old school crappie fishing

[grizzly]

Got a late start yesterday, got to the water at 10:30. I was at my favorite crappie spot on Des Arc Bayou. For the first 1 1/2 hours I hit every tree top, log, stick up and brush pile without 1 bite. I decided to troll and see what I could do that way. I put out 6 cane/bamboo poles, 4 with minnows and 2 with jigs, all under floats for depth control. This is how I grew up trolling, useing cane poles and floats always with inline spinners and minnows. I rarely tightline, I enjoy watching the floats, waiting for that pull back of a fish. In saying that, I only caught 3 crappie but still had fun trying. Where I fish on the bayou is a wide spot, about 100 yards wide and 1 1/2 miles long with 1 hole 12 feet deep with the average 8 feet or less. One of the cool things there is the spoonbill jump straight up out of the water all day long. They are more active in hot weather, but I still saw 15 or 20 yesterday. I had one jump that was about 50 yards from the boat, and the little fella could not have been 24 inches long. How cool is nature? grizzly

[L.A. stumpjumper]

Hey Grizzly, I know what your talking about on those spoonbill jumping out of the water. At Morgan Point they are always jumping out of the water when I'm motoring to my fishing spots. I am afraid they are going to jump while I am motoring by and they will land in the boat. I have had a lot of close calls, I've had them hit the bottom of the boat.

[barn dog]

Hey Grizz the last few times I have been out on Table Rock those crazy spoon bill are coming straight up out of the water. I'v seen some as long as 4' not including the bill. When they land on their side you think it was a bomb's going off the noise and the huge splash. They remind me of the Sturgeon I'v seen on the Wisconsin rivers and lakes. The sturgeon are known for their jumping they come straight up and turn on their side as they hit the water with a thunderous splash. Running a River this June I had a Sturgeon jump next to my seat and scared the crap out of me and my brother we were doing about 30 mph.