07/27-jpp
got out for the first time in a few weeks on JPP in search for crappies. Hit the water about 5:30 and was met with a nice manageable breeze. By the time i got to my place, that breeze turned into a gale! I had minnows with me as i always to for crappies and it was a tough, tough bite. the amount of fish passing thru was insane. There is no shortage of small yellow bass in that lake best i can tell, little minnow snatching, plastic tail biting-off little SOB's! LOL.
crappies wanted motion to the minnow, but not moving, im guessing they were being picky with the pressure changes, or that i was drifting about 20 MPH doing doughnuts in the boat! The bluegills and cats however were more than happy to accept my minnowy offering gladly. Caught 6 cats in the 1-5 lb range and about 2 dozen good size gills, eating size for sure. After about 3 hours of putting my little 30 lb thrust trolling motor thru its own personal hell, i took off in search for calmer waters for some trolling with my new rod holders i installed saturday.
Found some calm water and a good amount of bait so i reached for my crankbaits...and i reached, and reached....LOL...not in the boat!
With my crankbaits all M.I.A, i pulled a page out of my Great Lakes play book and reached for my wire-lining walleye spoons. Not your typical spoons as they super, super thin and ultra light aluminum spoons about 2-1/2" long. Rigged them 3-way style and put out 2 rods. I found the first school of shad on the screen as both rods went down at the same time....SWEET! 1 short black nose crappie and about a 13" channel cat. Set back up and made another pass, again, both rods down almost simultaniously, 1 big, fat white crappie and a keeper black crappie and im thinking game on! no wind here, no pleasure boaters, jet-skiers, bass-holes, ect.......
I wish my outting continued like the first 5 minutes, but sadly it ends there, I trolled another 45 minutes, no bait to be found, i ended up with 1 small rouge hybrid about 14" during that 45 minute, life choice contemplating time in my life. LOL. Fun fact about me...i DESPISE trolling, i hate it, it kills me to do it, its boring, sit there and do nothing fishing, i will do it, but its always a last resort for me.
i wanted to take my spoons back my normal spot, where i marked all the fish and bait, but it was white capping, so i opted out till next time.
ended the day about 1:00 taking home 5 crappies, a sun-burnt back and wind-burnt front. LOL....fun time though trying out something different and it working! Oh, and those fish that i got on the spoons, inhaled them! spoon, totally in the mouth! i believe those will be my replacements instead of crankbaits for crappie trolling from now on.
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