recent fishing

Made it out 3 days last week to some local areas to do some fishing. The first day was somewhat slow, so my dad and I only caught 13 crappies. We tried doing some night trolling Mille Lacs-style, and we got a walleye fairly quickly on a shad rap, pulling it around 1.5. Really thought we’d be onto something, but that was our only fish in two nights of night trolling area lakes. It was so nice out, we had to try it. We found weedbeds and hung around them as well as the drops into deep water, and just didn’t see many fish at all in those areas. Really thought the big moon would bring some fish out, and maybe it did and we were too early, who knows. Somewhat disappointing.

The 2nd day into our warm weather pattern was better- I got 36 crappies, a gill hybrid, white bass, and a nice 18 1/4″ sauger. Dad managed quite a few crappies as well. My hand-tied marabou jigs were really the ticket, so it looks like I better get some more done this winter. I wish the picture would show the marks on that sauger a bit better, they sure were prominent.

The 3rd day was the best, numbers-wise. I had 62 crappie myself, and my buddy Tony had at least 20, and my dad was over 20, too. It was a great day for catching. We did have some nice crappies mixed in, including Tony’s big one for the day, which was just under 12″. All in all, it was a great 3 days on the water. This weather has been great, and I’d love to see it hold out long enough to get more water time in. There are still more fish to be caught in November.

CRIPES- – -what do they feed you guys down there in NE? Good thing you bought that bigger boat, if all your buddys are that healthy, you’ll need it
Great job guys jerr

Ha! Ya, Tony is not what you would call a small guy. Throw my dad and the dog in, and you might say the bilge pump gets a workout on a windy day.

That crappie really is a nice fish, but next to him, it looks a bit smaller.

Rain pants add 20# on camera!Looks like bow-wow’s ready for a snack and a couch

Thanks for the report Bryan. Did you hit any of those spots I told you about earlier in the day? I will be in the canal somewhere tomorrow. I might go exploring.
Matt

Actually, we fished two areas all day Friday and did well once we found where they were, so we just stuck with that. You might find me dragging jigs on the bottom r-e-a-l slow somewhere. Let me know how you do- this weather is looking good this week. I just might be out there again, ya never know.

I ventured a little farther west and after reading my graph for a while I found where the fish were. I had 3 crappie that went 14+. I also lost some hogs. Very subtle bites. This was my first time out west and I was happy with the results. The crappie are a little bigger than what we have been sorting through at the other spots.

Very nice. I might have to get out there and roam around myself and wonder if I can see what you were seeing. Was the current still rippin?

Yes the current was ripping through the canal. I went to Gallagers. I had to find holes away from the current.

Nice job Brian. Wish I was there.

Yup, you need to get out here, Chad.

We actually caught a lot of our fish right in the current the other day, so we’ll see if they’re still there. I have a few other things I wanna try too, so maybe I can get me another sauger or two. Sure would be nice. I tied up some more jigs the other night at work, so I’m anxious to try em out, even if they do look like crap. But when they get wet, they look REAL good in the water. Guess that’s all that matters.

Awesome fishing Brian ….But whats this about tying jigs at work.How do you get away with that??If you get a chance you could tye some extras for me.Might get me to turn into a crappie fisherman.Catch a few more before it freezes up for the winter.

You heard right!

I figure, why tie em at home on my own time when I can get paid on the state’s time to do it at ‘work’? When your ‘security’ job is really nothing more than glorified babysitting gangsters, it allows you to get away with certain things.

But those jigs sure have been working great. I’m sure glad they work better than they look; they sure aren’t looking as good as yours!