I had about two hours tonight to spend fishing with my wife and kids at Tville. Right off the bat I had a scare. My motor wouldn't start when we were launching and all I could think about was having to cancel our spring Ky Lake trip because of motor problems. Turns out my son had pulled the kill switch cord. Man was I relieved when it fired right up after I put it back on.
In all the kiddo commotion I forgot to check water temp, but it is clearing up nicely in some areas. Around the dam is still pretty muddy but places up the main river channel are back to a nice stain. Looks to be real close to winter pool.
All fish were caught in about 1-2 ft of water. This muddy and stained water has them searching for very shallow spawning areas. The bite was very aggressive and the fish fought hard all the way to the boat. I lost one fish that never came to the surface. I couldn't really move it up to see how big it was, but it was nice. Seems like that happens once or twice every trip. Makes me sick.
The kids had fun. My son always talks about catching a catfish but he'll have to settle for crappie. I'm not a catfish kinda guy. My daughter caught a nice 10 1/2" crappie. They seem to want to eat and play with my HDS rather than fish, but we still had fun.
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We ended up with 10 keepers out of about 15 fish in about an hour and a half. Females had eggs but were still really firm and not ready to be released. The males have yet to color up to any degree. This cold weather should put a hold on the water warm-up. Look for fishing to really pick up after Mon or Tues. Full moon is Wed and warmer temps return next week.
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I also have to give a big shout out to my wife. She handles the kids in the boat while I try to find us some fish. What did I ever do to deserve you, baby! It was a wonderful way to spend a Fri night. Feelin that thump and setting that hook never gets old. I'm living the crappie dream!
