The Thumb had enough yesterday....

Ok, so I have been stuck in the house sick, taking medicine, sitting on my arse, chatting it up on the forum. Basically, I have been trying to get healthy to get back to sorting out my back log of building projects and chores; another way of saying that I have been hating life’s little side tracks, specifically the one I am currently following. I was lazily preparing sausage and eggs for breakfast, daydreaming of feeling good and trying to convince myself I was healthy enough to go check some new creeks for the upcoming spawn. Suddenly, the silence was shattered. Ring, ring, ring, Hello, Crapicat what’s up? NOTHING, came my irritated response. I got the cure for that, retorted Jesse10, a local fly fishing buddy. Oh? Yes, I think I know where there is a sack load of crappie on the Brazos, that NO ONE knows is there...you sound rough man, you sick? Four days into antibiotic treatment, I reply. Well, you should be ok to go, if we take it slow, he replies. I can’t leave till I finish breakfast, and hook up the boat. That’s ok, he says, I’m just leaving Forth worth anyway. Throw your waders in the boat.

Instantly, breakfast became a top priority, and that slow breakfast seemingly got slower to finish. Don’t forget to take the medicine, get wading clothes, or put the waders in the boat, I muse. Get some more snacks, just in case of trouble. Finally, breakfast finished, I could now focus on fishing related matters, such as gathering wading clothes, gathering snacks, hooking up the boat, putting water in the truck, and check air pressure in the trailer tires, when the text came in, I’m home. Ok, just got to mail a package to the government, I reply. After tending to my morning constitutional, it is time to pick up Chris, so I head out towards Grandview.

On the trip to Hamm’s Creek, we happily discuss the prospect of a hole full of crappie, with no anglers attention until we arrive. Chris has heard of boatloads of crappie fishermen at painted rock recently. They are probably sifting through dinks by now, I reply. Not like the prospect of catching crappie that haven’t been harassed or sifted through, I add. Suddenly, the guard gate emerges , then the boat ramp, then painted rock. Yep, I think, it’s loaded with boated slinging dinks back into the water as fast as they are unhooked. After clearing the boat line, its full throttle up the river towards the shallow portion of the river. Upon reaching the farthest point we could trek by boat, we tossed out the anchors, hopped out of the boat for the wade trip up river. After a five mile hike (or so it seemed) with me hacking and coughing the entire trek, we came to the deep pool. Suddenly, great anticipation turned to this is it?

Hmmm, I am thinking, well, I’ve seen better, as I am unhooking my jig and reaching for a cork. Just then Chris’s first cast catches a magnum sand bass, my first cast and drift produces nothing...use white he says, so I dig in my pocket and pull out one of Laners salt/pepper offerings and it is on. BUT, not a single crappie. After the fish slowed taking my current offering, I switched to a white hot and it was on again. Suddenly, I pull up a MOHAWK CRAPPIE, and I went into crappie mode. BAM, another crappie, a Keeper! Yess.

So, I wade to the bank, remove the cork and start working the timber which netted a couple more keepers and a few more undersized versions, and several snagged hooks. All the crappie were males displaying some tuxedo colors about them, then nothing. As I look up Chris is still hammering the sandies, with every single cast, so I rejoin the party after reattaching my cork. During my brushpile foray, I managed to lose all of Laners offerings, so I dug around and found a “Greasebath” that are produced by Jiggin Jerry these days...WOW, those danged sandies are just killing this thing...faster than that fly that Chris is offering, I mused...maybe I can start to catch up some.

Hey Chris, how many crappie you caught today? Up yours, I don’t even want to hear it, came the reply. By now five hours had passed, with him catching a fish on every cast, and me not quite matching that level of efficiency. So, you want to look for a crappie hole, I ask. THE THUMB IS DONE, came the reply. Well stated, I said, as I look at the poor excuse for what started out as a normal thumb five hours ago, well stated indeed. Chris looked at his fly and deftly added, this was one of my top five all time fishing trips. I smiled and dutifully added yes indeed, and if you ever want to pick up a crappie pole, I got some good holes I can introduce you to! We both smiled and began the trudge back to the boat after a good day of catching. The boat ride back was as enjoyable as any I can recall in recent times.

Awesome pictures!

Great Adventure & Thanks for sharing!

Awesome post and nice pics!

great story and pics

Nice read! Thanks for sharing! sweet pescado pics

LIVIN RIGHT!!!

great story and pic's!

Dang, you do fish!

No pictures ever posted after all those years, had me wondering. Just kidding, nice fish.

Wow, awesome pictures and story! Looks like fun...

Meat and taters!

Nice fish. Solid Post!

I have been telling DW for years that I can/do fish! That said, I CANT figure out how to post pics, so I don’t even take them. Supposedly, Jesse10, is gonna teach me how to upload pics next trip out (if I bring my phone) so I can actually supply some pics to go along with those hard to believe stories!

The one thing that limits my fish catching is getting front seated by the likes of DW, UJC, Tbox, Slabhappy, and a few others, who shall remain nameless. Moreover, being middle seated by the likes of Ernest/Dutch, didn’t help my catch ratio or confidence very much either...That danged Ernest would hammer a pile then slide Dutch into position, just as I would start fishing beside him...his cue to Dutch “the wind is really blowing today”, despite the fact the wind was only 2mph! But I finally caught on to all of their ways!

Ok, on to the discussion of the baits. The Greasebath jig in the picture, was given to me by Greasebath a few minutes before we boated Laners boat on the infamous day he caught the lake record black crappie on cedar creek with said bait...it was a custom color at the time, but went into general production the next day!...it can/will/usually does catch an any and all fish in whatever water it is deployed in, and it did on this fishing trip as well. It is currently produced by Jerry T (Mr. all taxes paid himself) at Jerrysjigs. This color was the last bait I employed for the day, and the Action never stopped/slowed on it, although it was feeding time and I only fished it for thirty minutes or so (Maybe an hour, at most).. Basically, you can fish with this jig with confidence that the tax police will not come take it or your fish away!

The other three options are Laners baits, at Constant Pursuit Outfitters. The white hot is the bait that all of the crappie were caught on. I am considering whether or not to get Laner to make up some Whitehots with some sparkle added, just to see if it will enhance the overall effectiveness of the bait on the brazos/Nolan fishery’s. The clear/chartreuse worked very well until it didn’t (I think a solid clear sparkle would have been hands down a better option on those sandies. The salt and pepper was a steady contributor and would have worked even better with some flash although it probably defeats the salt/pepper theme. Every time the action slowed for me, I put a salt/pepper back on, and the catching fired right back up. Slow action this day meant two drifts without a fish. And a drift took only about 45 seconds to accomplish.

Most of you are aware of divine intervention. Well this trip was no different. Basically, I left my tackle backpack in the truck. So, I picked out, some likelylooking baits from my extensive collection of Laners baits, JerrysJigs baits, and luckily for me, they were the ticket on this trip. If you are planning a trip on the Brazos, I can happily recommend any of these offerings. Any rate time for a coffee refill, good fishing and good luck!

Well worth the read with great pics added.

>E

That looked like a heck of a trip Buddy!!!!!!!!!

I'm here because of the thumb reference... lol. nice feesh

Bada-bing......

Nice fish there, looks like the river is the place to be!!!!

Yea, as a follow up, my thumb is still about one layer shy of a normal thumb!

Yes, this trip turned out to be a blast, despite only catching a few crappie...interestingly, Chris only took pictures of the small sandies...I suppose he didn’t want anyone to know how big some of those fish really were, specifically, his fly fishing buddies!

Great!!