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crataegus, i'm convinced you could drop a matchbox car to the bottom and catch fish from it. the condo looks good, only other thing i could think of would be some sort of bouy or marker, bright pink, and the words,
"crataegus fishes here" displayed in high viz letters. :D
Saturday in a "Raleigh Parks" lake:
11:20am-6:30pm (best fishing...as long as I was in the right spot)
67 crappie 10"-14.75" (14.75"=1 lb 12.25 oz)
***Chartreuse tubejig w/out minnow
custom minnow rig
#6 Vanish Transition Line
2-10' deep in 7-12'
Water Temp: 77F
***big fish of the day caught on this bait
I brought out the PVC stuff today. It actually took about 15 minutes per structure to build and drop instead of the 7 minutes I initially estimated. I took a picture of my 14' boat packed with the structure components before I launched today. I was impressed by the surreptitiousness--my boat pretty much looked the same as always. I sank the two PVC structures and caught a small fish on them an hour later. The Lowrance showed a full house over the top of them by the end of the day (I didn't fish them again though).
Today, the midlake hump preformed anemically. I caught only 3 keepers on the hump (still not many archs on the Lowrance.) So, since early fall could be considered a doppleganger to late spring, I targeted a spot that performed well in early June. 62 of 67 keepers broke the surface in the 100sq' spot--including all the largest fish of the day. I fished there about 4 hours--so about 15/hr. The fish averaged over 11" there, but <10" elsewhere. I had 90% of my hits on jigs today. My minnows were quickly depleted, although the bites were harder and more consistant on jigs. I fished the best spot out in much the same way that coal is stripmined near my Midwestern hometown. I started 2-3' down-caught several. Then 4' down-caught several (ave size slightly larger than at 2-3'). Then 5' down-caught several (ave size slightly larger than at 4'). Then 6-8' (ave size slightly larger than at 5'; and 2nd and 3rd largest fish caught back to back at this depth). At the end of the day, I returned and caught the my final fish at 2-5' (including the 14.75"). I couldn't believe how shallow the top couple layers of crappie were--but sometimes it's best to trust the electronics.
Crappie fight so hard this time of year!
Whompus Cat:
I will consider your suggestion. However, because I don't own many bright pink things, would hunter orange suffice? :)
-crataegus
Where is raleigh parks lake?? What is it
It's a lake owned by the Raleigh Parks system. But because it's a drop in the bucket compared to Jordan Lake, I just leave the name at that.
This was my boat packed with two PVC condos, and weight.
doppleganger - don't think I've ever seen that word used in a fishing report but it is a good one to describe your thoughts.
How'd the lake folks feel about you dropping or were you able to camoflague well enough during launching?
todobien:
See picture above. I even stopped to get bait.
crataegus, blaze orange markers will be fine, just as long as i can seen them from the boat ramp. :D
On a serious note, I was wondering what kind of depthfinder/fishfinder you're using. I have a boat similar to that size and will be looking into a good fishfinder for it soon. I would like to be able to remove it while i'm not fishing so it doesnt get stolen or weathered. I enjoy the posts, keep them coming.
Whompus Cat,
So you're tellin' me you wanna know where all the fish are without even gettin' the bottom of your boat wet!?
I use the Lowrance LMS 520c on a Ram mount. You will notice in the picture of my boat in a recent "Quick Report" post: the unit mouted slightly below the front deck and the GPS antenna disc is mounted on a rear gunnel. I switch between front and back ducers. It takes about 10 seconds to unplug and remove the sonar/gps when I'm ready to put her to bed. My boat and bank account are a little small to handle the big-screen models, and it can be a bit tricky at times to read the small display from 7' or 8' away with tiller in hand--but I still can. Lowrance's sharp sonar helped me indentify an outstanding midlake hump; and I enjoyed many happy August returns to its arch laden peak by navigating to "Waypoint #2". $500-700 will fully equip you with an excellent GPS/Sonar system. I'm saving up for a side finder--but where am I gonna put it? Pretty soon I'll have a boat that can launch, navigate and fish on its own--with no room for me!
I thought you probably had the PVC in the bag. Whole lot easier to do camoflague than bamboo.