It’s on here in TN, and by the looks of the reports on the Panfish Board it is happening all over the country where the water has warmed. I took a quick scout trip on Thursday to look for some bedding Gills for an upcoming trip with fellow CDC member VaCrappieMan. With water temps at 70, it was just a matter of time before I found a few spots worth a visit on Friday.
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8 inch Gills were guarding known bedding areas, and old Mr. Smalljaws was hanging around the area also.
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At 16in he was fun on the Majorcraft Triple Cross. So Friday morning VaCrappieMan and I met up to go chase some of the Cricket Crunching quarry. He brought 3 JDM rods and reels, and I had 4 onboard so the fun factor of the day was sure to be off the charts, if we found anything willing to cooperate. Graphite sticks from Tict, Majorcraft, Olympic Graphite Leader and ABU were present. Daiwa reels on all rods spooled with <4lb line, we were ready. Water temps when we arrived at the first spot were only 63, so the day started slow, I did catch a Gill on the first cast though. No pictures of Gills were taken on the water, I just forgot actually but we did find a few Crappie still tending beds and they were dressed to impress.
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We ended up with about 15 total Crappie and a few made the cut and earned a ride back up the road. I did introduce VCM to the Vertical Jigging technique described on here by CrappyPappy. The Majorcraft XRide will sure snatch them out of the deep brush, and we found a few Crappie using that technique also. As the water warmed, the Gill action picked up and we hit two good beds that gave up at least 45-50 fish, with several going in the livewell. Many nice fish got a pass, they just suffered a sore lip a received a thanks as they swam off. An Olive colored Trout Magnet kept a nice bend in the Tict Rockin Finesse that VCM brought, I think he really enjoyed his first trip down this way for Panfishing. I know I did, was a great day with great weather chasing these favored fishes. Here are the board pics from the day, he took them back home to clean and share with his family.
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?14 Gills and a boy/girl pair of Specks. JDM equipment is not necessary to catch these Panfish, but it sure is fun to use and we definitely had our fair share of both.


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