G
Guest
Guest
Sorry that I haven't posted this sooner, but I am just now getting over an excellent weekend of fishing at the Rocky Mountain PFA. We went fishing both days, so I will start with the Saturday morning trip, that I took by myself.
Let it be known that I was fishing East Antioch exclusively in ALL 3 trips.
I got up Saturday morning around 6:30 AM and decided that I would go fishing. I got out there around 7 AM, at my little spot, and started fishing for bass. I quickly let that go, when I noticed a couple of fellows in a boat, a grandfather and his grandson, catching crappies like crazy, in front of where I was fishing. I had my 7 ft. spinning rod setup with a weedless jighead and a pearl grub, so I started chunking and winding.
They said that they were using green colored grubs, but I kept on using my white grub. I ended up with 10 crappies total, pictured below. The worst part of the whole morning was these 2 folks who literally sat on either side of me. Where I am fishing is a peninsula, and at the end of it, it's enough room for 2 people. They started fishing for catfish, and only managed one, around 3 lbs. It just upset me that they did not have enough courtesy to ask if they could invade my fishing area, and that they would just do it and use 4 rods each, which is illegal for this lake. At any rate, I left, and came back home.
When I got home, Mom and Dad were out shopping. They caught me filleting the fish I had caught, and I told Dad about how the guys in the boat were catching them, etc., and he said if I had planned to go back out. I said that I did, and so, he went along. It's a great thing, cause getting my Dad out fishing is a rare occurance these days. Too many other things that take up his time. We went back out to the same peninsula, and no one was there.
We used minnows this time around, as they were not taking the jig so well, and we ended up with 13 for the evening trip.
The funny thing about the morning and evening trips was this..............the morning crappies were ALL female. Each one of them was full of eggs. The evening trip, only 4 of them were female, the rest were males. Very interesting, don't you think?
This is my Dad with two of the bigger crappies from the trip, which sadly, he did catch.
So, we come home with a total of 23 crappies for the day, and we are planning to have a fish fry. Well, we talk to my Mom about things, and she hasn't been fishing in 6 years or so, and so, she decides that she wants to go fishing. I tell them that it's going to rain, and they say that we will make our decision in the morning. I set my alarm for 6 AM, and I wake them up around 6:30 AM. The radar says that the rain is going to hit Chattooga Co., where I live, but will miss Floyd Co., where we are going to be fishing. The radar lies! I got 10 dozen minnows, and waited for them, as they had to get Mom's fishing license, which I bought for her.
They get there, and it's thundering off in the distance, and someone is already on the peninsula. Well, I walk out there, and setup shop several yards up from them. They come up and say hello, as they are folks that were asking about what Dad and I were doing to catch the crappies the evening prior. They caught 5 crappies, I believe, in the span of 30 mins, while I only had one small one.
Mom and Dad get there, and it starts raining. At first, it's just a gentle, slow rain, which is quite wonderful. They are already wearing their ponchos, and I go to my truck to get mine. I come back, and we start fishing.
Dad finds an area, about 20 ft. beyond the casting area of the family on the end of the peninsula, and he starts catching crappies. He sets Mom up in that little hole, and sure enough, the fellows start throwing their poles in the hole as well. We honestly didn't mind, just as long as we all get crappies. They eventually run out of minnows, and we notice, as they leave, that they are fishing way too deep. All of our crappies are being caught from 3-4 ft. of water, and they each have their rods set for 5 ft. or more. Now, what is funny is that I had told them that all the crappies from Saturday were shallow, and were associating to an edge of a small channel around this area, and that they were only 3-4 ft. deep. Apparently, they weren't listening.
So, since they leave, we set up on the end of the peninsula, and as soon as my bobber sets up straight in the water, it goes under. We all took turns pulling in crappies, and as the basket became heavier and heavier, we all question one another about going home, and who is going to clean them. LOL That job is always dedicated to me, or sometimes, Dad.
After going through a down-pour, Dad catching a 1.8 lbs. bass, and having our bobbers drowned from the crappies wrecking havoc on them, we decide to take it to the house. We ended up with 30 crappies, and 1 bass.
This is Mom, with two of her big sal crappies that she caught! She outfished us, completely!
And this is me, with two of my black crappies, which I had watched over the two days, coming in and chasing shad that were 6-7 inches long. I am not kidding, folks. These crappies were on a mission to kill some shad, and it was evident all around the peninsula. At last count, 7 shad fell victim to crappies who beat the crap out of the, but were unable to eat them.
All in all, it was a great weekend, though very tiring. Heath Lake opened today, which meant there were only 3 boats on East Antioch the entire time we were there, as compared to about 15 on Saturday, combined for the times we were there.
Finally, this ole bass angler rekindles his fight against his arch nemisis, the crappie, and prevails. Oh, the struggle is only to catch them, and to clean them.
Let it be known that I was fishing East Antioch exclusively in ALL 3 trips.
I got up Saturday morning around 6:30 AM and decided that I would go fishing. I got out there around 7 AM, at my little spot, and started fishing for bass. I quickly let that go, when I noticed a couple of fellows in a boat, a grandfather and his grandson, catching crappies like crazy, in front of where I was fishing. I had my 7 ft. spinning rod setup with a weedless jighead and a pearl grub, so I started chunking and winding.
They said that they were using green colored grubs, but I kept on using my white grub. I ended up with 10 crappies total, pictured below. The worst part of the whole morning was these 2 folks who literally sat on either side of me. Where I am fishing is a peninsula, and at the end of it, it's enough room for 2 people. They started fishing for catfish, and only managed one, around 3 lbs. It just upset me that they did not have enough courtesy to ask if they could invade my fishing area, and that they would just do it and use 4 rods each, which is illegal for this lake. At any rate, I left, and came back home.
When I got home, Mom and Dad were out shopping. They caught me filleting the fish I had caught, and I told Dad about how the guys in the boat were catching them, etc., and he said if I had planned to go back out. I said that I did, and so, he went along. It's a great thing, cause getting my Dad out fishing is a rare occurance these days. Too many other things that take up his time. We went back out to the same peninsula, and no one was there.
We used minnows this time around, as they were not taking the jig so well, and we ended up with 13 for the evening trip.
The funny thing about the morning and evening trips was this..............the morning crappies were ALL female. Each one of them was full of eggs. The evening trip, only 4 of them were female, the rest were males. Very interesting, don't you think?
This is my Dad with two of the bigger crappies from the trip, which sadly, he did catch.
So, we come home with a total of 23 crappies for the day, and we are planning to have a fish fry. Well, we talk to my Mom about things, and she hasn't been fishing in 6 years or so, and so, she decides that she wants to go fishing. I tell them that it's going to rain, and they say that we will make our decision in the morning. I set my alarm for 6 AM, and I wake them up around 6:30 AM. The radar says that the rain is going to hit Chattooga Co., where I live, but will miss Floyd Co., where we are going to be fishing. The radar lies! I got 10 dozen minnows, and waited for them, as they had to get Mom's fishing license, which I bought for her.
They get there, and it's thundering off in the distance, and someone is already on the peninsula. Well, I walk out there, and setup shop several yards up from them. They come up and say hello, as they are folks that were asking about what Dad and I were doing to catch the crappies the evening prior. They caught 5 crappies, I believe, in the span of 30 mins, while I only had one small one.
Mom and Dad get there, and it starts raining. At first, it's just a gentle, slow rain, which is quite wonderful. They are already wearing their ponchos, and I go to my truck to get mine. I come back, and we start fishing.
Dad finds an area, about 20 ft. beyond the casting area of the family on the end of the peninsula, and he starts catching crappies. He sets Mom up in that little hole, and sure enough, the fellows start throwing their poles in the hole as well. We honestly didn't mind, just as long as we all get crappies.
They eventually run out of minnows, and we notice, as they leave, that they are fishing way too deep. All of our crappies are being caught from 3-4 ft. of water, and they each have their rods set for 5 ft. or more. Now, what is funny is that I had told them that all the crappies from Saturday were shallow, and were associating to an edge of a small channel around this area, and that they were only 3-4 ft. deep. Apparently, they weren't listening.So, since they leave, we set up on the end of the peninsula, and as soon as my bobber sets up straight in the water, it goes under.
We all took turns pulling in crappies, and as the basket became heavier and heavier, we all question one another about going home, and who is going to clean them. LOL That job is always dedicated to me, or sometimes, Dad.After going through a down-pour, Dad catching a 1.8 lbs. bass, and having our bobbers drowned from the crappies wrecking havoc on them, we decide to take it to the house. We ended up with 30 crappies, and 1 bass.
This is Mom, with two of her big sal crappies that she caught! She outfished us, completely!
And this is me, with two of my black crappies, which I had watched over the two days, coming in and chasing shad that were 6-7 inches long. I am not kidding, folks. These crappies were on a mission to kill some shad, and it was evident all around the peninsula. At last count, 7 shad fell victim to crappies who beat the crap out of the, but were unable to eat them.
All in all, it was a great weekend, though very tiring. Heath Lake opened today, which meant there were only 3 boats on East Antioch the entire time we were there, as compared to about 15 on Saturday, combined for the times we were there.
Finally, this ole bass angler rekindles his fight against his arch nemisis, the crappie, and prevails. Oh, the struggle is only to catch them, and to clean them.
