First Crappie Outing

[gmac209]

I have been reading all the posts here about Crappie fishing and finally got out to try it.
I was able to get some time Saturday and for once it wasn't raining or snowing on the weekend. I went by my river that I fish for Browns and the cars and trucks were lined up so having my pontoon boat in the back of the truck made up my mind to leave my comfort zone and try something new. I went to a small little lake right in the heart of a small nearby town that friends tell me the go for Crappie. I assembled the boat (always seem to gather an audience for that) and headed off down the lake. I thought about some of the comments on this forum and figured that this time of year I should be looking on the north shore of the lake around some type of structure or bullrushes along the shore. I cast and trolled my fly along the shore but
when I finally got to what I thought looked like a promising spot I was rewarded with a really nice Crappie on my first cast into shore after that it seemed every other cast produced a fish. I am hooked.
Now for the down side. After about a dozen fish or so I noticed there was a bit of a list to my pontoon boat. It appears that I have acquired a small leak on the right side. I carry my pump with me, so after a quick trip to shore and bringing the psi's back to normal I thought it prudent to head back to the truck in case the leak decided to expand.
Sorry no pictures, the sinking Pontoon boat sort of took precedence .
Anyway that was my introduction into Crappie fishing and now I sort of understand what all the talk is about.
I will be back. It was great and now I have another species to fish for other than Trout until our Bass season opens up.

[Rick Z]

Welcome to the light. Crappie are fun to catch.

Rick

[FishnDave]

That's awesome! Good job! ALL fish are fun, IMO.

I actually stream-fished for trout this past weekend, which I'd never done with fly gear before, so I share your enthusiasm for fishing for "new" species!

[GT171]

I cant see many downsides to catching crappie every other cast but you managed quite well. well done!

[quivira kid]

Nice! Keep after 'em...

[crappiecrazy]

Good story! Gotta extra bed?

[Uncle Jesse]

Let me encourage a little tourism back in the home state. The fish on the left weighed in at 4 lbs. No, that's not me in the photo, which came off the MS Fish and Wildlife website. The fish was caught this year from Sardis Lake in north MS. Sardis is a flood control lake that contains the drainage of the Tallahatchie River (remember Billy Joe McAlister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge). The Tallahatchie and Yalobusha join to form the Yazoo River.

The current world record for white crappie is from the lake just south of Sardis, Enid Lake, 5# 3 oz.

4 lb. crappie.jpg