I decided to head up to the Mississippi River and spend the day with my dad. We just had a major cold front go through on Friday and a high pressure moving in, we didn’t expect the fishing to be very good. I wanted to see my dad anyway so, Saturday would be the day.
My dad lives up in Harpersferry Iowa, a 2 hour and 15 minute drive. I woke up late Saturday and got out the door about 40 minutes late. Oh, well it was cold and windy and I wasn’t feeling it. I finished packing a few things and backed out of the drive. It was an uneventful drive with snow cover increasing the further north I drove. I saw a few deer and turkey out in the fields. It’s actually a nice drive in the morning.
I pulled into town at about 9:30. At the 4 way stop, a pickup turned in front of me. What was in the back of it? It was full of skunk pelts. Wow, am I going to get skunked today? Not a good sign. I pulled up at my dads place and he was giving me the thumbs up through the window. I walked in to the smell of ham, eggs and tarred frying up……nice! We sat down and ate breakfast. We talked about how tuff the fishing would probably be. With no plan B we loaded up my dad’s gear and set off to the area we would be fishing.
We arrived at the spot and noted several tents close to my dad’s spot….that figures. Oh, well…..go fish. So we pulled our gear out and walked out to the spot my dad had been getting crappie for the past 2 weeks. I fired up my gas auger with new blades and started cutting the first hole. I heard some nocking sound about 3/4 of the way into the hole. Didn’t sound good. I shut it down and decided not to use it. I have had trouble with the auger this year. I guess I will be taking it in for repair.
I finally got set up on my hole. I decided to start fishing with a #8 Orange Tiger Gill Pill from Custom Jigs and Spins. It has been my hot bait this year. I’ve been killing the crappie with it. The new larger size has been a great addition. I dropped it down the hole. A re mark moved in on my Vexilar FL20. It moved up a little bit toward my jig and I tried to get the fish to chase the jig. It came up a little bit and stopped. Then out of the picture. Another mark came in. I tried working it a bit more aggressively this time. Even worse results than before. Hmmmmm…..this is going to be tough. I would repeat this over the next hour, only icing 1 9 inch crappie. I decided it was time for a change. So I tried a CJS Diamond jig, then a small spoon. These seemed to call fish in with the large profile but they wanted nothing to do with them. My dad talked to a few locals he recognized and got a very negative report. My dad said the bite was coming in waves at specific times. 12 to 3 was the best bite. Strange time for a good crappie bite?
With 12 quickly approaching I decided to try downsizing. I recently purchased a Thorne Bros Quiverstick. I decided to tie on a CJS #12 Frog colored Gill Pill. Going small and dark vs large and bright. It was like clockwork, more fish started showing up on my flasher. Still not aggressive but more chances. I dropped my new offering down the hole to a few waiting marks. I slowly pulled the jig up and got a fish chasing it…..slowly. It came up even with my jig and stopped……..no bite. I held it still. Wait a minute something feels different. I set the hook, fish on. I brought the fish out of the hole after a short fight. A nice 10 incher. It’s a start. I dropped back down to another mark. Same thing happened. After catching a few, the fish got shy again. I reached for my Power Noodle rod with the CJS Orange Tiger that I tried earlier. An aggressive fish shot up and nailed it. I would continue to switch back and forth over the next couple of hours. I caught most of my fish with the finesse of the frog. It was a nice 1, 2 punch combination. I hadn’t heard my dad moving around so I figured he was getting them as well. I popped out of my tent and walked the 10 feet to my dad’s tent. I peaked in and asked him how he was doing? He answered with a rejected, “NOTHING”. My dad asked me how I was doing? I got “22”. “2”, my dad said? “No, 22.”. His jaw dropped.
I would end up with a limit of 9.5 to 12 inch fish. My dad ended up with 4. On a day when nobody was catching fish, I was able to put a limit on the ice. This will be one of those days I will always remember. So, what made the difference for me today? The rod paired with a fly reel. This keeps the line ultra straight with no line twist. If the jig was spinning they wouldn’t bite. I also wouldn’t have been able to feel the phantom bites. My electronics showing me that the fish were there. Without it I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the phantom bite. Also, the experimentation of the different profile sizes. It seemed to really get the fish interested again when I would switch back and forth. I am very proud of my limit today. It is the toughest bite I was able to exploit for a limit. In the past I would have never been able to catch these fish. Spring bobbers wouldn’t have worked. The Quiverstck paid for itself today. People ask why would you spend so much on a rod, it’s just a rod? This is why. Sorry I didn’t take more pics. Too many people around to take pics. Nobody around us was getting fish and I didn’t want to encourage anyone to come back to this spot. Looks like my dad wants to upgrade to a Thorne Bros rod and a fly reel. Gotcha this time dad. See you again soon!
