42 crappie and 2 broken rods at Western Branch.
First the broken rods. Both of them were my 12' B 'n' M rods. (I have 4 of them) I was spider rigging and had a bite, set the hook, pole breaks. I was able to see that it was an average sized pike before he got off, should not of broken the rod. Around an hour later I get another bite, set the hook, the fish doesn't feel real big, then my pole breaks. The fish is still on taking out drag heading away from me then it gets off. Once again, the pole should not of broken. Both poles broke in the exact same spot. I'll be calling B 'n' M on Monday, I don't think I'll have any problem getting two replacements for free, (two piece rod, only the upper section broke) they have been pretty good in the past.
I had planned on not taking minnows but after spending 4 hours fishing after work Thursday and only catching 3 crappie on jigs I figured I'd better bring minnows. It was a wise decision. Of the 42 crappie I caught all but around five of them were caught on minnows spider rigging but not with my normal Capps & Coleman rig, I was using bobbers for something different. The five or so I caught casting a jig. Later in the day I spider rigged Capps & Coleman style with only jigs and did not catch a single crappie. The biggest were only 11" and most were around 9"-10". I caught 33 of the crappie in the same spot, a 12' flat with some structure. I didn't catch a single crappie at my main honey hole, it done dried up. I think I only caught one crappie after 12:00. Water temp was as high as 88.
