Introducing a rookie to crappie and Slab Sauce.

I got invited to go crappie fishing with Jeff and his daughters friend, David. Being that David hasn't fished a lot we decided to go to our favorite crappie lake, Morrison, hoping the bite was still hot. We were on the water by 8:30 and started long lining jigs and Sliders shortly after. David was the first to connect, his first ever crappie. In fact, he caught the first five!

The bite today was slow but steady, not as good as it has been but good enough to keep us happy. We were using the same program, 1/16 jigs with Sliders and a spray of Slab Sauce or G Sauce. We were running our jigs 8-10 feet down at about 1 mph and the lighter colors, funky monkey and Tennessee shad, seemed to work the best.

About an hour into our trip David announced, after catching another crappie, that he had just tied Jeff. Apparently he was keeping a running tally on his phone, Something fun to do he said. Well, if you want to poke the bear, challenge Jeff to a fishing contest. From then on it was game on. They were like a couple of gladiators in a life or death showdown, a couple of rutting bucks battling it out in the woods, two soccer moms on black Friday.

By 1:30 we were at 99 fish and decided that one more and we would call it a day. #100 ended up being a small gill, we couldn't end the day with a small gill. David caught #100(b) and posed for another picture, reminding us that he had caught the first and the last. Or so he thought.

After we had wrapped up rods and stowed the gear we found out the start battery was dead so, darn, we had to troll the length of the lake back to the launch. Final score for the day- Jeff-44, me-40 and the rookie-32 for a grand total of 116. Jeff had a good run at the end to break a 40-40 tie. David was right, the contest was something fun to do.

Jeff kept 12 crappie and 8 gills for dinner and the rest were returned to the water. David said he had a good time and was ready to do it again. He also had the observation of the day, the crappie bite better when you spray Slab Sauce on your jig. Smart man.
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Nothing like fresh fish soaking up some grease paired with some home made onion rings. Think that sealed the deal, he is already talking about going again. Great day on the water Jerry. Suppose if you hadn't had to run the trolling motor all day you would have topped the 44...

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He doesn't hold a trophy for nothing!

If he is "dating" Jeff's daughter, he hasn't learned that it MIGHT NOT be a good idea to challenge the father of the girl you are dating or want to date. Unless of course you let them win.

Best thing that boy could do is take lessons from the Master......next thing he should do is not poke the bear!

Sounds like a good time guys.


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I keep jumper cables in my boat so I can jump off of one of the TM batterys and not have to troll back to the ramp. Sounds like you had a great day.

G, I think he did it on purpose!

I've heard great reviews on those tiny hand held jump boxes they sell at Meijer. It would be worth looking in to and testing. I believe they are 50 bucks or so.

I carry tools in case I need to swap a battery. Jumpers would be nice, but they would have to be 14 foot long! And then I can only imagine what I would have to jettison to get them to fit.

I got it, I need a bigger boat now just to fit my jumpers and other gear. Of course, then I'll need 16 footers so I might better get a 22 foot boat with 5 batteries! This just got expensive. Thanks G!

Not really on purpose, I don't have an alternator on my big motor but check the battery before we head out. I usually have a wrench in the boat to pull the cables and switch batteries but must have taken it out last winter. Also have a small jump pack but that was in the truck so trolling back was our only option. Hey, it got us 15 more fish! Luckily Morrison is only 250 acres or so so trolling back wasn't that bad.

I told him he had to put a thumb in the crappies mouth and that's what we got. Oh well, next time out we'll work on how to hold a fish. I do have to admit, he came a long ways in a few hours. Even figured out that, if your getting short bit, to drop the rod back and it usually triggers a better bite. Now we have to teach him to not reel the fish all the way to the end of the rod. Baby steps.

They were like a couple of gladiators in a life or death showdown, a couple of rutting bucks battling it out in the woods, two soccer moms on black Friday.

I about spewed my coffee, especially the soccer mom one. You a funny man. Great post.

Was there a YouTube video produced from this fishing trip? I sure hope so...it’s fun watching newbies get ahold of some crappies...congratulations!


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Slabsauce rocks. Great pics, thanks for sharing. And good way to break'em in with the slabsauce.