9/1/12 ElDorado - Slow start, Great end!

[fishingtim]

Finally made it back out to El Dorado on Saturday afternoon. Wife backed out at the last minute, so I just went out with my daughter. Main lake and boat ramp\dock was crazy, as expected, so we headed up way north to get away from all the boat traffic. Started dipping trees around 3:30pm and the second tree produced a dink, ~50 trees later and finally a keeper, ~50 trees more and another dink. Kept searching around and still nothing. Figured since they weren’t biting I would just explorer around. Found a good looking set of trees that I never fished before, so I started poking around them and was getting a couple taps. Finally around 6:45pm I got a good thump and pulled up a 15in crappie that was down about 6ft. I was pretty stoked and went right back to dipping the trees. Next tree I pulled up a 14in crappie, next tree a 11in. A couple tree later another 14, then a 13, then a 11, then a 12. Bite slowed up and I found a couple more keepers before dark. Released all the fish so I can catch them next time. Pink was the color of the day because that is the lure my daughter picked out for me. She also helped reel in a lot of the fish I hooked and even some I re-hooked on her pole. Glad I just stuck with it and grinned it out and didn’t jump around the lake since I wasn’t catching them right off the bat. Don’t know if minnows would of help me out early on when they weren’t feeding heavily, need to get out A LOT more to continue my research.
My four year old daughter surprisingly took a good picture of my fish.

[Ozark88]

Way to go Dad!!

[crappiedoc]

I like it This is such a great post in every way, fish, family, and good pics. On your research, IMO, you are onto something. I fished for years out of a 2-man boat, I learned about area fishing. I couldn't just start up the motor and head to the other side of the lake. Loading and unloading wasn't that fun of a thing to do, not that I didn't do it, just looked and learned a little each trip. This technique is also very affordable with todays fuel prices, I rather go more or afford more essentials in my quest. Honestly, I'm kinda looking for another one because of these factors. Excellent write-up and report

[ragnar]

Great tim. Was out early morning and not much going on sat or monday AM

[DroptineJoe]

Great job! Way to stick with it!!!

[fishingtim]

Thanks crappiedoc, I've fished like this in the years past, but Shane reminded me of the pattern a month or so ago. I seem to do worse fishing if I have a list of dozen historical places I want to try and I rush to try to hit them all before the sun goes down. But if I slow down and not worry about finding the motherload I'll usually end up doing better. Yeah, I'm all about saving money also, I like fishing with minnows but usually I cheap out save the $5-10 I would spend on a couple dozen minnows and use jigs instead.

ragnar - I was going to go out Sat morning also, but I try to avoid fishing mornings right after a full moon or near full moon has been out all night. Figure the fish have been eating all night and won't be hungry for breakfast but maybe a afternoon or evening snack. I'm sure that not always the case, but I also wanted to sleep in a bit. I haven't forgot, I still owe you a trip out of my boat.

[laltec]

wtg... was out sat. morning and caught three keepers pretty quick, but mine where all about 11 inches. Never found the hogs! Had to go home after only 1 hour because of a problem with my trolling motor battery. The keepers i caught where north in the trees but i was using a drop rig with minows. Now im kinda bummed i couldn't stay out longer...

[KAG]

Good story and a great pic

[kingfish387]

Great report and some GREAT crappie.

[RetiredRR]