I ordered the HB 899 yesterday and have to tell you all your shots from your outings has convinced me I need to move up from the 597. SI is huge in finding the fish and structure. A buddy of mine and I are going to fish some different lakes (Granada being one of them) and SI will be huge in finding fish. May have to get you in the boat with me to show me some of the tricks. Could come down there to go on Woods or Normandy.
Another part of the report that I can agree on is where are the fish this year. My crappie count is way down this year. I've been experimenting with trolling and spider rigging but that aside when I get out shooting docks or fishing the deeper brush I'm coming up empty in a big way. I've had more outings with zero fish caught, looking back at my notes if I didn't catch keepers I did at least catch a few shorts. Some of the other guys that fish OH have said the same thing, even spring was down. JJP on the other hand has been strong this year for crappie and it seems like the size of the fish has been larger also. I know OH and JJP get a lot of fish removed every year due to the large population around the lakes, I wonder if going to 12" size or 20 fish limit would help improve the over all population. Granada and Stargis both have a limit of 20 fish and 12" size and they are premier crappie fisheries that have seemed to keep good numbers even with the pressure and fish removed. It would be nice to catch 3 pounders and not have to drive 5 hours. Heck you would have more meat on the talbe with 20-12" plus fish than with 30-10" fish. Don't know if the rest of the fishing community would feel the same....
Happy fishing to all,
Ray
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