fight at the boat, and Rick netted a nice smallie for me. My second one in 2 trips over there. This one weighed 4 lbs and was 19.25 inches long. Just short of a TARP. emoBang <br /><br />We hit another point or two and decided that it was time to crappie fish. We went to last Thursday&#39;s hotspot and we both missed fish on the first 2 or 3 casts. Then I caught a small crappie. Next fish was a yellow bass and as I was reeling him to the surface, there was a huge smallmouth just below him trying to get at him. Rick and I both just stared at the fish and I yelled to Rick to get his jig down there, but by that time, the smallie had lost interest and disappeared. emoBang <br /><br />The crappie then began to bite a little bit better and I was lucky enough to catch 2 more tarps in the first 5 crappie caught. 15.25 and 14.5 inches long. We landed about 9 or 10 at that spot and decided to leave them alone and go scouting. Next spot was even better for numbers. We located the crappie on a 10-17 foot breakline and near docks. We smoked them there. Nice thick black nose crappie and a few black crappie mixed in. We had a ball. Rick is such a good guide. He kept putting me in prime position and wouldn&#39;t hardly even fish himself. When the fish stopped biting there, we fished a few more docks and brush and determined that the fish were in a lull and decided to call it a day. We released all fish.<br /><br />We used bg shads and slab slayers in ghost, key lime pie, and crystal shad colors. About 1/2 the time I was using a 1/24 oz jighead and the rest of the time I used a 1/32 oz jighead. <br /><br />Rick, the full moon is on the 23rd of the month which is a Saturday. Can I come over on the 22nd (Friday) for another lesson? Thank you a bunch for taking me fishing. You don&#39;t know how much I enjoyed the morning. emoBig
Back to the fishing report. We found the fish to be in a more subtle mood today and I expected it to be so because last Thursday was the new moon and we are nearly a week past that now.<br /><br />We started off on the big hump that Rick likes to fish for walleyes to see if any were in a feeding mood, and although there were more schools of shad on top (almost as far as the eye could see), we couldn&#39;t get a walleye bite. After several minutes of dredging the bottom, I hung up on something that we almost got back to the surface with BR&#39;s lure knocker on it, but both of us pulling on the rope couldn&#39;t get it any further up, so we broke the lure off. Tied a new blade bait on and after watching bass breaking the surface near the schools of shad, I change my presentation. Instead of letting the blade go to the bottom and lift/drop as we had been doing, I let the lure settle about 10 seconds and began a steady retrieve when a freight train tried to take the blade away from me. One beautiful jump or two and a very hard fight at the boat, and Rick netted a nice smallie for me. My second one in 2 trips over there. This one weighed 4 lbs and was 19.25 inches long. Just short of a TARP. emoBang <br /><br />We hit another point or two and decided that it was time to crappie fish. We went to last Thursday&#39;s hotspot and we both missed fish on the first 2 or 3 casts. Then I caught a small crappie. Next fish was a yellow bass and as I was reeling him to the surface, there was a huge smallmouth just below him trying to get at him. Rick and I both just stared at the fish and I yelled to Rick to get his jig down there, but by that time, the smallie had lost interest and disappeared. emoBang <br /><br />The crappie then began to bite a little bit better and I was lucky enough to catch 2 more tarps in the first 5 crappie caught. 15.25 and 14.5 inches long. We landed about 9 or 10 at that spot and decided to leave them alone and go scouting. Next spot was even better for numbers. We located the crappie on a 10-17 foot breakline and near docks. We smoked them there. Nice thick black nose crappie and a few black crappie mixed in. We had a ball. Rick is such a good guide. He kept putting me in prime position and wouldn&#39;t hardly even fish himself. When the fish stopped biting there, we fished a few more docks and brush and determined that the fish were in a lull and decided to call it a day. We released all fish.<br /><br />We used bg shads and slab slayers in ghost, key lime pie, and crystal shad colors. About 1/2 the time I was using a 1/24 oz jighead and the rest of the time I used a 1/32 oz jighead. <br /><br />Rick, the full moon is on the 23rd of the month which is a Saturday. Can I come over on the 22nd (Friday) for another lesson? Thank you a bunch for taking me fishing. You don&#39;t know how much I enjoyed the morning. emoBig