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Kansas Crappie Camp: Family, Friends, Fishing, and Fun
To begin my report, I need to tell you that Slab provided great Tshirts for the KS Spring 14 Crappie Camp. His slogan "Family, Friends, Fishing, and Fun" is printed right across the front- and perfectly describes my experience at Crappie Camp this weekend at Milford.
It's Sunday night and just got off the lake after 3 great days of fishing! Well, the fishing was alright but the people at Crappie Camp made the weekend great.
Got off work on Friday about 3:00, made it to the lake by about 6pm. My father-in-law, TN Tom, had flown in Thursday with all of his secret weapon crappie tricks from Tennessee, so we were ready to get going. Fished until 9:00 and caught 3 keepers, I think, including a 14 incher, which is my best. So we missed most of the gathering Friday night but I heard that the "Liars Club" upheld its name!
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Got up and had awesome biscuits and gravy and filled up the thermos at Thunderbird Marina at 6:00 and got to meet a bunch of the guys. Everyone was pumped up a rare'n to go. Plans, schemes, and communications plans were worked out over the great chow. Tom and I linked up with a new fisherman from my work who wanted to try crappie fishing and he asked to bring his son with him on his 8th birthday! Was really nice to see father and son on the water together for the first time.
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Well, the fishing was slow. I tried following Crappie Chatt and Ozark but they lost me in a hidden brush pile that wiped out my spiderrigs. This wasn't his first time shedding nosy crappiemen!:biggrin We ended up catching about 4 keepers and Skinner80 paddled by on his kayak and gave us another nice one. Smallmouth kept us busy most of the day and it was good company as most of the fellas rode by from time to time to check on everyone's progress. The news was that the bite was slow all over the lake. We got off of the water and my wife and two girls met us to camp out Saturday night with daddy and "gray" at Thunderbird.
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The cookout was awesome and really got to talk to the guys for several hours. Crappie advice and tips were flowing and I soaked it all up. Big thanks to everyone who pitched in for the cookout. Seemed like we had three times as much as we needed so I just kept eating all night. KAG makes world class cheeseburgers and serves them 3 seconds off the grill to each customer. Thanks to Ragnar for frying and all the guys who went to clean the fish. Ozark made a nice little talk and then passed out some great prizes. Slab provided those awesome Kansas Crappie Camp Tshirts. I personally got stuff from G3, Lowrance, Arkie Lures, and Waypoint Outfitter jigs. Many thanks.
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Took in the night with the boys and enjoyed their hospitality and concoctions. Got up and ate another Thunderbird breakfast with the family and met another forum member, Redleg, and hit the southern part of the lake. This time, had a special guest Captain, my 7 year old daughter, who piloted the boat today to our spots! Me and Redleg up front, and grandpaw/grandaughter in the back! Great times. Caught 5 keeper crappie (one 13.5 incher male of all things), 2 walleye, 1 smallie, and a drum! Spoke to KAG on the water, then mommy was texting us to get home!
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Outstanding weeking, made special by family, friends, fishing, and fun! Thank you again to Ozark and KAG and everyone who helped them make it happen. Let's do it again next time! Brad
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