Decided that I'd try Lake Pickthorne over by Jacksonville for the first time yesterday, since Conway was high and muddy (after seeing CP's report, I'm kickin' myself). It's a pretty good lake, but now I know why Dafshklr said it can be a tough lake to fish. I started out the day searching the deeper water (to 17-18'), but found out really quick that the deep water is more like "holes" than a channel. Before I knew it, I'd be out of the hole and in 6' of water. Super-sharp dropoffs. Didn't catch anything but a headache, and gave it up after a couple hours. I really wanted to just drift fish across the lake, but wouldn't ya know...NO WIND! Where's it at when you need it? Felt a lot like July out there! I was fishin' in my shorts by mid-morning and sweatin' like a pig!

Needless to say, that place is extremely crowded...not on the water, but the parade of folks driving around the lake. And they wouldn't just stare as they drove by...but rather stop and stare at you for 10-15 minutes. Also lots of shady lookin' characters hanging around there. Got a call from LRJoe and he informed me that there was a gang fight there last week...so then I was thinkin' great...they could hit me from anywhere on the lake!

Anywho, I ended up drift fishing (with the TM!) across the lake starting at about the SE fishing pier and heading NW. Found lots of holes but not much deeper than 8'. Ended up finding a few of those SLABS that was mentioned a few weeks ago. Had a shallow pole set at 1' and caught a hog on it. Ended up catching about 10 keeper fish from 5" deep to 2' deep over that 7-8' of water. Released at least 20 crappie from 5"-9" long. Had 3 good fish above 15", and I lost 5 that were bigger than that at the boat. I'm definately not a mathematician, but I figure that catching a fish 5" deep on a 13' pole had something to do with it! The crappie were fired up being that shallow...dancin' on top of the water like a bass. And being so shallow, they were on the surface right at the hookset. Best believe that I'm gonna be better prepared for 'em next time.

They bit on any color jig tipped with a rosy, but didn't want anything to do with just a straight rosy. Thanks to all for the tips on the lake. It won't be my last trip, but it's gonna be hard not to point the truck in the direction of Conway.



Watched the big birds fly all day long...wonder how much fuel that adds up to?


Thought this one was gonna drop a paratrooper in the boat with me...


And you know the water's pretty muddy when you can't hardly see the crappie...


Three big'uns that I managed to win the battle with...


And notice there wasn't any ice left in the cooler by the end of the day...Did I mention it was hot???