02-09-2009, 10:00 AM
Today was the first foray to see if any pre-spawn crappie are starting to move into the creeks.<br /><br />They are!<br /><br />Me and Ed McCoy (CFF&#39;s &quot;enmreal&quot
smoked &#39;em good. <br /><br /><br /><br />We were honestly surprised. We started fishing about 7:45 and put our 30th keeper in the boat at 1:30. We caught roughly a 1:1 ratio of keepers to throwbacks... and had four fish that were 14-inches-plus (two were 14 &amp; 7/8ths, but wouldn&#39;t quite stretch to TARP length)<br /><br /><br /><br />The overwhelming majority (app. 25) were white crappie... a really big surprise to me. It was the most white crappie I&#39;ve put in the boat in several years. <br /><br /><br /><br />The majority came from 9 to 13 feet of water on a flat adjacent to the creek channel. Trolling 16th oz. tube jigs... chartreuse, yellow/chartreuse &amp; red/chartreuse were the best colors (note &quot;chartreus&quot; was the common element).<br /><br />It was never fast and furious, but using the slow &amp; steady &quot;tortoise&quot; approach... we just kept hammering away on them. It was great fun and a pleasant surprise since we both went figuring it was going to be more of a &quot;scouting trip&quot; than a &quot;catching trip.&quot;<br /><br />Which means of course that life is good and gettin&#39; better every day!<br />
smoked &#39;em good. <br /><br /><br /><br />We were honestly surprised. We started fishing about 7:45 and put our 30th keeper in the boat at 1:30. We caught roughly a 1:1 ratio of keepers to throwbacks... and had four fish that were 14-inches-plus (two were 14 &amp; 7/8ths, but wouldn&#39;t quite stretch to TARP length)<br /><br /><br /><br />The overwhelming majority (app. 25) were white crappie... a really big surprise to me. It was the most white crappie I&#39;ve put in the boat in several years. <br /><br /><br /><br />The majority came from 9 to 13 feet of water on a flat adjacent to the creek channel. Trolling 16th oz. tube jigs... chartreuse, yellow/chartreuse &amp; red/chartreuse were the best colors (note &quot;chartreus&quot; was the common element).<br /><br />It was never fast and furious, but using the slow &amp; steady &quot;tortoise&quot; approach... we just kept hammering away on them. It was great fun and a pleasant surprise since we both went figuring it was going to be more of a &quot;scouting trip&quot; than a &quot;catching trip.&quot;<br /><br />Which means of course that life is good and gettin&#39; better every day!<br />