Apple Canyon Crappies

Yesterday, I headed to the lake with my new ’04 Explorer for its maiden voyage. I upgraded from a 1960 Alumacraft with an Evinrude 18hp, to the 1600 SS Explorer with an ’04 Yamaha 75hp four stroke. Naw, not much difference at all in the two boats. After taking a little bit to get used to the new rig, I got down to fishing. According to the LCX-15MT, the water temp is almost 51 degrees and the fish were all still deep. I ventured to a productive spot of mine on the main lake and settled in at 26′. The bite wasn’t hot and heavy, but we managed some dandy crappies for the afternoon. All fish were released to fight another day, as we have a catch and release rule for crappie until June 15th. A lot of people don’t like the new rule, but it’s only going to help the crappie population on the lake. The productive set up was a single waxworm on a Marmooska set 13′ below a slip bobber. I had a feeling that an “ice fishing” approach was going to be the answer this day, and I was absolutely correct. I had no gills or bass, just crappies on this trip. Here’s example of a happy fisherman that really is smiling ear to ear inside. This is the first fish that came into my new boat. Man, it was GREAT to get out in my new boat!

Went to the lake today and had a nice mess of BIGGG bluegills. Most of the gills were 9″-11″. I only had a couple under 9″. The gills are still deep, but getting hungry. I caught all mine on leeches under a slip bobber. I caught most on a cricket hook with a red bead as an attractor. I also caught some really nice crappies on leeches. These are still deep as well. The water temp is still only 54-56. No pictures this trip as my wife has the camera at a weekend scrapping party. Many pictures of monsters will come in the next few weeks.

Hit the lake this morning and got into the crappies again. All came on leeches. I had tons of those trash fish, what are they called… Oh yea, bass! I had no bluegills today and the crappies are still deep. The water is actually a touch cooler than last week.

NIce pics Jeff. Man I miss fishing at Apple Canyon. Hopefully next year when I get my boat and can get it registered. My dad has a couple lots out there, but I havn’t been fishing up there for a long time.

When things cleared a bit this afternoon, my father in-law and I hit the lake. The water temp is up 6 degrees or more since last week. We found some decent gills and crappies in 6′ of water. The big boys and girls aren’t in yet, but it won’t be long. We had 5, 15+” bass today as well. Everything was caught on leeches. Here’s an average gill for the day.

We’ve caught so many of these guys this spring.

The past few days have been pretty good on the lake. The bluegills are beginning to come in shallow, but not heavily yet. Yesterday, I had some big females, full of eggs out in 25′ of water. Quite a few ‘gills are being taken on crickets, but not in my boat. I haven’t caught a fish on crickets, yet. Leeches are, as always, the biggest producers for my my boat. My brother had a a 20″ bonus ‘eye on Saturday, on a leech. I am still getting many many great crappies, all on leeches. We need some stable, non-rainy weather to clear up the lake. The surface temp over the weekend was still in the mid-60s.

I don’t exactly know where to begin… The past 5 days have been beyond description. I have some pictures to post, and will do so tomorrow or Tuesday. In between storms, the bluegill fishing is sooo hot right now. I am getting hundreds of huge gills. When I say that many gills are 10″-11″, with 12-inchers thrown in, I’m not telling fishing stories. Additionally, the walleye bite in the late evening has been very good. During the day, small leeches under slip bobbers have been producing. As evening rolls on, I have been switching to crickets. I have caught more, bigger fish on the leeches, but when the cricket bite is on, it is incredible. The walleyes have been coming on leeches as well as quite a few crappies. Yesterday was quite special for me. I was fishing with my uncle who is a bass fisherman. We were targeting ‘gills for a fish fry. Every time I would catch a toad (bass) I would raz him. Well, all of a sudden I hook into a big LM that turns out to be a shade over 5 lbs. Yep, 5 lbs!!! I was so excited. Not 5 minutes later, I hook one that was even bigger! I told my uncle it was a monster, but he hadn’t seen it. I was using a 5’ rod with 4 lb test, so I let the big girl run around all she wanted. After a few minutes, she went deep and got in the weeds on the bottom. I just kept tension on her and my uncle said she’d eventually come out on her own. I’ll be darned if after about 10 minutes, she did. I worked her carefully and finally got her to the side of the Explorer. My uncle netted her with my trout net and after a quick measurement and weight, back she went. He couldn’t get her into the net, so he kinda laid her on the frame and hoisted her in! She was almost 7 lbs!!!!! What a rush!!! Now the bad news… The camera was in the van at the marina. The coolest part of the entire day wasn’t all the fish we caught, it was the fact that I spent the afternoon with the clone of my grandfather who has been deceased since 1983. It’s a day I’ll remember forever.

A couple of bulls from Saturday.

It must be the yellow shirt bringing me luck. Here’s a nice eye from Thursday.

Your reports are outstanding fun to read! Thanks for sharing them.

Thanks James, I sure enjoy your site!!

Here’s a picture and just a short report. I came back early from the lake to order my new camper. I am moving up from a pop-up to a 35′ travel trailer with a super slide-out. Here is my dad with a nice one he got the other day. I don’t remember which day. I’ve been out so much lately, the outings run together. I’ve been going to the lake on Wednesdays and staying in my camper. I’ll give a more detailed report later. I have to get to bed early. We have our pancake breakfast in the morning, and I have to be there at 4 am. to cook sausage.

One more thing, this big girl is really as big as she looks. Also, she swims today.

You sure made a big boat move. You should love that new boat. It will spoil you well. Thanks for all the reports. They are alot of fun to read, educational, and sure tell you love fishing.
Thanks, Bill

Thanks Bill! The best part of the boat is the loading and unloading.

The fishing has been very good for ‘gills this last week. All the rain last weekend and cold weather drove them back deep though. My same technique has been producing for me. I did talk to a couple of fellas that had quite a few gills today. They were using 1/2″ chunks of crawlers for bait. I do believe I had a Ted Peck sighting this afternoon. How’d you do Ted? Here’s a couple of gills that are swimming yet tonight.

Darn toads!!

Friday and Saturday on the lake were a couple of days that can only be summed up as INCREDIBLE!! Friday started out rather slowly though. Let me step back a day… I ran out of leeches Thursday, but knew I had another pound coming that day. I came back home Thursday night to get the leeches. I woke Friday with a 100 degree fever and felt horrible. I layed around until 11 am. and headed back to the lake. My father in-law had stayed at the camper Thursday night and was chomping at the bit to get out on the lake. We launched in the afternoon and by the end of the day, we had caught some incredible ‘gills. The key was setting a 1/64th ounce yellow jig and leech just above the weeds in 6′-8’ of water. Of course I was using a slip bobber to hold my depth. I tried different colors, but yellow was the key. I had several males that I couldn’t get my hand around when trying to hold them from the top of the back to their belly. The interesting thing was that Friday during the day, the females we caught were all spawned out, but as evening wore on, the females were all full of eggs. The big ones and all the mommas full of eggs were released. Saturday was a bit slower, but still incredible. That was probably do to the front that rolled through in the evening. I’ve posted so many pictures of big gills, so this time I included another one of those green things I caught on Friday. Bass are all CPR on the lake, and always in my boat.

This weekend is one that I’m sure will stand out in my mind for a very long time. It easily has been the best weekend of fishing that I have experienced in eight years. Those are pretty definitive words from a panfisherman that has had some great weekends already this year. No, I never caught many great big bluegills this weekend. Although, I did have many 10” bulls. No, I never filled my livewell, or spent hours and hours of cleaning fish. In fact, I never kept a fish all weekend. Nope, my weekend was so exceptional because my wife and kids went fishing with me. To some of you that may not seem like a big deal, but to me, it meant the world! You see it has been 8 years since my wife last went fishing with me. The boys and I go frequently, but mom doesn’t go. Heck, we even had the Bichon (Pongo) in the boat with us. I am not a person that gets jealous, but when I read reports from ecnook, and a few of you other guys, that include your wives or girlfriends, I am so envious. We went a few times and just had a ball. The boys told mom that she was good luck and told her she needs to go more often. She smiled and said she’d see what she could do.

This weather we’ve had recently really has confused the fish. The bluegills don’t know whether to go deep or stay shallow. My best bite came in the evening in 6’ of water. Chartreuse 1/32 jigs with a leech, under a slip bobber produced the biggest, and most gills. The same spots during the day didn’t produce much at all. The lake is finally starting to clear up and I hope it continues. Next weekend is a long one and I’m sure the crazies will be out in force on this 500 acre jewel, but I’ll be dodging them. If you are out and see a green Explorer with a blonde, two boys, a little white dog, and a red head grinning ear to ear, stop and say high!

What a busy weekend! My new camper came in late last week and the dealer, Pearl Lave RV offered to deliver on Saturday morning. I was tickled, but also knew I had to get the pop-up emptied and ready for them to haul back. My sons and I went out Friday afternoon and emptied the pop-up. We came back home and slept Friday night. The dealer said they’d be on the road at 8 a.m. Saturday morning with the new trailer. They called at 7 a.m. and said they’d been on the road for 15 minutes. I was already up and ready to go, but mama wasn’t. She jumped in the shower and got ready quickly. Luckily, the delivery guy got lost and he arrived at the lake just a few minutes before us. My uncle (lake neighbor) was hooking up my pop-up, to move it when we arrived. Pearl Lake set up the 35′ trailer and then showed us how to run everything. Tammy, (my wife) and I were tickled that my uncle Joe and his wife Linda asked if we minded if they did the walk through with us. It’s like having parents right there at the lake with us. They are experienced with large trailers and we know we’ll be asking them questions about the big rig. The four of us did the walk through and Tammy and I loaded everything into the new trailer. Tammy’s dad arrived with the boys mid-afternoon and they all just loved the trailer. Then the storms hit and hit hard. It was great to be in this comfortable rig, watching the Cubs beat the Sox. Unfortunately, we discovered the bathroom vent was leaking. I call Pearl Lake, and they immediately drove the 75 miles to the lake and fixed the problem. Now, that’s service! The vent had been sealed, but the sealant didn’t adhere to the roof. Pearl Lake went over every vent, air conditioner, and antennae to make sure they were all sealed.

I never fished Saturday, but was ready to go Sunday. I knew the lake would be a zoo, so I waited until 4 p.m., hoping the crazies would be gone for the day. When I got to the marina and saw two boys playing on one ramp while mom watched, and a guy was wiping his boat down on the other ramp, I knew I should have just went back to the campground. I launched anyway, and as I was motoring out, security warned me it was nuts out on the main lake. OH MY… that was an understatement! To sum it up, I am surprised someone wasn’t killed this weekend. I made it to the north end of the lake into one of the many no-wake zones and my sons and I tried for some gills. We stayed a couple hours. The bite wasn’t hot and heavy, but we kept 10, 9″-10″ gills for Joe and Linda for all the help they give us. We were in 7′ of water, and 1/64 char. jigs with a leech, under a slip bobber was the best producer. My oldest used a white jig, and he had the biggest gills, but not as many. Of course we had as many “toads” as gills, but had 6 over 15″. When we came back in, it wasn’t as crazy. Today, I never uncovered the Explorer. We head back out Thursday for 11 days of camping, tubing, relaxing, and I’m confident we’ll find time to go through a pound or two of leeches!

Sorry to be so long winded!!