Crappie masters national championship

Well the trip started out good for Greg and I as we left on Tuesday morning for lake washington and bait n things. We made the decision to split up and fish different lakes most of the time. We compared notes at night and made plans for the next day. The week s weather was great with cool temps at night and warm during the day. We caught fish almost everyday but also we struggled to find any good patterns.

We attended the seminar on Thursday night and had a good eat. there were not as many vendors as I expected to see though after talking with people who fished the Nationals in past.

We were excited to say the least and got to see a lot of the .com folks there. Friday came around and Greg and I fished very hard and lake hopped once to get on some fish. The boats were numerous and a challenge to fish around for sure pulling planer boards. I tried something new running two live wells to keep the fish alive and that soon was discovered to be a mistake when we tried to leave and my cranking battery was dead. We flagged a boat and they came to our rescue. Turned out they were fellow .com folks from another state and let me use his jumper cables to get started back. I now have a pair in my boat :-). We had 9 fish in our boat on Friday and felt good about our plan considering we lake hopped and really wasted 3 hours of fishing time doing that.

Friday night came and went along with my tackle bag full of all my plastic baits, some cranks, reels, and much more. I guess someone decided they needed it more than I did. I was just devastated and felt like I got punched in the stomach. Thank goodness arkie had sent Greg a care package and we left that stuff in the cabin. We had minimal stuff to fish with but made the best of the situation. We had several folks offer to let us use some of there stuff if we needed too.

Greg in the mean time was being bombarded from home with bad news that his toilet over flowed and ruined a lot of the house flooring. Too say the least I think we were both punched in the gut this weekend and didn't recover. The fishing on Saturday proved to be much tougher for us for sure. We fished around ark crappie and helped him because every time we passed by him he caught a fish lol. There was a big floatilla for sure both days lol.

We caught all of our fish planer boarding 1/8 oz jig head with arkie tube white/chart. We tried minners and just couldn't get bit. We found the fish wanted the baits fast for us. We saw a lot of folks just sitting still hovering with minners catching fish but overall I think the bite was slow and most had to grind on me to get there fish.

We saw all kinds of techniques from power trolling, planer boards, to long lining and spidering. Maybe some of the other teams will contribute to there techniques and what they did to catch there fish.

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Enjoyed seeing an meeting all the .com family people. I know I won't remember everyone's name lol. Jerry James thanks for the Picts too.

Good to see you had a good time, even though the theft of all you stuff, right at a National Championship!

JW, I appreciate all the help. The striped bass, gar and drum were fun to catch!

The experience is worth it tho man, was good to see yall!!

Wish you guys could have had better luck. With the situations it would make it hard to focus on the task at hand.

You are welcome, J.W. That's an awesome camera you have in that big honkin' iPhone!

Hate ya'll had some misfortune. Still a good job in spite of all the adversity.

I told u about that place! !! !!!

Sorry it did not go so well for you guys but it could have been worse . Glad so many of yall got to experince fishing a big tourament. JW a set of jumper cables should be a piece of standard eqipment in a boat . I even keep a set in my old tub. Good luck to all the fishermen in the next season.

Life is full of learning lessons for sure guys

I just found out I had another friend lost a set of rods and a bbq grill also! !!

Guys if you have stuff not locked away it don't matter where you are, you are in danger of stuff getting taken. That's the reason when I re-did my carpet I fixed all of the compartment locks and stow everything away. It sux anyone had stuff taken.

All you boys (and girls) did well. Ya'll fished against some pretty tall folks, I read the list. Should be proud of just being in the tournament.

Bird Down left his Engel there and Mike said he took it to the banquet and someone else claimed it. That don't sound right to me tho. The guys at the banquet wouldn't claim anything that wasn't theirs. Those are a great bunch of guys, and they got the money to do it without stealing.

Sorry to hear that. Bd cabelas has them on sale now if you don't recover it. I feel your pain.

Well let's see, some one is getting outfitted with tackle, rods, minner bucket and a grill to cook their catch. All they need now is a boat.

Oh forgot the laptop they stole at bait n thangs so they could log onto .com and find out where the fish are biting.

Gee whiz, what a haul for someone.

Sounds like an Inside Job to me!!!!! Someone there knew the routine.

Bow hunter nice to meet yall. Still waiting on them to serve breakfast ha ha

You too to torch. Glad to put a face and name together

We were long lining crappie logic gnats

thanks for post

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Originally Posted by torch

We were long lining crappie logic gnats

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Shoulda used Minner Critters. [emoji13]

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Shoulda used Minner Critters. [emoji13]

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Ha ha

Wow, JW I didn't know you had some crazy stuff go on with y'all also. We long lined each day. Trolling 1.0mph pulling two 1/8oz. jigs and lime/chart, Junebug/Chart Charlie Brewer Double Action Minnows. We caught 12-13 fish each day. On Saturday we had 9 plus pounds until 6 of my fish died. We only was able to weigh in 5 fish for 6lbs and something. Sad, sad day. I don't know why they died because we did everything you should. The only thing I think was our fish came out of deep water and might of had the bends. Anyway, good to see you guys and better tournament next time. - Team Roper

Jarad good to see you and your dad again. Sorry to hear about the loss of fish. Yall had a good bite going with that weight. See yall in the spring.

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Originally Posted by Roper Outdoors

Wow, JW I didn't know you had some crazy stuff go on with y'all also. We long lined each day. Trolling 1.0mph pulling two 1/8oz. jigs and lime/chart, Junebug/Chart Charlie Brewer Double Action Minnows. We caught 12-13 fish each day. On Saturday we had 9 plus pounds until 6 of my fish died. We only was able to weigh in 5 fish for 6lbs and something. Sad, sad day. I don't know why they died because we did everything you should. The only thing I think was our fish came out of deep water and might of had the bends. Anyway, good to see you guys and better tournament next time. - Team Roper

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Call me Jarod. I can hook ya up with oxygen. I have the pediatric regulators and everything you need.

on friday our two largest fish began laying on their side. I hung a 2 ounce snap weight from their pectoral fins to keep them upright. We put oxygen on them and they both perked up after about an hour. we also had some very weak fish on Saturday but that oxygen really works.

I've never tried the weight, but heard it works really well. I do use oxygen, and even put an Oxygenator in my live well. Never lose a fish, except for gill hooked crank fish.

I am using the marine metal 12 volt aerator and yall saw how perky our fish were lol. Some people said our fish where the perkiest they had seen and would not stop moving. I have it wired into a switch on the console and it draws a half amps per hour

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Call me Jarod. I can hook ya up with oxygen. I have the pediatric regulators and everything you need.

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Thanks man but I'm hooked up now. After that took place we said we are getting us some oxygen. That weight thing does work but I only heard of using it when your fish comes out of deep water. But it also works because it keeps both of the crappie gills in the water.

What kinda flow rate are u running on the flow meter in the ice chest. I put O2 on mine when we left the lake but I used a bottle up lol. Mine were so perky I couldn't grab em lol. I think I over infused em with O2

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Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter

What kinda flow rate are u running on the flow meter in the ice chest. I put O2 on mine when we left the lake but I used a bottle up lol. Mine were so perky I couldn't grab em lol. I think I over infused em with O2

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1/32 or 1/16 depending on how many fish or MINNERS I keep. The ole saying about burning their gills is BS. I've ran mine up to 1 with no harm done. You just waste the oxygen.

You must have an oxygen defuser to keep from running through the oxygen. An air stone uses 4-5x the oxygen because they don't have any back pressure from forcing the oxygen through the tiny holes in a defuser stone. Air stones are way to porous.

1/16 LPM works great with a Keep Alive ceramic diffuser. The stones require much more. We use 1/32 LPM on minnows. A good diffuser puts more oxygen in the water with smaller flow rate and makes all the difference.

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Originally Posted by luvpt

1/16 LPM works great with a Keep Alive ceramic diffuser. The stones require much more. We use 1/32 LPM on minnows. A good diffuser puts more oxygen in the water with smaller flow rate and makes all the difference.

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Where are you getting your diffusers Steve?

Cabella's has the Keep Alive.

Have to look into that. The marine metal has no prob keeping minner alive so far. First time to try on fish and did a good job but had only 5 in tub. I will ck on the diffuser thing .

I added an Oxygenator to my love well also.

Love well?? Is that something I need to have in the boat?

Yea his fish multiply in there lol