Small lakes hold some good crappie

[STUMP HUNTER]

Well it has come to that time of the year that I all but put away the big boat and put the kayak back to work. I have a few of the Upstate's smaller lakes in the 300 to 600 acres size that I enjoy spending the day on fishing for crappie and gills. Yesterday I fished a new one that I had not fished before because this is another one of the permit lakes. my kayak is starting to look like a permit advertisement board. The money these permits bring in helps with the upkeep of the ramps, parking lots & shelters so I don't mind the fees plus most of the permit lakes has a motor size limit which makes them a more fishing friendly lakes for the smaller boat fisherman. Most of these lakes have a good mix of different spices so you can pick your target for the day but mine is crappie 95% of the time. The size of the fish in these small lakes will surprise you. Sure they hold a lot of smaller fish but for the dedicated fisherman that doesn't mind putting in the time to learn these lakes the reward can be very good.
Yesterday I fished with two other friends, two of us were going for crappie while the other wanted to target the bass. Like all of days lately the wind was up in the teens most of the day and it made holding your speed or location very hard. We decided to go our own ways but had our phones if needed to contact each other.

I started off longlining while checking out the lake. Wasn't a lot of takers in the open water other than a white perch every now and then but as the day moved into the late afternoon I was able to pick up a few smaller crappie. After covering a few miles of the lake I decided that fishing the docks on my way back to the ramp would be the best bet to find any good crappie. I tied on a 1/16 squirrel tail jig I had tied with a junebug head and chartreuse tail and begin to work the kayak in a place that I could shot the jig under a pontoon that was tied up to a dock. The jig went maybe 20 foot under the toon and as I watched the line sink the wind started hitting my back so getting a second shot in the same place wasn't going to happen. As soon as I started my retrieve of the jig it felt like my jig hit a log then I felt that pull a second later and I knew it was a good fish on the line and the bend in the rod showed that it would be a keeper. As with this dock all the other ones I fished I only had one or two shots to get the jig in deep into the shade where the fish would be holding but that was enough to get some good keeper crappie. I ended the day having a good time catching perch, gills and crappie alone with my other friend that was also crappie fishing. The guy who wanted to go after the bass, lets just say he had a great day

As our spring turns into summer many will be putting away their fishing gear so now is the time for the fisherman to really catch some nice fish. With the shellcracker and bluegill bedding within the next mouth or so I hope everyone has the chance to spend time on the water around family and friends.

A few pics of the fish caught yesterday. Don't over look those smaller size lakes