61 fish between the 2 of us: Mostly nice crappie and sunfish

Wind was the only problem spinning the boat around the anchor rope. When find which direction to cast after finding fish in open water, the last thing I need is a boat position that make casting difficult from a small jon boat.

The pattern was simple: 5.5' - 6.5' where sonar showed fish in open water. Lures used:
1/16 oz and 1/24 oz ball heads with various plastics (mostly my hybrid creations). I even caught fish on a Beetle Spin/Ribbon Tail grub and on a Risto Rap crankbait.
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Key was letting the lures drop to mid-depth and working them slowly with pauses. If the bite slowed, I let the wind take us 50 or more feet to another spot and anchored each time. No crappie was under 10" with most over 10.5".
Here's my buddy (78) that I showed how to fish ultralight and he kept up with me fish for fish:
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Great post. Nice catch. Thanks.

One heck of a day on several species of fish it sounds like you have a goldmine up there....good work.

If anyone was wondering about the measuring board, it's the cover of a shoe box with stick-on numbers. Fish are held by bungee cords to keep them still.
As everyone have seen from previous posts, lure design is a large part of the mystery we indulge in: finding and catching. Here is a list of the soft plastic shapes that did well:
fork tail added to a French Fry worm segment. Action: flutter of the tails; ribbed body (krinkle cut you might say lol)
hot dog shape/ no tail. (dang, I forgot the mustard! lol): waddles & darts with rod tip twitches (kinda like a mini Ned rig)
Runcle paddle tail swim grub: great subtle tail vibration
spike (Stinger) tail grub: tail quiver

Good thing we were on a lake surrounded by high hills because the 10lb anchor would have never held on a large lake with flat land surrounding it. Wind was never less than 15 mph/ gusting to 20 mph. Key was staying in one spot until the fish ran out/ move 50'/ drop anchor/ repeat. No beating-the-bank fishing like one other boat angler we saw that kept moving.

nothing but fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by "D"

Great post. Nice catch. Thanks.

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:hesaid Very nice! Nice to get out with a friend to enjoy the day. U/L and pans! Can’t be beat!
Bob

Very nice!

K A B O O M !

Today I went by myself and found crappie and sunfish in the same area in 5.5' far from shore.
59 fish caught between 11:30am and 4:30 pm. Good thing the breeze was constant or I would have roasted under an 85 degree sunny sky/ no clouds. A few pictures:
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Surface temp. 83 by 3pm. Both species caught on all the lures shown and others that weren't included.

BTW the count was 69 fish not 59 - sunnies and crappie. Man did they slam lures and fight like the dickens!!!!

Also, I looked toward the shore with a clearing near the road and noticed someone with a long white dress. Dang if they didn't have a wedding at 4:30 pm! Not a lot of cars were parked so I guess only a few were invited. Guess there's a first time for everything.

Congrats on a nice catch and great pictures!


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

BTW, you all know how hard it is to keep fish flop'n around when your trying to take a photo to show all of us. Worse yet when fish flop around on a V-boat bottom floor and you're trying to grab 'em. At first I had a shoe box with stick on numbers inside. Dumba** me thought the thing wouldn't fly out of the bottom of the boat on transport. WRONG!

So I figured: use the lid with 2 bungee cords and number stick-ons and it does great sedating those fish - especially the cord that goes over the front of the fish. Less harm to the fish and I can still include the lure the fish was caught on. Use a larger plastic box cover for expected larger fish.

Another thing you might find amusing:
My buddy is a member of a fishing club we've belonged to for over 45 years. He has a great sense of humor and knowing that I showed him the photo. I told him I was goint to post it on Crappie.com referring to him as: an old, confused homeless-guy I took fishing. He cracked up! (Of course no one in the 300+ member club have any idea who Spoonminnow is nor where the fish were caught.)