Monday was a day we found out something that we already knew: weathermen are special. Who else can do their job so poorly and still get paid? We said forget it and went fishing anyway. My buddy and fellow IDOer Chad Mayer came out for the trip and brought his son Corey along. He had a few tips that he thought we should try out.
Fishing was tough, to say the least. I really believe the minor front that came through had an adverse effect on the fish. Not to mention the tons and tons of bait that’s present in the lake. We started off a few areas trying jigs, trolling cranks, slabbing…nothing worked. We finally found an area that had deeper water with fish present, so we decided to try it. Was not there long and managed a nice smallie that went 17", my biggest in quite a while. A real blast on crappie gear. Not 10 minutes later, the fish of the day smacked a shad body. This beauty went 26 1/2", 6lbs 9ozs. Released to fight another day, just like the smallie.
Chad stuck a small flathead in the same area, but things really slowed down, so Chad decided we should try some areas for crappies. We had tried the area previously in the day, with no success at all. This time we decided to give it a little time, and since the wind completely died, it was easy fishing.
We put a little time into it and figured out what they wanted. They were tight to cover, but managed to get a few to come out for the camera. Out of the 25 we managed, the biggest two fish of the day were these two that went 14" and 13 1/2". I’m glad Chad made the decision he did, not sure I would have done the same thing.
We didn’t get the numbers we were expecting, but did get some real quality fish. I was the lucky one getting the fish to fall for me, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Chad being a great guide. Thanks for having me down Chad!
Nice report and some great looking fish.
Thank you, it was a hoot. I’m hoping to head back down there again this week if the weather holds out. Looks like it could be decent!