drumking, chickamauga, crappie, 12/03/09, Hal

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drumking

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With Hal joining the company of the unemployed, we decided to fish on Thursday vs Friday this week. Good choice. We landed 45 crappie including one TARP black crappie for Hal. He landed another crappie that was 13.75 inches long. I had 3 or 4 crappie over 13 up to 13.5 inches long. We kept 22 crappie for the freezer and were throwing back 11" fish. Great quality fish today. Hal also landed a 3 lb 2 oz largemouth bass that was caught off a bluff. He thought that he was hung up for a minute or so, until the hangup started swimming. emoBigsmile 4 small bluegills finished off our day. I think that we only had 3 undersized fish all day. Most were over 11" and caught on bg shads in the albino color and also some pearl bg shads.

Most fish came off deeper brush and bluffs. We did try a few docks and landed several fish on a 4 count down over 20 feet of water. Then some of the fish on those docks were deep. Most bites were very subtle today. More visual strikes than normal. We had a few fish pull off after a short fight, but most fish had the lure deep in the roof of the mouth.

It was cold out there today. We never did take our coats off. We took gloves off to fish, but if I could only wear them fishing, today would have been a day when I would have worn them. NW wind had a bite to it. 55,000 cfs, water temp later in the afternoon was 55 degrees on my unit. We saw Labman early this AM. I had left my life jacket in his boat on Tuesday, so Hal and I ran to CFP to meet him first thing. He was fishing with Jerry today. We saw 1 cruiser all day and only one more bass boat out. Sure is nice having all these crappie spots to ourselves today. That's it for me this week unless it is a balmy 60 degrees tomorrow, but that isn't predicted. But you can never tell about these lying weather men. emoBigsmile emoGeezer Now, I have to go clean fish.
 

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Nice report DK! It was a raw one out there today as I was out there for an hours, all bundled up fishing for catfish. Let's hope that the cold won't last long as it will keep all but us "real" fishermen off the water. :)
Maybe it should stay cold for a while so that we can have more of the lake to ourselves, Ha.
 
The tag team strikes again. Good job guys, very nice fish. Congrats on the Tarp Hal. It is nice out there this time of year with little boat traffic. I had my "hot hands" chemical heat fired up today. They worked very well. I still think I will get a small propane heater so we can stop and warm up a bit. Thanks for the report and pictures.

Regards, Norman
 
beetlespin - 12/3/2009 8:08 PM

There is a huge school of crappie at the mouth of ware branch. I caught a 2 pounder bass fishing there.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, Lance. We actually caught some in Ware branch yesterday, but not at the mouth. Just caught the crappie in the mouth. emoUpsmile emoGeezer
 
Well, I wish Labman would get that heater. It was cold out there today. Good catch, guys. There will be some good eating soon.
 
Yes it was a cold day out there today, emoRedface It makes for a red face, emoSmile As DK said the bite was very lite on almost all crappie today and with the wind sometimes it made it difficult to detect the bite watchin' the line. I've almost got enough of the right clothes to fish the colder weather now and I'm also learning how to shoot a jig with a pair of wool gloves on, no easy feat in itself, emoScratch
Note the black spots on that largemouth bass that I'm holding and he also had a big raw place on his side, probably from one of those leaches although the leach wasn't there when I caught him.
It was amazing to throw back 11 inch crappie and to have bigger ones to keep for the skillet, emoSmile
Water temp was 53*-55* and the stiff flow made it hard to fish some of the bluffs. Hope they slow that down soon but looks like the level is back up about 3 feet from winter pool. Wonder where all that water is coming from? We're lookin' forward to them slowing the flow down to something manageable, :eek:
It was a pleasure fishing with The Master, (DK), again today,
Hope to get out again Sunday for some more crappie fun. emoThumbsup
 
Good work on a cold day for you both. emoThumbsup emoThumbsup
Sorry to hear Hal is unemployed (unless he wants it that way).
Thanks for the good report.
 
Nice job guys! I may have missed this DK, but Ive noticed several of your pictures where you motor cover is off and was wondering why? emoScratch
 
RRB32 - 12/4/2009 2:32 AM

Nice job guys! I may have missed this DK, but Ive noticed several of your pictures where you motor cover is off and was wondering why? emoScratch
Click to expand...

Here is the long version of why my motor cowling is off most of the time. About 3 years ago, Mercury issued a recall on my motor for a voltage regulator potential problem. So, I being the innocent guy that I am, ( emoBigsmile ) took it back to the dealer to have the upgrade installed.

Not only did they put a new voltage regulator on the motor, they also installed a new wiring harness and put a brand new cowling on it. emoScratch Still haven't figured that out yet. I have an idea about this, just don't want to be the one making false accusations.

The first time that I took the boat out after the upgrade, I ran to the Wolftever bridge from Tyner lane ramp. Fished a while, then decided to run to another place. The motor wouldn't crank or do anything. I called my wife to go to Tyner lane, pick up my truck and trailer and bring it to Wolftever ramp. While I was waiting, I decided to take the cowling off. I must have bumped something, cause I tried to start the motor again and it fired right back up. Called Wanda and told her to forget the truck. I ran back to Tyner ramp and put the boat back on the trailer. Before quitting for the day, I shut the motor off and started it back up several times. It started every time. So, I thought that the motor starting up was just an anomaly.

Next time out, the exact thing happened. Ran to Wolftever bridge. Fished a while. Tried to start the motor. It failed. Called the mechanic that worked on my motor. He came to Wolftever ramp. Checked the motor. Determined that I needed a new starter. emoBang

Got the new starter put on and thought the problem was fixed. Fished a few days without incident, then one day, after making a couple of short runs and stops. The motor started up, but the engine would bog down while trying to get the boat on plane. Used the trolling motor to get back to the ramp. emoBang emoBang Took it to a boat mechanic (not the one that originally did the upgrade). I didn't trust them anymore at that point. He never could find anything wrong with the motor. It never would fail with him.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, over the past 3 years, about 3 or 4 mechanics have looked at and tried to fix this problem. It is like chasing a ghost. Some suggested coils, some suggested the EMC, one thought there was an air flow problem because of the new cowling. I had new gas lines put on, an electric fuel pump installed, and pulled out the remaining hairs that I had on my head.

I found out through just fishing, that when this problem occurred, if I took the cowling off and let the engine cool for about 10 minutes, the motor would start up and never fail again that day. So, the moral to this story is this. "IF IT AIN'T BROKE, FOR GOODNESS SAKES, DON'T FIX IT." I never had this problem with the engine until they installed the upgrade.

So, my solution to this problem is this. I know the motor never gives any problems when I run it with the cowling off. So, I will run it until the ghost finally does give out and then they will know what the problem is and can fix it. I'm not spending any more retirement money replacing parts that may or may not fix the problem.

And that my friends is why you see my motor cowling off in the pics of big crappie and bass. And drum, and threadfin shads, and golden shiners and catfish and various other species.

emoBigsmile emoGeezer
 
RRB32 - 12/3/2009 11:32 PM

Nice job guys! I may have missed this DK, but Ive noticed several of your pictures where you motor cover is off and was wondering why? emoScratch
Click to expand...

RRB32, DK has a very elaborate cover as to why he does this, but I think that since his name is on his cowling and his presence on the lake strikes such fear into the crappie population, that running with the cowling off is just his version of going incognito to get in close before they realise who is dropping those lures into their neighborhood emoBigsmile emoWorthy emoUpsmile

Tennfisher
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation DK! Now I dont have to wonder lol emoCool emoBigsmile
 

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