It's Saturday morning and I'm headed for Lake Hodgson. I haven't fished much in the dog days of August. The weather has changed recently and it feels more like September. Since the fish don't have a calendar this could be really good. The Fall bite is usually excellent as the fish bulk up for the Winter. Look how calm the lake looks, that changed to a North wind later in the morning.
I worked my boat to a deep underwater structure and started casting. An 11" Crappie on the first cast. Talk about a good omen. The fish continued to bite and I kept feeding them minnows. This is my biggest Crappie of the day a 13" Fish Ohio Crappie. I also caught a 12" Crappie to add onto the catch. Most of the Crappie were 9" to 11", a nice haul for sure.
Here is a 15" Large Mouth Bass I caught a released.
Here is a lineup of several of my nice catches. These are 13" through 11" Crappie, what a treat.
The cooler was still filled with fish when I took the photo. 50 Crappie and one Bluegill was the catch.
Bright and early Sunday I was on the lake again. The bite wasn't quite as strong or big but it was a sporty day. There were two doe and three fawns on the shore. I wish I had my good camera at that point. Two Bald Eagles flew by at the same distance as I fought a fish to the boat. There where three Great Blue Herons doing a circle flight at the far end of the lake. I love it when you see wildlife in action. Sorry I didn't have my good camera on hand but this camera does a fair job.
Rob and Eric were anchored near me and Rob from Van Wert, OH caught two Crappie and this nice Large Mouth Bass. I had given them some fishing advice and Rob thanked me for my help. They were using plastic verses minnows and the minnows far exceeded the catch ratio. Eric was from Ravenna, Ohio said he just wanted to see me put another minnow on after each catch because I had a section were I caught one on every cast. I work hard to convince the Crappie they are hungry.
The catch for Sunday was 35 Crappie. There were a lot of 9" to 11" Crappie in the cooler. They were mostly Black Crappie with a few White Crappie interspersed. Beside the color variance the Black Crappie are football shaped while the White Crappie are torpedo shaped.
What a fun packed weekend, one to be forgotten quickly. You can see the other
birds I photographed on Saturday on the Camera Critters post.
I worked my boat to a deep underwater structure and started casting. An 11" Crappie on the first cast. Talk about a good omen. The fish continued to bite and I kept feeding them minnows. This is my biggest Crappie of the day a 13" Fish Ohio Crappie. I also caught a 12" Crappie to add onto the catch. Most of the Crappie were 9" to 11", a nice haul for sure.
Here is a 15" Large Mouth Bass I caught a released.
Here is a lineup of several of my nice catches. These are 13" through 11" Crappie, what a treat.
The cooler was still filled with fish when I took the photo. 50 Crappie and one Bluegill was the catch.
Bright and early Sunday I was on the lake again. The bite wasn't quite as strong or big but it was a sporty day. There were two doe and three fawns on the shore. I wish I had my good camera at that point. Two Bald Eagles flew by at the same distance as I fought a fish to the boat. There where three Great Blue Herons doing a circle flight at the far end of the lake. I love it when you see wildlife in action. Sorry I didn't have my good camera on hand but this camera does a fair job.
Rob and Eric were anchored near me and Rob from Van Wert, OH caught two Crappie and this nice Large Mouth Bass. I had given them some fishing advice and Rob thanked me for my help. They were using plastic verses minnows and the minnows far exceeded the catch ratio. Eric was from Ravenna, Ohio said he just wanted to see me put another minnow on after each catch because I had a section were I caught one on every cast. I work hard to convince the Crappie they are hungry.
The catch for Sunday was 35 Crappie. There were a lot of 9" to 11" Crappie in the cooler. They were mostly Black Crappie with a few White Crappie interspersed. Beside the color variance the Black Crappie are football shaped while the White Crappie are torpedo shaped.
What a fun packed weekend, one to be forgotten quickly. You can see the other birds I photographed on Saturday on the Camera Critters post.
25 comments:
I envy you. Not only was it fun catching them, but it is even more fun eating them. I think they are the best fish around for eating.
That's what I call a nice mess of fish! You must have been holding your mouth right.
Really crappie, buddy! And what the heck will you be doing with over 80 Crappies?
Fish for the rest of the year? ;)
Cheers, Klaus
I saw your post title in my blog roll, and laughed - you've been living up to your screen name again! Fun!
Egads! What a mess of fish! I 'm not used to that... LOL.... I'm the type of person that catches and release but mind you, I catch basically trout and so it isn't often that you catch that much and I fly fish so Crappie is rare on a fly and especially in the very hot summer we are having! I'm sure that must've been fun to catch them!
Great photography!!
Mountain Retreat
Wow! What a great weekend of fishing. Sounds like a great time and you've got the pictures to prove it.
Now that is what I call crappie days! Those are some really nice fish! I was out last evening catching a nice mess of perch but no where near the numbers that you have here, mor the size!
Now you have me hungry for fresh fish!!! Have to make the kids go out and catch some soon!
Oh my gosh....send the fishes over FG, I was jumping for joy after seeing all your lovely pictures of the fishes that you caught....now I can get the steamer ready, cut up some ginger, chilli & spring onion....good with rice yummy :D
'A Crappie Weekend' - what a great title!!!
Nice catch!
What a haul! I've never fished for or eaten crappy. I mostly like catfish. I'll have to try them sometime.
You have lived up to your title----Fishing Guy. Is you wife called Fish Frying Woman?
Wow! you caught so many fish! very nice!
Wow. Your capture never cease to amaze me. Great shot as always.
Have a nice day to you and your love ones.
It sounds far from a crappie weekend .. in fact is sounds like a perfect weekend for any fisherman.. :O)
Now that's what I'm talkin' about. My mouth is watering just looking at those slab sides. Pappy
WOW....thats ALOT of fish! HAhahah....when I saw the title I was expecting rantings about a bad weekend. Seemed like you have a great one!
WOW... That is some catch. Crappie are the best and most fun behind bass but better eating. Man I am jealous. I bet you were hating not having the good camera when the eagles flew over. I know I would have.
Awesome catch! When are we invited to the fish fry? LOL
Lisa
WOW that sure is a lot of crap lol sorry a lot of crappie the deer were lovely.
Please it is possible to have some of this fish? thanks, it is beautiful blog.
Now that would be a fine supper! My husband is jealous.
Wow this brings me back to my childhood. My father used to take me crappie fishing from the bank of the the Snake River. I kid you not, we would cast in without bait and those crappie would bite time and time again. We also used to catch a lot of cat fish but my dad always made us throw them back because he called them trash fish....tastes like mud he said.
I don't think I've ever heard of those but then I don't fish. :-D All I can think is, what on earth are you going to do with all that fish!? :-) Really enjoyed this post and the pics. Glad you had a good haul.
those are some nice fish, not only fun to catch but good to eat! i have really enjoyed reading your posts!
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