Not a crappie! Not a crappie!

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Originally Posted by no1son

I aint about to lip no pike. Over the past almost 60 years of catching them I have already had more than enough misadventures with pike teeth. Too many stiches already.

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I hear ya there. When I was a tenneager I caught a big pike and in the process of handling it somehow got a thumb in its mouth while the thing commenced to start chewing. I had one of those very long teeth go straight thru the thumb nail and then break off. I guess I don't have to elaborate on pain aspect but after a couple days of playing the man with iron nuts I went to the doc and things went from bad to worse. They had to shoot my thumb with a local and cut about 2/3 of the nail away to get the tooth removed, but infection from that beast's healthy eating habits had set in and by the time they finish excavating the infected area I wasn't a happy camper.

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Originally Posted by no1son

Sounds like your team had a very good trip. Good on all of you.

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My son and his fishing buddy Paul during yesterday's "Crappiefest." The rest of the weekend is looking good weather-wise and schedule-wise

i will be trying to catch some today

Woody, a whole lot of this is the result of having a fishing partner who bounces as many ideas of me and more as I bounce of him. We have been working together now for some years. It also helps us that there are two of us running varieties of offerings to zero in on the special of the day.

CT,

My pike only slashed and those bled out real well! Did they bleed!

My worse experience was getting my hand in a spawn of madtoms. None of the little buggers was even half an inch long and they were all finned into the minnow seine so tight we couldn't even shake em out. I all but lost the use of that hand for close to a week. Didn't get all that much sleep either IIRC. Of course that was easily 45 years ago, when I was young and dumb etc. I have always been one who had to learn his lessons the hard way unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by IMFSHN

Attachment 86892

My son and his fishing buddy Paul during yesterday's "Crappiefest." The rest of the weekend is looking good weather-wise and schedule-wise

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What a great picture, I bet that little guy will never forget it...Good Job...

Quite a bit slower today -where was that elusive 70 degree day? Largest was 3/4lb. Berkley Atomic Mites were still the best producers of the day.

One of today's randoms...
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"A man must believe something-I believe I'll go fishing."

Here's my "not a crappie" catch:

Spring Tiger Musky - YouTube

I was fishing a south metro lake from my kayak last weekend (3/24), anchored facing leeward of a submerged hump with a little grass. I was sitting sideways on my kayak at the time (water temp was 61*F, I wear hip waders this time of year). Fish was caught on a 1/8oz Northland bucktail jig with a little crappie scent applied, 5' ultralight with 10lb braid, 10lb fluorocarbon leader. I filmed this with my iPhone in a waterproof case (which is why its a little blurry). I was completely unprepared for this fish but did not get toothed. After this experience, I finally bought a Berkeley Lip Gripper, and a Go Pro Hero2HD! I didn't weigh or measure it - after taking a couple of pictures I wanted to get it back into the water asap.

Attachment 87016Attachment 87017

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Originally Posted by Nanosio2

After this experience, I finally bought a Berkeley Lip Gripper, and a Go Pro Hero2HD! I didn't weigh or measure it - after taking a couple of pictures I wanted to get it back into the water asap.

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A buddy of mine picked one of these up. I wanted to get a hold of it and strap it to the helmet of a goalie and a forward during our broomball season, but alas, he still lives in North Dakota. My son was just talking about fishing from a kayak. I told him he'd best have things strapped down, and maybe he'd like to look at a float tube when he gets older.

Thank you for the photos and stories. crappies were better than yesterday for us, but still a little slow in the middle of the day. A lot of boats on Seaton Bay fishing around 8' of water, I don't think I saw one of them pull in anything that would end up on my fillet board.

"Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish." -Nov. 2005 fortune cookie

I got a Team Catfish plastic floating gripper from Bob Moore back when he still had his bait shop open. I'm real happy with that thing. It works for carp too. They are often too slippery to get a good grip on especially since they stay solid across the gills, and with the thick lips, any hookup is a solid one that often takes a pliers to twist out.

Crappies are still my darling, but it pays to be prepared for whatever bonus fish show up. Around here muskies have been so heavily stocked all over the Metro that they are as likely to be bonus hookups as any other gamefish. That mostly will mean cutoffs, but enough are not that a good jaw gripper is a very good tool to have handy, even if one never uses it on what we like to catch most.