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Last C & R trip of the season, 11-4
I finished up at work a bit early and decided I'd give it one more go before the temps begin their downward slide for real. I pushed off from shore about 3:40, with the air temp at a crisp 46 and the surface water at 51-52, depending on where I was on the pond. I was marking fish right away, throughout most of the water column in the flats out from the launch, out to about 18' or so. They weren't biting on my offerings, but they were there. Once I got out into the deeper water, say 20' and deeper, the marks I saw were mostly below 18', not many above that depth.
1st fish in the boat was a nice bluegill; tried to get a pic on the ruler but ended up holding him for the record, a nice 8 1/2" er. Soon hooked the 1st crappie of the night, a junior of 7-8" or so.
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I kept heading out for the deeper holes, hooking and releasing another 3 (I think 3) nice crappie, nearing the 12" mark. Found lots of fish suspended at roughly 25' over 30'+ of water. I hooked a couple nice ones right off the bat, just at the 12" line on the ruler.
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These were released and swam off strongly and I felt that they would be OK. The next 2 I hooked I wasn't so lucky; same size fish from a different school at roughly the same depth but neither was able to swim off and simply bobbed to the surface. Dang it! I wasn't planning on keeping any today but I couldn't bear to simply leave them or waste them so I scooped them back in to the boat and brought them home. I suppose I could have left them for the birds or turtles but I felt that wasn't the responsible thing to do. I could have stayed there and probably caught a bunch as the bites were coming pretty fast and solid but I moved back in to some shallower water where the mortality factor would be a bit less. I did find some more average bluegill there, along with 1 nice perch quite late in my trip so I felt I got my money's worth out of the day. Called it day about 5:30 as my hands were getting pretty cold. Always happens in the early days of the first cold weather. By the time I got loaded up and headed back home, air temp had dropped to 40 and it was 38 here at home! Drops quick this time of year once the sun goes down.
A good trip, all things considered. I think the total was 8 crappie, 4 'gills and the perch. In the event I don't get out again, this will be a good way to end it. The time switch will put an end to my after work trips for sure so it will be weekends only from here on out.
