To me spring is the best time of the year to go fishing but lately it seems like all of the nice days have me doing something else and not being able to get out to wet a line. So even though rain and a lot of wind were in the forecast I decided to throw the raingear in the boat and head out anyway (carpe diem!). Although I love pool 4 I opted for Lake Zumbro instead because P4 always kicks my butt in windy conditions for some reason. This was the right choice.
I started the day at Hooked on Fishing getting some minnows and some tackle which included culprit paddle tails in the June bug color. Nice to meet you Bill, thanks for the color recommendation. I started out fishing a pink head/white body Mini-mite 4-5’ under a slip-float working my way from shore out to the boat. This didn’t yield any fish at my first stop but I was enjoying the area since it was out of the stiff wind and a loon was nearby calling out. My second stop I tried the same 4-5’ without results. I was marking fish about 10’ down in 12-15’ of water so I dropped the depth to 8-9’ under the float and crappies started to show themselves. A fish here and there was the best I could do but I was happy with that as another loon was near this area as well and it wasn’t raining yet. To switch it up a little I changed to a paddle tail which slowed the bite down to a halt until the rain came but even then it was still very slow. I decided to try losing the float and slipping downstream using my trolling motor and the wind……halleluiah! Staying in the 15’ water and working, what I imagined to be, the 8-10’ depth was the right presentation. The crappies were biting fairly consistently and they showed that they were hungry with very few misses and hook sets deep enough in their mouths that paper lips weren’t much of a concern.
The rain was cold and I was to the point where I started having dexterity issues when the rain stopped and the sun started peeking through the clouds. This warmed me up and dried me off again but it shut off the bite too. But once I finally went back to the pink/white Mini-mite the crappies started snapping again too; this time with more consistency than with the paddle tail. All in all, about 35 crappies made it to the boat ranging from 10 inches to the biggest being 12 ½ inches. No minnows were used, just plastic. Not a fantastic day but I was happy to be able to put a pattern together.
Once it started sprinkling again I went on a quick scouting run to check out the lake. The first thing I saw I thought was pretty cool. There were 20+ loons swimming in the same general area below the high-banks. The best picture I could get had about 10 of them in it but it was a sight to see in person. I guess the moral to my report is to seize the day even if it’s going be crappy out because you just might have a good day after all.
Chris
