Pool 7 Crappie Report

Like many people who feel this way, Saturday couldn’t get here soon enough. No matter what your excuse, whether it be small game hunting, bow hunting, a fishing tourney or just going fishing in general the week seemed to be way too long and the weekend always seemed too far away.

That was the case for my Dad and I. We’d spent the weekend before and the following days after work putting new siding on my house, replacing the old wood siding that had been there since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. This project wouldn’t be an easy one and it would not go quickly. Too many trips to Menards and just enough confounding issues to keep the project going days after I wanted it done.

Thursday, with little fanfare, we nailed the last strip of siding to my house. After getting all the tools and whatnot put away, we made plans to go fishing for most of the day Saturday.

Friday was a hair-puller of a day waiting for 2:30 to arrive. Once I picked up the kids, I made a stop to pick up some waxies for fishing Bluegills. The plan was to slip out early to chase ‘gills on the wingdams, looking for enough to put out a couple fish-frys for my Wife and kids and my Parents.

We’d heard through the grapevine that the Crappies had started biting so we got up early and headed to the baitshop to get a bucket of minnows. It’s good to have options. lol!

The first wingdam we stopped at greeted us with 7 healthy Bluegills, but unfortunately, the bite seemed a bit off. Lots of small Bluegills were all too willing to steal our baits and make this stop a frustrating one. That wingdam is typically my No. 1 stop if I need some great action and big gills. Hopefully things on this wingdam turn around for the better.

From there we bumped around from dam to dam looking for some better action, but never finding it. The upside to that is the one wingdam I like to fish has some sunken timber on it in the scourhole and I told my dad we should give it a try before heading to another area. This proved to be the best move of the entire morning. We tied up between 2 trees and proceeded to lay the smack down on a pile of bruiser Crappies.

We set up in 15ft of water and I set my bobber stop at 5ft never looking back by having to re-adjust. I clipped on a small 1/16th oz Slender Spoon and tipped it with a whole Crappie minnow hoping to entice a bite from some better class of fish. It wasn’t soon and I had a dandy Crappie boatside, splashing into the awaiting net. Almost immediately after that, my Dad had a bigger Crappie in the boat and a big grin on his face. We knew we were onto something a lot funner than hanging vinyl siding…

The tactics we used were pretty simple. As I stated, I used a 1/16th oz. Slender Spoon while my Dad rigged up a plain hook and minnow. It was basically a footrace as to which one out-produced the other. When the bite was solid, neither worked better than the other, but when things got slower, that Slender Spoon put a few more fish in the boat.

For as great as the Crappie bite was, every once in a while, we’d get a bull Bluegill on a minnow and I was even impressed to see some eating minnows on a Slender Spoon. These we truly cream of the crop Bluegills and I was surprised to see them come to the boat.

It was a great day to be out on the water after a week of doing things I’d much rather leave to professionals. Looking forward, the bite should get a lot better and I cannot wait to get back out after those fish. When I do, I won’t leave the camera behind, relying on my cell phone to take pix….

Good luck fishing!!