Well I'm getting back into the Gainesville grind since returning from my internship in Georgia. Back to hitting up the few small lakes around Gainesville for some crappie.
Today I fished Lake Lochloosa just outside of Hawthorne, FL. I've fished it several times and have had the best luck there than the other lakes (Newnans and Santa Fe). Fished solo from 9am-1pm and man was it work.
Right off the bat I started boating fish and had a quadruple hookup. It's hard reeling in fish and trying to keep your speed right with a hand held trolling motor when there is so much action but I guess it's better than no action. One time I even caught and released a fish and put the rod back in the rodholder with about a 4 feet of line hanging in the water while reeling another rod and before I could get that fish in another had come up and hit the short line. That's a first for me.
Continued with several double and triple hookups throughout the day but the wind was nearly unbearable for me on my little aluminum rig. I felt like a bb ing a tin can every time I had to motor somewhere. Sure can't wait for the day I get an I-Pilot (I graduate in May:notworthy). Best fishing was "around" 10 foot of water. "Tried" to troll .7-1.2mph all day but wind made it a challenge. Fish were caught on Litewire hooks and an assortment of different brand artificials. According to my crappie counter I caught 32...plus or minus a few. All were released!
Also want to say a big thank you to B'n'M Poles. Have used them since I have gotten into crappie fishing and have loved them. A few months ago I bought some new 12ft trolling rods and today as I was reeling a slab right at the boat the rod snapped about 18 inches below the tip. It is a two piece rod so I was thinking maybe I could just replace the 2nd half of the pole. I called B'n'M and they are sending me a replacement FREE. Good to see good customer service still exists. :biggrin
