Technology and Crappie Fishing
I've been wondering.....at what point does technology overtake crappie fishing? 40 years ago, as a teenager, I fished with crappie on the Tennessee portion of KY Lake with a cane pole, big float, heavy line and a 2 or 3/0 gold Eagle Claw hook. I used a 14 ft john boat and a 10 hp motor. I sculled from spot to spot in the creeks off the Tn River with a sculling paddle. Didn't have a trolling motor. I CAUGHT A LOT OF CRAPPIE. A few years later, I added a trolling motor and a "flasher" depth finder, graduated to a 15 ft boat with a 25 hp electric start motor. By then I had started fishing "entirely" with plastic jigs and 8lb monofiliament line using an 8 or 9 ft fly rod as a pole. You wouldn't catch a minnow in my boat! I CAUGHT A LOT OF CRAPPIE. A few years later, I moved up to a 17 ft aluminum boat with a steering console with a 60 HP motor and a foot operated trolling motor. I bought one of the new paper graphs for my boat but still kept a flasher handy. I started spiderrigging, which I learned from fishing at Reelfoot Lake with a friend. I CAUGHT A LOT OF CRAPPIE. A few years later, after fishing for several seasons on the Crappie Tournament trail all over the country, I moved up to a fiberglass boat with a 115 HP motor, refined my fishing rods to actual trolling poles, put LCD depth finders on the boat (not one, but two), developed a small arsenal of jigs, hooks, tackle for fishing. I CAUGHT A LOT OF CRAPPIE. These days I fish in a $30,000 bass boat with a motor that can outrun some of the Indy cars. I've got another $10,000 dollars of trolling motors, SI and DI and GPS capable depth finders, not to mention graphite trolling rods equipped with specific reels. I have more kinds, colors of jigs than can be imagine, and all kinds of scents, smells, and fish attractants. Heck, I can even get an up-to-date weather report with radar both on my depth finders and the cellphone I carry in my pocket.
And I enjoy every bit of the technology.......and thank God that I am able to afford it for I surely don't deserve it.. and I CATCH A LOT OF CRAPPIE. But the truth is......I DON"T CATCH ANY MORE CRAPPIE THAN I EVER DID....and sometimes I still like to put all that techno stuff aside, get my little john boat and a pole, some minnows and a float...and simply go crappie fishing. It doesn't get any better than that!
