Weekend of 9-16-06
The weather was a little bit unsettled this past weekend and the overall numbers of big crappies caught were down a bit.
Surface water temperatures have dropped to around 64 degrees on the lower end of Lake Wisconsin and are just a few degrees cooler on the upper end of the main lake.
On Saturday, Armen Caflisch and his father-in-law Loren came along to try their luck. They had a pretty good outing with me last September and were hoping for a repeat this year.
Strong southerly winds made boat control and casting small jigs plenty challenging and most of our fish ended up coming on the minnow rigs
We never did find any one location that was holding a bunch of big crappies. More like one here and one there. By the end of the morning though, they had enough for a good fish fry.
Sunday I was back on the water with Kevin Reynolds, his father-in-law Roger and Ed, Rogers long time friend of 50 some years.
They have a place on Lake Wisconsin in the Okee area and wanted to learn how to catch the big crappies and bluegills they’ve been seeing in my reports.
An early morning thunder storm past by just prior to our start and the rest of the morning was actually quite nice. The wind was just starting to get a little strong at the end of our outing but most of the morning it wasn’t to bad and the temperatures were very comfortable.
The large crappies bit about the same as the day before but with the lighter winds, we were able to catch them on both the minnow rigs and the 1/64oz jig/plastic combo. The minnow rigs were fished right over the side of the boat and the 1/64oz jigs were cast into the shallows and slowly retrieved back to the boat. The end result was a few more crappies in the boat than the day before.
And in the process, we accomplished our mission. Which was to teach Kevin, Roger and Ed how to catch fish on their own. The techniques are not hard to learn. Getting out there and having some success using these techniques will give a fisherman the confidence needed to go out and do it on there own.
Good luck and good fishing!
JWB
As usual Joel, I read your report and thought, “Oh baby…” Very nice as usual. Many people think catching crappies is easy, but cathing “big” crappies is a challenge.
I agree with Jeff. Nice job!
Thanks guys!
Every day is a little different.
One day we’ll get twenty and the next weekend we have to work hard to put eight or ten in the boat.
Just like other fish I guess.
The guys this past weekend had to work hard for the ones they caught. Fortunately, most crappie people are willing to sacrifice numbers for a chance to put big slabs like these in the boat.
JWB
Joel,
Those are some awfully nice crappies. Its been a long time since I have boated a mess of crappies like that. Reading your reports keeps the fire inside churning. Thank you!
Thanks for the report and pics. Nice fish.
Yes that weather can play a big part in goofing up a persons fishing. Glad to see you still caught some nice fish. 
Thanks, Bill