|
I headed back up to Little River Lake
on Saturday morning. I know the crappie
are in near the shore and spawning. I
wanted to get a bunch of fish and this
is a place to take huge number of fish
out of. My wife had a daylong meeting to
go to so I did not leave the house until
about 7:00am. She said she wanted some time
in the morning with me and then I could have the
rest of the day to fish or do what I wanted.
I got to the lake and got the two fly rods
out. I decided to try a Joe Hyde thing and
tied two flies on each rod. The 8 ft 3 wt
had the Streamer Nymph and Perch-a-bou on it.
The 8 ft 5 wt had a Marabou Miss and Thief on
it. I took a 5-gallon bucket and a fish basket
with me as I went out on the one jetty. There
were not any other folks around the shore at
this time. I put some water in the bucket, to
hold the fish when I first catch them. After I
have caught a few fish, I then put them in the
fish basket and let that set in the lake. This
helps keep the fish alive for a longer time.
I decided that I would make 10 casts with each
rod before I changed. I would also keep track of
how many fish I caught on each fly. I knew the
fish would bite as I had been catching them all
week on my lunch hour. The water was absolutely
flat. No wind at all, for a change.
I started with the 5 wt and cast it out about
20 feet and let the flies drop about 2 feet
under the surface before I started a very slow
retrieve. I saw several fish come up and look
at the flies, but not take them. I changed
the retrieve speeds, depth, and other variable
but I had 3 fish on the ten casts. I changed to
the 3 wt and cast out. The flies had dropped about 6
inches when a crappie came up and smacked the
Streamer Nymph and headed back down.
This was one of the typical 8 to 9 inch crappie
in this lake. The size is partly due to no
minnow forage for them and the huge numbers of
fish. I cast out again and had the same thing happen.
On ten casts I had 11 crappie, 10 on the streamer nymph.
I have been accused of not being the brightest
bulb in the pack, but I know that when the fish
are hitting a fly like that, it is the one to use.
I changed the Perch-a-bou to another streamer nymph.
It was two fish on every cast. I could see them
coming up to hit the fly. It was a race to see
who could get here first.
I had caught several fish when one of the old
geezers showed up. He said he was out to catch
some fish for a fish fry. He started fish, but
was not catching fish at near the rate I was.
He finally came up with an idea. He would take
the fish off the hooks if I would catch them.
I changed the other pole to two streamer nymphs
and we went to it.
I would cast out and get two fish most of the
time. When I had them, up I would hand the rod
to him and then cast the other rod. We just kept
doing this until he had his bucket full and my
fish basket was getting full. I told him that I
was sure I had all I wanted and that I would catch
more for him if he wanted them.
By this time a couple of other folks showed up
on this jetty. I guess they figured it was a
great place to fish. The trouble was they were
using huge jig heads and retrieving the jigs
fast enough to part the water. They did
inform me that I did not "Really" know how
to fish for crappie. Fly rods were for trout
and saltwater.
I had another older gentle man come out on the
jetty asking if we could get him some fish for
a fish supper. We said sure, and started filling
his bucket. The fish were still hitting the flies
with intent. I would let them turn down in the
water column and they would hook themselves.
We kept on catching fish until his bucket was
nearly full.
He said he had enough and it was time to head
home so I could get my garden planted. I hauled
my stuff to the truck and then went back and got
the two buckets of fish and carried them to their
cars. The other folks moved to the spot where I
had been fish and were catching a fish now and
then.
I headed home and cleaned the fish I had and
then planted my garden. Nice to get the garden in.
I had brought home 113 fish. Both of the old
geezers called me up and said they had right
at 150 fish each. I was amazed that I had
caught that many. Even more amazed that
they came out of an area that was may 150
square feet in size. We never moved from
the first place I started. That means there
area a scary number of fish in the lake, as
they spawn in many places.
I am not sure that I will ever repeat a day
like that. This all happened in about 2.5 hours.
I had a few friends tell me that I did not
deserve a day like that.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick ziegeria@grm.net
|
