Haven't caught a lot of fish lately and this trip was not spectacular but I learned a couple of things that may be useful.
Did not arrive until around 10 AM which is much later than I normally like to get on the water, but 25° is just a little colder than I usually like.
Looking down the hill I could see a stringer of impressive Blues in the water.
Several people there had like a quart Ziplock full of large Shad. I returned my net to the truck and launched.
I thought I would head back across where it wasn't quite so crowded and fish. A couple of fellows very generously offered some of their Shad to me, so I took a couple.
On the way back across I dumped a bait in the deepest part of the channel where I could see clouds of fish on the Humminbird and then pulled the line up tight when I landed. I tied the kayak off to a big rock. Baited up the rod on the other side and then waded out and cast out. Placed that rod in the left front rod holder.
I put a Sabiki with a jig on the bottom of one rod. And the other rod had just a plain jig. These are both Clarus rods a 7.5' and an 8.5'. Light and stiff. Unfortunately I could not find my Crappie bites.
I fished for Crappie for a while with out any results, and then remembered what friend at work had said about slimming the bait. Hiked back to the kayak to retrieve a piece of Shad. (The kayak is about a 100 yards from where I was Crappie fishing.) The line that was out short was suspiciously slack.
Left the other line out deep and cast the left one back out as far as I could against the wind with a 6.5' rod and 3/4 oz of weight, which wasn't all that far.
Grabbed a piece of Shad and went back to try for some Crappie. Smeared a little Shad slime on the jig and caught my first Crappie of the day. Not a keeper but at least I had an idea of what might work. Next I tried a small sliver of Shad on the jig. Caught several more but no keepers and then a keeper. Also caught a small Carp that was merely tangled in the line. Had something grab the line and head straight away with some speed and then spit the hook. Obviosuly not a Crappie.
I put a small sliver of Shad on the jigs of both rods and a couple of hooks up on the Sabiki rig. Standing there fishing with a rod in either hand.
Caught a couple more keepers, and then I caught this one.
14.25" Crappie. New PB Crappie. Bit the 3rd hook up on the Sabiki rig.
Just then a fellow came down the hill and saw me land that nice Crappie. It was getting late so I offered him the 2 and 1/2 Shad that I had left. He went back to where his truck was parked and came back with more gear and a wife. He started driving rod holder stakes in the ground just outboard of my kayak.
The line on my left rod was again suspiciously slack. Cranking down, the rod took a little more serious and fishy bend.
The guys wife took my picture, while he continued setting up.
PB Blue.
Pedaled on back across and put it all back in the truck and went home.
Lessons learned.
Slivers of Shad are just as good as or maybe better than Crappie bites.
Sabiki rig allows a wider range of targeted depth, but also increases the chance of a snag.
Circle hooks work great on unattended rods, even for Catfish.
The best depth for Catfish isn't the deepest part of the lake.
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