Took my 23 year old son on his first-ever, crappie fishing trip. After a few quick lessons, I gave him a picture of the lake, and a hand held GPS, and put him in the hot-seat at the front of the boat:

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I was a good dad and told him, "push these jigs around, keep the boat on the spot, look out for snags, slow down, speed up." I was kiddin' around and crappie slave-driving! But I think he had a great time:

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The rag is a funny story--It is my fishy, hand-wiping rag that I have had in the boat for 2 years, (without washing, except for an occasional rinse in the lake). Well, after a couple of hours frying in the 90 degree heat, he was sun-burned enough that he probably would have wrapped my boxer shorts around his head. But with a highly respectable display of the Right Stuff, he pressed on!

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He pushed jigs in the front of the boat, and I pulled minnows, under corks, out of the back of the boat:

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Being in the back made me realize that I needed to turn my crappie-slaying focus aft: How do you like those rod holders? How about the stern light? Would they chase me out of Cackalacky with this rig?

Anyway, it caught fish:

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We ended up the day with 71 crappie, 12 yellow perch, 1 shad (golden colored--don't know what kind), 1 pickerel, and one 9" bream. The jig colors were money, pearl, and chartreuse. Fish were caught in 5 - 8 feet of water, about 3 feet down.

We had a great time. Hopefully, my son will go again sometime--and when he does, it won't be soon enough!

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Good luck, everyone.

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