Curse of the Camera

So I'm driving to my favorite little spring crappie fishing bay. I will have about 3 hours of daylight light to fish, which isn't a lot of time but I know it will be more then enough because I made a quick scouting run of that very bay last evening and put a dozen and a half nice crappies in my kayak, along with some great bluegills. Since I had forgotten my camera, I decided to release them all and leave them for today's filming. A sure fire bet as far as I am concerned.
Last night there was still ice covering half the big bay between the main lake and the little bay I am going to fish. The temperature in that bay was only 38 - 42 degrees, but at the mouth of the little bay it had risen to 44 degrees, and in the dark bottom, 2 feet deep, north section of the little bay, the temperature was 46 and rising. The weather has been steady for several days and is still steady with a cold front heading in tonight. The water temps are great and on the rise, so I figure it will only bring more fish into my little honey hole. Add to that the fact that only one other angler has yet to fish this spot, it should be easy picking. Pulling into my parking spot I see the ice has completely left the larger bay, water temps going up, watch out crappie I am armed and ready, and I even remembered the camera to film all the great action which I am about to have.
I am sitting motionless in my kayak just outside the little bay that I am about to fish. The video camera is running. The temperature is a steady 44 throughout the larger bay where I am sitting which can only mean my speck spot has gotten warmer, a great sign. I am going to be using a couple different jig and soft plastic combos to get started. My 6 1/2 foot ultra light rod and reel will be rigged with an orange, 1/80oz jig, tipped with a soft plastic Eagle Claw Crappie Bait, suspended under a clear bobber. My 4 1/2 foot ultra light combo is set up with a 1/64oz pink jig tipped with two Berkley Power Bait Micro Power Wigglers, and also suspended under a clear bobber. Both my reels are spooled with Vicious Fishing 4lb clear panfish line and I am ready to go.



Tucked into a little slice of crappie fishing heaven, my lines are out, camera is running once again, and the slabs should be jumping in the kayak any minute. OK. I said any minute now. I see you down there, and you over there. Oh yeah and that half dozen of you trying to hide under that one log, yes I see all of you. Chuckle, chuckle,, here try this tasty little morsel. No, don't want that one. Well how about this one. What do you mean you don't want that either. You guys sure were eager to eat them last night. I'll just scoot over here a bit by this other log and let you guys relax a minute and think about the meal you just passed up.
A quite little plop sounds as my bobber lands gently next to the solitary log. Slowly it is standing up, moving to the side and there it goes under the surface. My rod tip swinging slowly back so that I don't rip the lip of that big ole slab that just swallowed my bait. The hook is set and it's a big one. Whoa, a little drag rippin. Oh man, it's a bass. Into the kayak with you so I can get you off my hook and back into the water where you belong. Now that the bass is out of there I will surely pull a nice speck from the back side of that log. Here we go, bobber twitch, slight movement to the side and slowly under it goes. Another sway of the rod tip, and , dang it, another bass. Get over here. Steady, steady. And up you go...oops , broke you off. Time to try something a little different.
A few drops of liquid minnow ought to do the trick.
Cast. Cast. Cast. Nothing.
Raise the jig to only 6 inches under the bobber and cast into 10 inches of water.
Hey, got a bite. Set the hook. Whoo hooo it's a crappie. Not the size of last nights, but a crappie none the less.
Recast.
Bite. Set. Bluegill.
OK. Now we're talking.
Another crappie, another gill. OH ho, a nice gill for the bucket.
Switching poles and trying the pink since everything so far has come on the orange jig.
Cast to same area between those to branches sticking up about 5 feet apart.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.



Reel in, apply some liquid minnow, recast. Whack, got one. Ah ha....
Now it's going alright. Not big numbers, not big fish but still good fishing.
Whoooaa, here's a good one. Easy on the tension. Watch those paper lips Frank. Slide him over next to the kayak and grip that lip. Nice 12 incher Franko. Bring em on fishing gods.
Dink, dink, little gill, dink. Aaannnd, the bite is done.
What the heck.
I can see them down there. They were more then happy to bite last evening, and now they are pretty much tight lipped.
What happened?
What did I do?
The moon phase was wrong.
There was to much traffic on the road near by.
It must have been the bass.
Actually, I think I wore the wrong hat.
Uhhhh, I really just wasn't into it this evening.
No, no, it was definitely the Curse of the Camera.
Honestly I believe it's just the fish gods teaching me a lesson. And yes, now I understand that no matter what we think we know about fish and fishing, we can always be proven wrong.



It is still a great time, as anytime spent fishing is, and, like every time I go fishing, I learned something once again.
And what did I learn?
The fact is that I am far from knowing all there is to know about crappie and bluegill fishing, and I am definitely looking forward to my next lesson.


See Franks YouTube Video