Spring Frenzy

[AtticaFish]

Mentioned that the fish are biting in one of my other posts......

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Looks like spawn is in full swing for the crappie. Got these last night - went up to the Fish Bowl at 8:00 and the bite lasted right up till around 9:00 (just after sunset) then the fish disappeared. South wind blowing hard into my face. Had my jig set about 4' deep under a small weighted float. Let it sink then very slow retrieve. Crappie are all right at 9" and also a 8" b.gill in there too.

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1/64 jig head. It originaly had a pink paint job till i stepped on it and ground it into the rocks when i went to put a fish in the bucket. Fish didn't seem to care, stacked up and probably willing to bite on anything. Red thread neck - Chart kip body - Pink pseudo marabou thin tail. Yup, ya heard me right...... PINK head and PINK tail.

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Reservoir is nice and full - still somewhat cloudy from them pumping in water this spring but clearing up quickly. Other night i was up there at sunset and caught 6 or 8 little smallmouth and some really nice bluegill. Buddy of mine got some crappies there last weekend that were all males - these wer all females. It is a feeding frenzy for the last hour~ of daylight. Only could see one other fisherman on the whole 80+ acres and they made the LONG walk around to the South shore to put the wind at their back. Going to try and sneak out again tonight!

 

[Fatman]

Nice looking jig and congrats on a nice bunch of fish

 

[ScottV]

Congrats, it's good to see you catching "real" fish. Lol

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Nice catch.Glad that you found them.

 

[toadfrog]

Hope I come home with a mess like that tonight . May cook them right on the bank.

 

[Jig Man]

Didn't see any smallies in the pile.... but a nice mess fo sho!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Wet booties? When you get tired of cleaning panfish, those keepers sound active enuf to bite a 1/16 which might also be more attractive to larger predators. This pond has walleye, yes?

 

[StumpHunter]

Sounds like the fun fishing is just getting started for you. Congrats on the catch.

 

[AtticaFish]

Was out there again tonight with my buddy - not as productive as last night - storms were sure trying to push North and were messing with the wind. A quick down pour drove us off the lake. Between the 2 of us we did catch 2 Gills and 8 Crappie though. 1 crappie (not caught by me) went 12.5" and 1 of the gills (CAUGHT by me ) went 8.5".

SocttV - I'm not too fish prejudice. They ALL taste good.

JigMan - Smallies are always hard for me to put in the bucket but do please the pallet. If i get a few in a medium size range, i would keep them. The SMB population seems to be very strong in this lake.

HawnJigs - They (the crappie) have been wanting small stuff. Mayflies are hatching and they could be after the emergers. They have been stacked up anywhere from 1 to 6 feet deep over 15-20+ FOW. Had some come up and try to hit my float even!!! Tried larger jigs and just don't get bit. Tried some tail spins also and not a bump. In the 20+ years i have fished this lake, have only caught 1 walleye and it was a good one. No clue if there are any left. Have heard conflicting reports that the ODNR no longer stocks this lake and that even if they would it would be with hy-brid Saugeye instead of Walleye. Not sure how much truth to that. Lake doe not get much fishing pressure, kind of out in the middle of no-where and takes time and paitence to figure out.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

Congrats, some good eating there.

 

[Jig Man]

JigMan - Smallies are always hard for me to put in the bucket but do please the pallet. If i get a few in a medium size range, i would keep them. The SMB population seems to be very strong in this lake.

I know, just messin with ya buddy... It's what I do when its tooooo HOT to fish!