Sardis or bust.

Should be pulling out by 5 tonight. First stop will be the Walmart in Matteson, IL tonight to pick up TomTom. Feel much better about the truck now that all the brake lines have been replaced, although it did make my wallet considerably lighter. :( Reports that I've been seeing say they are getting good fish lately w/ mostly 13" and over. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to up my personal best, eh Jimmy??

Will try to keep you posted on the goings on, but if internet connection isn't poss., I'll make sure to bring back some good pics.

YD

Have fun down there, hope you were em out catching them 2lbs, plus fish

Good luck YD, drive careful and share a report for us, thanks

think yd is hooked on them big ol sippi slabs!!! good luck don, hope you get some good weather and plenty of oversized slabs :-)

Good Luck. Be safe. Bring back fish and or pictures...

Crappie, The "Crack" for us fishing addicts. Has boat, will travel..... He will represent MICDC proudly in his quest to rid Sardis of 2lb plus slabs.... Papermouths beware!

Good luck down there! Hope you have a good time. I will live through your posts!

Don,

Any big fish pictures ?

Made it down to Matteson, IL on Wed. eve just before dark to pick up Tomtom. Forgot about the hour diff and was a bit early, so went over to Fudruckers for a burger and beer. Tomtom's son dropped him off and so I had to have another beer while he got a bite. We overnighted it in the Walmart lot and got on the road by 5:30 am on Thu morn. Mrs. Crappiestalker texted me and told me there would be ribs waitin if we made it down for dinner, so we beat feet all day and pulled into Sardis around 6:30 CST. Had a good time gettin reaquainted with a few folks like Billbob and the Stalkers that night.

Fri. Tomtom and I got on the water with Ripalip taggin along in his boat. We spider rigged in 16-18 FOW down 10-12' while Rip worked some shallower water. We were pushin minners on various jig colors/sizes, but my 1/4 oz. redheads seem to be the one they liked the best. We came off the water with 22 keepers (12-1/2" and better) while Rip got 29. He would have made limit of 30 if it weren't for tangles when the fish would hit hard and swim across his other lines. We always knew when that happened 'cause we'd hear "#%?!# comin' from his boat. LOL.

Sat. we caught another nice mess and the lake was smooth as a babies butt. We had to peel the shirts off when it got to 82 deg. We came in about 2 pm to get ready/help w/ the fish fry. What a feast! Them boys 'n girls know how to throw down a spread for sure. Got to mingle with the likes of Canepole, Jigflinger, Satdoc, Billbob, Crappielogic, etc. and met some new faces. Sat. night around 9 pm I broke out the phatties that I had taken along. Those went over real well and complimented the apple pie (not what you think) and the fruit jars that Billbob brewed up. I especially liked to fruit on the bottom, but it musta put me in my zone 'cause South65 kept callin me the "cocky yankee"???

I should keep a journal 'cause I can't remember if Sun. was a wash due to weather or the night before.

Mon. we caught another nice mess o fish, and Tue. Feelay who guides on Sardis had a day off and brought Jigflinger along to take Tomtom and I out. We fed them breakfast and then headed to the lake. We came back in around 3 pm with 42 nice fish. The freezer in the trailer was already full so we had them take the fish.

The biggest fish we got out of Sardis this time was just a couple oz. over 2#, and we had one the was just a couple under 2#.

Wed. the storms were forecast for the eve, so we packed up and headed north to Reelfoot lake in west TN. We had to make a stop at Grizzly Jig in Caruthersville, MO before we crossed the sippy river. I needed...er...wanted...a good jig pole. We got the trailer set up and went to find some grub. Thu. morn we hit the lake, and this is where the fun started and for some ended. There was an older guy launching ahead of us so I helped him out. He got about 30 yds off the launch and got hung on a stump. For those of you that know Reelfoot, it's a given that you will meet a stump or two, so ya gotta go slooooow. We helped the guy off the stump, and I turned around for a minute as we were heading out to see if he was alright. When I turned around Tomtom was standing up at the bow. I couldn't get the words out fast enough and we bumped over a stump and in went Tomtom....Iphone5 and all. Lost his prescrip sunglasses to boot. Took him about .7 secs to go in and .4 to come out. Well needless to say that ended our Reelfoot excursion for the day as the wind soon picked up and that's one lake you do not want to be on with even a little bit of wind. Fri. the winds were too bad first thing, so we packed up and headed north.

We made it to Wolf Creek CG on Shelbyville lake in south central IL early eve and dropped the trailer. We went out to find a one day license for me so we could fish Sat. morn. The morning came in pretty chilly with a slight breeze that made it even colder. We fished some timber across from the launch for a couple of hours, and Tomtom caught a couple of dinks. I on the other hand, not wanting to work my new jiggin pole too hard, chose to avoid the fish. We headed back to get some hot coffee and hook up to head north.

We made it into the Walmart where I had picked up Tomtom by 4 pm CST and his lovely wife showed up to get him. I got back on the road and rolled into Uncledon's Resort around dark. Was good to be home again.

Here's some pics from my cam. Have some on my phone that I will try to get posted soon.

2012 sippy fall camp pictures by YankeeDoodler1954 - Photobucket

YD

Looks like a bunch of fun. Glad you are back safely.

nice story and pics don, glad you had a good time.
kinda rough looking bunch :-)

Looks like a fine trip....

Glad you had fun, sounds like you caught lots of fish