Barkley 7/15/18

As tOOlmanii and his buddy got into my boat Sunday at first light, I was already worried about the dark skies and threat of rain. I don’t like to be anywhere but tucked against a bank when the lightening starts popping. Rain I can easily deal with. Not lightening

We hit several spots that only gave up yellows and a catfish or two. As we moved into our next spot, we witnessed a solid wall of rain just south and west of us. As I tried to load local weather radar onto my phone,I was reminded how unreliable cell signals are



Attachment 310685Attachment 310686Attachment 310687around Ky and Barkley lakes. We were just lucky enough to get Frog Togg ponchos on as the wall of rain overtook us.

We fished during and after that downpour with no keeper crappie to be found. When the 2nd monsoon headed in, I decided a cussing from an irate dock owner would be better than getting soaked again in the ponchos. I eased us into an open slip and lucky for me, no cussing owner appeared. We rode the 2nd rain out under the protection of the dock.

When the rain finally slowed down the water slicked off and the crappie decided it was Pico time.

Now these guys were new to the crank pulling game and I had to coach them on the finer parts of getting nice crappie up to the surface then skiing them to the net. We had a couple pull off and several that hit but didn’t hook up. The catfish and one nice LMB decided they wanted in on the fun.

The fish were scattered all over our chosen spot with no pattern as to where they wanted to locate. Only once did we hook a double. The guys were quick learners and we put several nice fish in the cooler.

We started hearing distant thunder that constantly rolled toward us. I let it get as close as I dared before we loaded up for the several mile run back to the ramp.

We got loaded on the trailer and the fish almost all cleaned when wall of water #3 washed over us. No rain gear this time made for a wet ride home in my new-to-me truck.

We kept 12 nice crappie, a couple of white cats, and some of the bigger yellows we caught. I really enjoyed fishing with the guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Good job keeping safety first, and still getting some fish!!

Sent from my SM-S727VL using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Nice report thanks

Congrats on a good trip with no injuries.

I can't say enough good things about Doug without sounding like he paid me to say good things, but a Crank Pulling Teacher extraordinaire he is. We booked the trip hoping to learn a little about pulling crankbaits, with catching a boatload of crappie secondary. With the extreme heat leading up to trip day I wasn't exactly upbeat about the prospect of putting fish in the cooler, but Doug made that happen. We had a blast AND got a basic schooling on how to pull cranks.....enough so that over the next two days were able to study the lake map contours and hit places other than where Doug took us.....AND CAUGHT FISH! We were able to do that and not end up with massive line tangles and only lost three baits over those two days. I thought that was quite an accomplishment for a couple newbies to the game. (Pics to come)

Good story and glad that you all had fun and caught fish. I am still waiting to get to fish with Doug but it sounds like he is a good teacher.

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