Informative as always EB. You always have some golden nuggets to share. Thank you.
HaHa: 0
Ciller being around Todd Huckabee for years I can tell you that if a man is on the water 250 days a year and looks at sonar everyday he will see information that the weekend warrior doesn't. "Todd said to me one time no matter what I think or guess we still have to drop a jig down there a see to know for sure." In my opinion structure scan and bottom scan are much more detailed in seeing not only structure but fish. But if your on to a hot pattern keep on fishing it ledge. Half the battle is finding the largest concentration of shad. This time of year they are usaully near the deepest water in that area. To my expeirence we have always done better with brush close, or ledges. "If I were a big crappie I would want something to hide in so I could snatch up a free meal without having to work to hard for it" Good Fishing EB
Informative as always EB. You always have some golden nuggets to share. Thank you.
But every time I have them figured out I'm humbled! I also believe a man has to have some good luck. Sime days you need it just to get to the lake. EB
Transferred my bad luck to my buddy Dennis today. This time we took his boat, which took an hour and three batteries to start ( after removing ice from the plug wires). Then the smog around the motor made my eyes water so bad I couldn't feel the thump. Trolling motor was the next to go and ran for about 20 seconds before retiring for the day. With three locators on the boat the one we were relying on had the transducer at such an angle that it seemed like the brush was sneaking away from us all day. ( I finally figured that one out) At the end of the day my friend decided to give away my dinner ( three 13" crappie) to some guys fishing on the slimy side so they could use em for bait ( which was blasphemy pure and simple) so Divine Retribution came swiftly when he wrecked his stainless prop on the rocks leaving the slimers. Yeah we caught a few but I'm pretty sure Dennis didn't think it was worth it. I enjoyed it though. Now he finally has to put his boat in the shop and get it ready for the spawn in Arkansas!
Doug gave me a call this morning and I ended up meeting with him at Sunnyside. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to venture up North of Wiganon bridge and check out some areas neither of us ever get to fish due to both of us being scaredy cats of the winds on Oologah. Dougs HDS-8 was able to find some very promising water that had depth, sharp drop offs and plenty of structure. We fished at least 8 different spots that showed to hold a few fish with no luck at all other than Doug landing a sandbass. We piddled around a bit North side then decided to go into Talala Creek to save us from a skunk. We checked out some of my regular haunts with nothing shaking went a bit further. Doug ended up boating around 4 dinks and one keeper while I played true to my no catching skills and finished the afternoon smelling of skunk! On our way back to Sunnyside ramp, we both saw something out in the middle and wondered what it was. As we got closer, we realized it was a boat and it looked like there was a person outside of the boat walking on the water. My first thought was that Christ was gathering the Crappie from Oologah in preparation of making sure we'd all be setup once we got called up. Then Doug thought he was in the boat. I told him he was OUT of the boat and walking. Sure enough, the closer we got, we could see an opening between the guy and his boat as he was wading beside his boat. Doug had also mentioned that he could see the island that wasn't there when the lake is normal level. I saw what he was talking about as it almost looked like a patch of dry land next to the boat. Doug tried to get close, but had to circle north in order to keep us deep enough. You see, we were both so focused on the guy as we approached, we both failed to notice that WE TOO were in very shallow waters as the 8 showed us at about 2.3' deep! We were still a good couple of hundred yards away from him. Doug was able to get the Rescue Ranger within about 125 yards of the man so he just walked out to us and climbed aboard.
Now the temperature was starting to drop as the sun was leaving us for another day. The wind had also just came up from a whisper of a ripple to a solid repetition of all too familiar Oologah white caps! All we needed was for the wind to push us into the same high ground situation as our new friend. However, Captain Odie was able to safely guide his ship back to the Sunnyside ramp. Doug had shifting issues while I was backing the trailer in and used the trolling motor to get the boat to the trailer. Sunnyside ramp is so bad now that you almost have to back the entire truck into the water to get the trailer deep enough to get a boat loaded. Our new friend who's name is Buck Something, was already wet and waded out to help hook up the winch. I told Doug there was a reason God set that man afoot in the middle of Oologah so neither of us would have to get wet in the middle of January.
After getting the boat back on trailer, Doug continued toward his home nearby to get ready for a dinner date that he was now going to be tardy to. I took the stranded boatsman around the lake to Spencer Creek so that he could at least recover his pickup. Odie and Reapers good deed for the day....check.
Then I proceeded to go back to the house by way of Wiganon road and somehow missed the road entirely and ended up somewhere close to Lightening Creek out in the boonies of the northeast side of Oologah lake. It was nice to see the semi familiar area, but had to turn around and make haste to the homestead. All in all, it turned into a productive day. And we didn't have to get wet!
Reaper, Where Fish come to Fry
Another story worthy of home page printing.......Ranger
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Ok, so where is the guys boat??????? Still in the lake??
Cut it out Reaper. You're setting the bar too high! That line about gathering the crappie for us etc. was a gem. Irreverent, but golden. I am gonna laugh at that one every time I think about it. Thanks for making my day Mr. Hemingway.(sorry might have gotten a little carried away there)