Today I got a good lesson in “let the fish tell you what they want”. I hunted around for a while and eventually found a good congregation of crappie. They were readily slurping up the Gulp minnow, but many would come up and look at the tube only to retreat back to the bottom. When I finally got frustrated with that, I started experimenting with different jig, body, and color combinations. It took some time, but when I put a white tube on a black jig, the catch rate increased dramatically on that rod.
There was still the occasional “looker”, but few and far between as far as I could tell from my limited view of the underwater world.
The fish I happened to find were in 15 feet, at the bottom, near wood cover. Having a shoreline tree laying in the water was a bonus and had more fish out in front of it (at the bottom of the first drop). Maybe I just found a lucky spot, or maybe they’re staging up and getting ready for spawn. Hard to say since I’ve only found one really good area so far.
The wind was a nuisance, but it also helped my catch. I intended to fish fairly tight to cover but occasionally when I got distracted it blew me way off my spot. I found fish a fair distance out from the cover so I learned to be more mobile and cover a bigger area in my search.
I lost count after 20 crappies but I’d guess I got 30 or better. All were released so I can go back and do it again. I did get out Friday after work but that was slower. A few fish here, a few there…
The water temp was 52-54 degrees mostly. It’s not warming up very fast.
John
