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Floating on Lake Monroe 10/18 + 10/19
Saw a lot of people out on the water both days. It was real nice with Sunday being more windy and a little choppy but still very comfortable even on my little center console. I'm still in the learning process and working with minimal equipment so my numbers don't match what other's post but I'm still very happy with my catches and have a blast.
Technique: Pulling poles at 1-1.1 knots
Saturday Morning
Started off in the high 50s but calm. The moon was fairly high in the sky when I got to the boat. Poles went into the water around 7:30am and we finished up at 12:15pm. Started doing my usual path and it was a little slower than the other trips. However, 50% of the day's catches had two lines being hit at the same time or consecutively. It gave me some confidence that my presentation must have been fairly decent. Once my bait was going through a school, they bit and caught at least. I was using different color jigs on 5 poles, 3 with just power bait, 2 with a short wiggly worms. My 6th and 7th poles were my new 12' B'N'M Pro Staffs. They have Okuma Magda counter reels on them that I honestly hate. I can learn a lot out through the setup though so it's not all lost. Mom and I had 19 keepers that day with about 30 caught total.
Sunday Morning
I hit the water with my wife who was just coming for the ride. She has no interest in fishing but loves to read so she spent the day lounging and reading. This morning was warmer in the low 60s but the wind was a little stronger. Tried the usual path again and it was pretty slow most of the time, and when they hit, they hit in pairs or succession again. I didn't have 3 poles going out at once yet, but it's bound to happen soon. Same poles out on Sunday but this time I was 1-manning it! Kept me busy and I loved every minute of it. I had 17 keepers with about 30 caught again. I tried not taking anything that isn't easy to fillet lol. I actually ended up ordering a fillet knife last night as I was using a sharp kitchen knife instead. My mother has one and I always ended up cleaning them at her house in the past. She took Saturday's catch with her knowing I was taking wifey out Sunday so Sunday I was caught fillet knife-less.
Nothing beats fresh same day caught crappie!!! I have to start diversify our recipe for it or we'll get bored soon lol. Ended up bringing fried fillets to 3 neighbors and they all loved it.
I have some photos of other boats I saw trolling out on the water but I didn't want to post them on here without asking first.
Goals for next trip: Install a mount for front of boat to move trolling motor there. Try pushing some crank baits from the sides instead of having all jigs in the rear.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend out there with bent poles!
I'll be hitting the lake either Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday and Friday so let me know if anyone else plans on going out and I'll make sure to say hello when we pass. Time to work now though! Have to get ahead on my work to do so. You have to work hard before you can play hard... otherwise the wife gives me dirty looks! :fish
Take care all! WojtekAttachment 176800Attachment 176801Attachment 176802
