Shell Cracker at the Hill

[Alphahawk]

Met browntrout at Center Hill today....I knew it would be full of folks but the conditions were right for kayaking. He was looking for Smallies and I was using the side imaging hunting for shell crackers.....and I was very successful. A couple of months back I mentioned in one of my posts that the Humminbird si would change the way I fish...and it has. I hung with browntrout for a little while and I moved on just paddling looking for beds on the sonar. I would mark a bed when I found it but was not going to start fishing until I had paddled as far away from the put in point as I wanted to be and I would fish all the beds I found on my way back out. I decided I was not going any further and started working my way back to the ramp fishing the last bed I found. I pulled a total of 33 shell cracker off of two beds...I will check out the others I marked on my next trip up. Most of the fish were 10-11 inch fish. The water was 76 degrees...stained. All fish were caught using a Bison colored Trout Magnet on a 1/32 ounce lead head with a #8 hook....and SOS 2# test line. It was 3 hours of drag pulling fun. All of the fish were released to fight another day. I even caught some 8-9 inch Gills but not many. Was too busy dealing with the king of the Gill world...Mr. Shell Cracker! It was a great day....life is good!


Regards

[CrappieMan]

Awesome job! Did you catch those on the Phenix elixir rod? If you don't mind me asking which one do you have and how does it compare to the river runner rods you have? FYI id love to find a lake with some pretty crackers in it like that... Again good job!

[CrappieMan]

Sorry didn't see your reply what length are you using and does it have a lot more flex than the river runner? I just don't want it to be whippy like... I'm going to buy a rod this week and a reel... Thinking about a stradic? Sorry didn't mean to hijack thread nice fish

[commdd]

very nice, great picks! way to get on em.

[Alphahawk]

Originally Posted by CrappieMan

Sorry didn't see your reply what length are you using and does it have a lot more flex than the river runner? I just don't want it to be whippy like... I'm going to buy a rod this week and a reel... Thinking about a stradic? Sorry didn't mean to hijack thread nice fish

I don't think it is whippy. You can only get them out west.....or online from a sporting goods store out west. I love it. It is 7 foot.....2 piece....fast tip. The flex is about the same as a River Runner.....the rod has a very high content of graphite.......a split grip. Just a great UL rod. Phenix relates it to 3wt fly rod.


Regards

[Dakota]

Nice catch love the side imaging bed pics too


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[XxthejuicexX]

Alpha, that side imaging is amazing! What you do with a trout magnet is impressive! Congrats on the good day.

[Alphahawk]

Originally Posted by XxthejuicexX

Alpha, that side imaging is amazing! What you do with a trout magnet is impressive! Congrats on the good day.

Thanks juice......the TM is a great micro jig......but I got to tell you using a si will change the game. I had some reservations when I bought it but it has very quickly proved its worth to me in a few trips. I haven't seriously targeted large mouth in years but the si may change that. I found a creek channel today that I couldn't believe where it started and you would have never guessed there was a channel there....it ran right up to the bank but yet looking at the bank one would have never guessed a creek at one time flowed there. Excited to get it out on the water again and find more stuff.


Regards

[nomad60]

Those are some nice shell cracker and I bet they were a blast to catch on 2 pound test.

[tsuggs]

reminds me of the 80s on big hill pond alpha,great pics and report

[chaseasl]

great catch

[tacklemake]

Another great report and pictures thank you my friend and I got to get me one of them finders.................woody