When you think of bluegills, crappies and wood Chesterwoods Resevoir just outside of Rochester is the place to be. And a plastic bait and jig called a Mini Mite is the lure to catch these fish on.
The first pic is Mike Smith [HOF] with a crappie. Mike was the hot stick today while I ran the trolling motor and camera. After doing some searching we found a few areas that were holding both bluegills and crappies around wood. The second pic is Mike with a nice bluegill.
We were casting Mini Mites jigs and plastics under a bobber into areas that held wood and also along shorelines. When the bite was slow we added a waxie to spice it up alittle. The third pic is a fellow angler that caught a nice crappie close to where we were fishing.
Mike and I put on quite a show for each other a few times casting light plastics with jigs using long enough rods to cast into instead of under a few trees. lol. It was a great day to be out fishing and talking with a bunch of nice people while out at Chesterwoods. The 4th pic is another species that seemed to like the Mini Mites too while we were fishing for panfish. Just hope they still like them when the season opens for them so we can fish for them. With the weekend coming up and no rain forcasted it will be a great time to chase some gills and crappies. There will be a RAF [Rochester Area Fishermen] get-together for some fishing this Saturday [5-6-06] at Chesterwoods from 8-12:30. It consist of just fishing and then at 12:30 sharp each person will have their largest [longest] bluegill, crappie and catfish measured at the boat ramp. The winners have bragging rights til the next get-together. The scores are kept toward a prize at the end of the RAF get-togethers. Hope to see you there.
Thanks, Bill
Bill, are there any boat size restrictions on Chester Woods Reservoir?
None that I’m aware of. My Lund is 16.6 long and I’ve seen 18 ft boats come off the ramp before. But it is electric trolling motors only. You can’t use your gas motor. So make sure your batteries are fully charged.
Thanks, Bill
Looks like i’m not the only one having fun these days, Nice report, Hope they’re still biting for ya guys Sat. I have to work
Good fishin Doug
Looks like fun Bill! Thanks for the report!! How big do the crappies and bluegills get in Chesterwoods?
Everyone tells me there isn’t any crappies in there but we found them. Didn’t measure them but am going to guess 11 inches so far. I will have to search for more and bigger ones.
Thanks, Bill
The RAF today was really fun
. I always heard to the rumor of crappies being in there but Ive never caught any till today. I was just pitching a chart/black mini mite with no float into the wood and the fish would just smack the bait. The wind made it a bit difficult to feel the jig at times. I managed about 8 or 9 crappies but most were only 6″ to 7″ but one toped 10.5″, 3 gills, and 5 or 6 bass. It was nice to meet you guys bill, ron, and mike I sure had a great time.
Yep, a fun day!
Nice to meet you Eric!
Good Fishing,
Mike
VERY nice meeting you Eric and Dan and Andy too.
Everyone use to tell me there aren’t any crappies in Chesterwoods but we all sure found them. Nice ones too and nice to see some different year classes too.
Also Welcome Eric. Great to have you with us. And please feel free to share and post all you want.
Thanks, Bill
The mimi mite is also a personal panfish favorite of mine on the mississippi.