Ouachita 1 April Update

[Arkie John]

I was on the water and in the fog at 0715 idling to the north bank staring at my seeing eye (gps). I came to one of my haunts and using a blue/white maribou jig, immediately jigged up seven decent crappie from 12' in 28 fow, but no more. That's the way it is every time at this one spot.

I then moved to a cove that had been a heavy producer for the past week with nary a hit after 45 minutes. I took the hint and with the fog being burned off, I headed to the south bank to avoid the wind and to hit another of my favorite little places. Nuttin'.

I looked at the water in the south bank cove thinking it was too muddy for crappie but on a whim, I rigged up a minnow under a bobber with 18" of line. Then i slipped to a tree top that produced for me last year and I pulled out four slabs in succession while missing three more! 15.5, 15, 14 and 13.5. All females in 2 fow under brush.

I visited several other places without another hit. Water temps were 55 early and 58-59 late. I did find one place with 61.5 degree water.

I ended the day with a little trolling of the willow-leaf road runners with no takers. I loaded up the boat and was off the water at 9:15pm. A long day for eleven crappie but I have fourteen more good lookin' fillets in the freezer right now.