Jmax/Polo-dog crappies 1/17

[polo-dog]

Jmax and I met for lunch, fishing somehow came up in the conversation and we went. It was cold, low 40's and somewhat windy. Water temp was 51 in the creek and 49 in Harrison bay. We fished vertical structure next to the creek channel in Wolftever, a shallow spring, floating structure above and near the Wolftever channel and points that intersected with the channel out in Harrison bay. We caught 7 keepers in the 2 1/2 hours that we fished with one being very large. The only area where we caught keepers was on or near the vertical structure next to the channel over 17-26 feet of water. Lots of bait and fish below the bait could be seen on my electronics. With the air temp close to 30 degrees less than two days ago I didn't expect much but we still had a great time. We caught about 2 non-keepers for every keeper that we had. My fingers were painful and nearly numb by the time we quit but I thawed out quickly. Thanks Jmax for a fun trip.

 

[drumking]

Gloves, Dr Polo, gloves! That's why they make these things. But I know the feeling. I had that yesterday as the wind howled and made me think of the Artic Circle. Good catch though and fun.emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[Jmax]

Polo I need to thank you, you took me.emoScratch We did have fun and it did surprise me as I told you that the fish were biting as well as they were in the conditions we had. There seemed to be no current at all but there was overcast and windy conditions that made it hard to stay on our places. You know you did catch the one off the dock area in about 8 feet that was our first keeper but that was the only keeper that shallow. The rest were short and a couple were minnows disguised as crappie.emoLaughIt did seem the better crappie were out in the deeper water. I would have not thought we would catch 20 to 25 crappie in that short a period of time so I was glad you talked me into it.emoCool Jmax

 

[polo-dog]

DK, I wore two pairs of gloves or else I wouldn't have been out there for minutes.

I forgot to tell what baits we were using. I was throwing a 1/32 oz jig with depths less than 10 feet and a 1/16th oz with water deeper than that. I was using a shad colored Panfish assassin with the tail dyed either chartreuse or red. The big crappie hit the red tailed bait but the chartreuse caught more fish. Jmax was throwing a single 1/16th oz tube jig in less than 10 feet and a double rig with one tube jig tied about a foot above the other. He was using one that was red/chartreuse and the other black/chartreuse but I'm not sure which one caught more fish. Which one was it Jmax?

 

[Fishin Fool]

Way to go guys! Did you see anyone spider rigged? I have seen a couple boats this year but not many. You guys must have the touch, I'm catching a few but I suppose I am (wishfully) fishing too deep. Maybe this cold weather willl turn them on some.

 

[fisherpal2k]

Sounds like a good day on the cold water. Glad you guys got a few. Now when is class going to be held to show me how to catch them?

 

[Biofisher I]

I'm glad to see you too get together and work on the crappie population. Between you two I'm sure there were not many stones left unturned. Good job guys. I'm encouraged by your report.

 

[Jmax]

In the shallow water I only had on the red/chartruse but in the deeper water I had on both. I felt it was about half and half this trip. I do know the keepers that hit mine seemed to go after the black/chartruse more than the red.emoThumbsup But on the smaller crappie they seemed not to care on color. It may just of been getting it in front of them.emoCool Jmax

FF, did not see any spider rigging and for that matter only saw two other boats the time we were out there.

 

[polo-dog]

FnF it was one of those nasty cold days that kept people off the water but it's hard to keep Jmax and me away if you haven't noticed. You may be fishing too deep but I could see the depth of the fish on my depthfinder and tried to keep my bait at the depth that I saw the fish.

fisherpal2k, the teaching is right here, just read the posts, study your maps, and get out there on the water. DK and Jmax are always the posts to watch if you want to learn something good about the fish that are biting. They are very oppertunistic and give very detailed reports most of the time as to what is working to catch fish. If you do these things, the next time you post you'll be teaching the rest of us a thing or two.