armyman's Grenada Spillway Report 1/2/16
It all started with an ice-covered truck at 0530 and a cold 25 deg temperature. After removing the ice, I got in my Nissan truck at 0600 and headed to Grenada, driving like I stole it! I had great anticipation and visions of a cooler full of crappie along with boatbottom and Rees Guide based on a previous conversation on the Forum the night before. This was not to be.
I arrived at the spillway a little before 0800. People were lined up 4 ft apart along the bank. This is what I expected to find, but it was 1 1/2 hours later before I could get a spot to fish. I finally got a spot at 0930 next to nice black man who gave me some tips on the snagging technique. This being my maiden adventure on this type of "fishing", I carefully started to navigate the rocks to the water's edge and began casting a double-rigged jig. After about 45 minutes, my bad knees and my not-so-happy back began to nag, so I sat down on my upside down bucket for a rest.
Behind me a guy was talking rather loud on his cell phone, telling someone on the other end numerous times, "I'll see what I can do". He finally ended his call.....and walked up behind me and asked "How old are you?" I replied "67". He then said "Well, you don't need a fishing license, and I see you don't have any fish, 'cause you're sitting on your upside down bucket". I replied "No, I don't". He was dressed in full camo with a skull cap, looking like he just walked out of the deer woods, which he probably had. I then realized I had just had an encounter with one of Mississippi's finest Game Wardens. He was displaying no badge, nor did he identify himself as a Game Enforcement Officer. I could have told him to "Blow off", but I'm not made that way. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't. I know these officers have cold weather uniforms, and in my opinion, this officer was unprofessional. He went on down the bank checking, and I heard he cited a guy for fishing with a treble hook. Maybe this officer was dressed that way as a disguise in order to enforce the laws. I have been checked on the water many times, but never on the spillway. Maybe this is the norm for them down there.
To continue, I finally caught a nice 12' slab in the back about 30 minutes later. I caught 2 more crappie, but lost them right at the bank because I forgot my net.(My bad). I finally caught a Stripe in the mouth, to my surprise, but gave him to the man next to me. I saw a man lose his balance and fall on the rocks(Ouch!). I saw a man try to put water in his bucket of fish, lost his balance and released all his fish back into the murky depths of the Yalobusha River(Sad!)
In conclusion, I have several observations about my spillway "trip". There is something about catching a crappie anywhere but in the mouth just doesn't seem right to me. In my opinion it defies the logic of fair chase. We spend hundreds, and some us thousands of dollars to find crappie with boats, electronics, rods and tackle to trick him into biting. We keep the tackle manufacturers and stores in business by doing this. As for this type of "fishing", this is a young man's game or anyone who is trying to put food on the table. I don't fault them for that. This is just not may bag, and I get no enjoyment out of it. Besides, at 67 and pushing 68, I'm too dang old to risk trying to walk on "moving balls" trying to snag a fish. As a side note, I had about 2 dozen "slab rigs" tied up, double and single for Spring and lost about half of them. That's also the norm down there.
So, to all you spillway snaggers, I wish you all coolers full of crappie and a happy trip back to the tackle store! The only jigs I will lose hereafter will be on a submerged stump or a sunken brushpile while in my boat!!
Just call me the "Spillway Snubber"
Calvin
armyman's Grenada Spillway Report 1/2/16
I've caught tons of crappie in the spillways of the big 4. Back in my day snagging wasn't legal. We Caught our fish casting two 1/16 jigs with skirts under a 1" pear shaped float with the line snapped only on the bottom hook of the float. When the float lays over, snatch and reel. You'll learn a lot about fishing river eddies this way. I've also snagged them when legal. A bucket full of fish is fun to catch no matter how you do it.
armyman's Grenada Spillway Report 1/2/16
One more technique I've used very successfully in the spillways is to tight line minnows in the eddies on a double bait rig using a coat hanger as a weight. It's just like cat-fishing. The coat hanger is bent into an upside down V and twisted to make an eye. Cast the rig out and slowly reel it into the eddies. When the coat hanger catches the rocks, it'll keep the line tight enough to fish. When you get bit, the coat hanger will spring free between the rocks. Uhhh most of the time. Take plenty of heavy wire coat hangers. We rigged it like a Kentucky rig.
