Late Fall Crappie Action on P9

By Saturday evening I had completed 99% of the “honey-to-do-list”. Too late to make a run for ole man river but left Sunday as wide open as a Packer receiver. Left the FB on the trailer and did some series bank combing from 2:30 to 4:30 – once I knew the Pack had it in the bag. Just don’t care to take the FB out alone in 42 degree water (rivergauges) with a stiff northern breeze and hint of snowflakes flying around. Besides I had a “hunch” I could reach some late fall slabsters with my toes on solid ground. Well……….it’s tough to be humble when you’re opponent is old man river & slabsters! Hadn’t even closed my bail from the first cast before the cigar float gave me a salute and headed for the abyss. Hook set & retrieve and had myself the first slabster of the day. Action was fast but far from furious the first hour. Banked 17 slabsters and 3 grass carp in that time frame. The fish were present but definitely not just nailing the offering. The effects of the colder water have all ready impacted eating behavior. I believe the utilization of the cigar float was a key factor to putting fish on the bank yesterday. They are (IMO) one of the most underutilized tools in a would be panfish hunter’s arsenal. Often times written off as “the kids” bobber and completely ignored. Truth be told – these floats are one of the most sensitive bobbers on the market and work wonderful in choppie water with light striking fish – which happened to be the situation yesterday. They offer very little resistance when tugged under water as to not alert the unsuspected of what’s about to happen. With a 1/32 jig head tipped with a crappie minnow – these guys lay horizontal on the water and ride the wind driven ripple effortlessly. The slightest of strikes will cause an immediate change in horizontal direction OR stand the float vertical before it begins it’s descent. Aside from 3 or 4 slabsters & all 3 bass standing the float vertical – the balance of the hooksets occurred with a mere horizontal directional change by the float. To help support my theory of light striking fish and cigar floats – I fished the next 30 minutes with a standard 1/2″ diameter pencil style slip bobber. Fishing the same depth – same snag – same bait – same school of fish – I managed to set the hook TWICE and in the process “discovered” the fish turned into Houdini bait thieves! I simple could not detect the light bites in the choppie water with the pencil style float as well. Re-tooled my setup back to the cigar float for the last 30 minutes or so and set the hook 9 more times before I got a tired of doing the mouth thaw trick on ice buildup on the eye guides of the ultralight and packed it in. In summary I picked up 3 LMB and 28 slabsters in a little more than 2 hours. The average size of the slabsters caught was in that 10 to 11 inch range. No real deal pole benders like I had hoped to find. All though I didn’t have an accurate means to measure the depth of the water I was fishing less my Lowrance – I can tell you from many many many previous trips I was fishing underwater structure in 4 FOW. All fish were returned so I can catch them again ice fishing on a sunrise cecil in another 3 to 4 weeks It’s a “female dog” to take a picture by yourself with numb fingers. Best picture I got………