Thread: Sticks & Stones can

break my bones but Slabs will never hurt me! Feeling well enough to follow doc's orders to "take it easy" with some moderate, conservative stretching for these bruised ribs. Well with 2 rods "sticks"(moderate) one new to me ACC Crappie Stix 11' rear reel seat & 5.5' Fenwick light w/4 lb. mono, I set my 1st trip back(11 days off, feels like 21) to SJR "Stones". Fishing for Crappie while only single-poling is what I definitely feel could be classified as moderate, conservative stretching(line) With doctor's orders in mind, I set off to scratch this idle-time ITCH! 6th boat @ramp w/7am arrival brought peace of mind w/no waiting. The river flow was about 75% less than my last trip to SJ about 2 1/2 weeks ago which also provided confidence. My plan was to search skinny water in search of the love-sick spawners and w/ 68* w/t off I went. Dipping pads unsuccessfully w/11'r turned my attention my confidence setup and it didn't take long to find my targets, though relatively low in numbers(11), yielded 7 for a couple good meals anyway. Biggest fish 14"(1.75lb) turned out to be a spawned-out female that almost snatched the rod out of my hand! Caught a bunch of stumpknockers(always a blast on ultralight), 5 largemouth<14", and a healthy warmouth that was released as well. Only two well-ripened roe fish were kept. 1/64 hair-jigs were good baits but even better were 1/32 oz. curly tails in both parrot and bluegrass colors. No bobbers or split shot were used. Like Arnold would say "I'll be bock"! Only drawback when fishing the picturesque SJ is the pleasure boaters and luxury-liners that NEVER yield to courtesy slow-downs. The thick-shouldered 10.5" and above I kept far outweigh this although the weekend armada could significantly disprove that. Enjoy the pics...ribs have dramatically improved, TG!



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