11-14-2009, 10:00 AM
I took Kevin Rogers (Salecreekaviator) on his first crappie fishing trip with me today. Kevin couldn't have picked a more brutal day unless it was tomorrow for his lesson. North wind 15-25 mph and water flow 74,000 cfs. We fished from 8:00 until 12:30 and landed 31 crappie including my 17th TARP of the year. It was a 14.5 inch beauty. I had two more big fish pull off just before I got them to the boat. I broke that hook off and threw it away. emoBig
It was hard finding any places to fish. I took him to 4 places and all 4 produced some fish. Kevin&#39;s biggest fish was 13.5 inches long.<br /><br />With the big bow in the lines, it was very difficult to see the subtle bites that we were getting, but Kevin finally saw one bite like I was describing and set the hook and landed, then lost this fish. He actually got the fish in the boat, well over 12 inches long and swung the fish back over the side of the boat and the fish flopped and broke his line and escaped back into the deep. emoBang I hadn&#39;t gotten that far along in the lesson to warn him about that. emoBig <br /><br />We fished with both 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigheads with bg shads and stubby butt plastics. Pearl white with chartreuse tail and albino shad was the hot lure for me today. We tried fishing bluffs today and only had marginal success. Probably could have caught a few more fish there if not for the current and north wind keeping me on the trolling motor constantly and hard to keep in position to present the lures correctly. You can fish where there are crappie, but unless your presentation is right, the fish won&#39;t bite. You can even have the lure at the correct depth, but presented from the wrong direction and the fish won&#39;t bite.<br /><br />I really enjoyed fishing with you today, Kevin. Now you have an idea about what to do and what to look for. Next time, pick a calmer day and we will get on those fish a little easier. emoBig emoGeezer
It was hard finding any places to fish. I took him to 4 places and all 4 produced some fish. Kevin&#39;s biggest fish was 13.5 inches long.<br /><br />With the big bow in the lines, it was very difficult to see the subtle bites that we were getting, but Kevin finally saw one bite like I was describing and set the hook and landed, then lost this fish. He actually got the fish in the boat, well over 12 inches long and swung the fish back over the side of the boat and the fish flopped and broke his line and escaped back into the deep. emoBang I hadn&#39;t gotten that far along in the lesson to warn him about that. emoBig <br /><br />We fished with both 1/32 and 1/16 oz jigheads with bg shads and stubby butt plastics. Pearl white with chartreuse tail and albino shad was the hot lure for me today. We tried fishing bluffs today and only had marginal success. Probably could have caught a few more fish there if not for the current and north wind keeping me on the trolling motor constantly and hard to keep in position to present the lures correctly. You can fish where there are crappie, but unless your presentation is right, the fish won&#39;t bite. You can even have the lure at the correct depth, but presented from the wrong direction and the fish won&#39;t bite.<br /><br />I really enjoyed fishing with you today, Kevin. Now you have an idea about what to do and what to look for. Next time, pick a calmer day and we will get on those fish a little easier. emoBig emoGeezer