Set the work aside

As hard as it is for me to set some work aside, I managed to do it most of the weekend.

My wife used to fish out of my great lakes boat all the time but very rarely goes with me fishing inland waters. I was surprised when my daughter convinced her to go with us.

Originally, I was planning on going to a lake I had not fished before. I just didn't feel like spending that much time on the road. I instead chose a lake with zero houses, a primative campground, shallow water, and no power boats. I usually fish this lake once or twice a year. This was the lake that ate my prop three years ago!

We stopped at the bait shop on our way to the lake and I was surprised to hear that they didn't have any minnows. In years past, I would have drove all over to find them but, my confidence in soft plastics has come a long ways since those early days. In fact, this lake was the first lake I activly tried artificial baits and caught fish with them.

We hit the water around 6pm. There is only one stump in this lake. Directly behind the dock. I know this because that stump cost me $150 bucks once. It is hidden in the silt and when the water is low, backing into it is a death sentance for a lower unit. Being that I don't like to be fooled twice, I used my trolling motor. The lake is less than 80 acres, so we never even put the big motor in the water.

This is a shallow lake with one hole about 100 yards long that measures 11 feet deep. Weeds are all around this lake so I usually concentrate on the one deep hole.

We settled in to a spot, rigged up a rod and was rewarded with a nice crappie. A couple minutes later, brought two more. I spoke with a Kayaker who told me the local DNR fisheries guy told him of a massive fish die off in this lake over the winter. This is the third lake I have fished in this area with the same results. On a good note, it seemed to have killed off a lot of the smaller blue gills as I never caught one gill. The healthy crappies seemed to have done well and this lake might be good for years to come.

Using my lowrance, we moved along the weeds, at times with the motor and at times with the wind. In the end we managed 11 really nice crappies. All but two were caught on the color below. The other two were the same brand or style. I purchase these baits from Gander Mountain (called Big Bite baits) and they are really cheap (about .99 cents a package).

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Abby still doesn't like to hold them up so I rigged up a quick fish holder!
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The spoils.
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its always great to spend time with the family and catch a few good ones. nice catch

Great report and its good to see you took the family out, great time to unwind and have fun, before you know it Abby will be telling you were to fish, lol

I also have a few lakes that are small i use when other lakes are busy like this past weekend

Some hefty looking crappies there. Good to see the whole family could enjoy catching them. Beats working any day!

Sweet Rich. Nice to see the Mrs. out with you two fishing fanatics. Tell Abby we say "hey" and can't wait to see her again this fall.

Jim,
Funny you mention that. We had that exact conversation when I was on the boat that night. I told Abby that my dad used to take me fishing all the time, show me how to rig, catch fish, where to go, drive the boat and so on. Now, I do all that stuff for him.

I tried to go back the next evening however Abby had veto power and chose something else. I'll be back again this week sometime as most of my big chores are complete for the spring/summer. I have some lakes on "my list" that I've wanted to fish for a few years now.

I hit the same lake last night. They didn't want my magic go to bait or tactic but..... I have more tricks

1/16 oz jig tipped with a big bite minnow casted over 5 foot weed flats on the edge of deep water.

Thankfully i have gained good knowledge and confidence in soft plastics because there seems to be a minnow shortage around here. No pics but they tasted great.

Loved the pics. Nice fish and it looks like all had a good time.