Wylie - Just Registered - 3-19-2022

Hello To All, Fior about a decade I have been reading this forum, but I have now decided to register so I can occasionally post  I live in Fort Mill, am retired and have been crappie fishing Lake Wylie for 18 years since my family moved here in 2004.  My father raised me to be a crappie fisherman, and for the last almost 60 years I have been in wonderful pursuit of this incredible fish.   However, I am not likely to add much to the master anglers that I read on this blog. As far as I can determine, the crappie slayers on this forum outfish me by a ratio of about 10 to 1.  One of the many reasons for that is that I am a single pole minnow dunker that mostly just fishes the spawn. It is just the way I liked to fish. The disappearance of a float followed by appearance of the silver flash of a crappie is one of the simplest yet sweetest pleasures on earth. You do not have to be good at it to enjoy it.  Spring, in my household, does not begin until I catch the first crappie on the banks on Wylie.  I caught 1 crappie  and 1 3 lb. channel catfish on Monday, March 14th in 4 hours of fishing and 1 crappie and 1 small bass on Thursday, March 17th in eight hours of fishing.  Obviously, the guys on this forum are killing it this past week longlining jigs in the creeks or jigging or tightlining minnows on deepwater brush.  I just prefer the banks and the experience of catching increasing numbers of fish in the shallows. .  In my experience, the spawn ( or crappie chasing shad into the shallows) usually begins in earnest on Wylie between March 20th and March 31st depending on weather, water levels and water temperature (60 degrees). The shallow bite usually stays strong till near the end of April and then tails off such that the shallow bite is over by mid-May when I switch over to crickets fishing for bream and catfish till the midsummer heat drives me off the water.  I put in at Nivens Creek and do 95% of my fishing south of Buster Boyd Bridge.  I give away the fish I catch to the bank fishermen at Nivens Creek or at Copperhead.  Most of the bank fisherman are thankful and grateful for the fish.    So, if you happen to see an old guy in a 1998 blue and white Bayliner Fish and Ski with a 120 hp Force outboard motor fishing the back of the cove and creeks in Wylie , that would be me.  Please stop and chat if you get the chance.  In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy reading your exploits on this forum. Tight lines to everyone. Minnowdunker.

Wylie - Just Registered - 3-19-2022 - 3rd attempt