This has been a bad year for catching fish. The weekend have had cold fronts move in with high wind and rain. Lake Hodgson had a hard time getting warm enough for the Crappie to get the urge to spawn. So what happens in NE Ohio, the temperature goes to 90 degrees. We skipped the gradual warm up. The change caused the water to warm and the crappies were drawn to shore. I stopped at Don's Bait shop for minnows and headed to the lake.
It was Walmart youth day at the lake but I was on the water before the 250 kids got there. I'm fishing outside the weed bed and these kids were sitting in the weed bed.
The minnows I use are shown here with a special treat in the bucket. The regular minnow on top is ready to spawn. This is the size I like to use to catch Crappie. A Stickleback Minnow on the bottom is a fish that lives in the stream under rocks and has a ridge of spikes along it's back for protection. Sometimes I get one or two in my purchase and usually don't even use them. Crappie don't usually hit them. Crappie seem to prefer a whiter minnow verses a darker minnow. I used this Stickleback Minnow at the end and caught two Crappie on it.
The real story is this years school of Crappie ranging from 7" to 10" were being very co-operative. I caught 50 crappie on Saturday. This gave me two quarts of fillets for the freezer.
Sunday was just as productive with 50 Crappies with more in the 10" range. The are mostly Black Crappies with a few White Crappie thrown in.
All in all about 6 hours of fishing and 2 hours of filleting and a gallon of Crappie make for a good weekend of fishing. The action never stopped and I ran out of minnows.
It was Walmart youth day at the lake but I was on the water before the 250 kids got there. I'm fishing outside the weed bed and these kids were sitting in the weed bed.
The minnows I use are shown here with a special treat in the bucket. The regular minnow on top is ready to spawn. This is the size I like to use to catch Crappie. A Stickleback Minnow on the bottom is a fish that lives in the stream under rocks and has a ridge of spikes along it's back for protection. Sometimes I get one or two in my purchase and usually don't even use them. Crappie don't usually hit them. Crappie seem to prefer a whiter minnow verses a darker minnow. I used this Stickleback Minnow at the end and caught two Crappie on it.
The real story is this years school of Crappie ranging from 7" to 10" were being very co-operative. I caught 50 crappie on Saturday. This gave me two quarts of fillets for the freezer.
Sunday was just as productive with 50 Crappies with more in the 10" range. The are mostly Black Crappies with a few White Crappie thrown in.
All in all about 6 hours of fishing and 2 hours of filleting and a gallon of Crappie make for a good weekend of fishing. The action never stopped and I ran out of minnows.
20 comments:
Is someone needing a hand with the blazes?
I'll bring a fresh bottle of white wine ...
Pan fried crappies are special and I love to eat them fixed that way. A nice photograph of what keepers look like.
Now you've done it. What a nice mess of Crappie. I love those nice fillets dipped in buttermilk, rolled in a mixture of corn meal, flour, and spices then deep fried to a golden brown. I can taste it now.
Bet you had a great time. I went fishing once, when I ws about 7. My dad took me and he would bait my hook, I would drop it in the water and catch a fish before he could get his hook in the water. He would take my fish off and string it, rebait, etc. This went on for an hour or so, then I wanted to go home! He never took me again! lol
What can I say? Can't get much more productive then that! Good job! And Bon Apetite!
Cheers, Klaus
250 kids! Yikes. Well well... I must say you did well, my friend. Awesome post. The Crappie have treated you well and because my husband is not avid flyfisherperson as I am, he would have been all over that lake as you were. He was impressed with this post.
Great photos and enjoy your catch! Yummy!
Mountain Retreat
Nice mess of fish! I could fry those up in a heartbeat...mmm. I really enjoy fishing, too, but haven't been in ages.
Good job! Can't say I've ever eaten crappies before. :-)
If Quint is bringing the wine, I think I might crash the party!
Nice photos and story Fishing Guy.
BTW - you should know the award you passed to me has the same properties Abe notes as the one on my post today to Tom. I guess it was a gimmick too - guess we need to be more diligent when it comes to awards. Thought you should know.
Fish for dinner?
I am sorry that is bad weather for fishing was good asked if I called up to go fishing co also because I love you, so I hope the time will help good week
That sounds like a great weekend to me.. well done.
Sounds like you had a great weekend, also your photos are great too.
Thanks for your kind comments, stay tune - there's more to come.
Your photos looked great and the texican's fish recipe made my mouth water and quinttarantino's suggestion of a bottle of white wine finished my drooling. So when is dinner? P.S. Celtics beat the Lakers.
So THAT'S where all the crappies are! Nice haul! :)
Still a good catch ya FG, how do you cook them? BBQ?
That is what I call a nice mess of crappies! Glad to see you got some real good pullage.
Crappies are by far the best fish for eating-and you racked up on that trip.
Running out of Minnows means a great end to the story.
Troy
Great. Beautiful way of life. I ´d like to do it.
That looks like a good place to take my kids, i might be setting up something for them soon.
Post a Comment