I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I got back from the Gulf last weekend, and have since been able to enjoy a few days on freshwater. I'll be heading back down for one more stint in the saltwater starting on 9/15, and look to be coming back home in early October. You know I'm not going to miss my favorite time of year to be a freshwater guide: FALL CRAPPIE FISHING! Below is a general idea of how we caught our crappie over the last week, plus a few pics from the deep blue sea just for grins.


Water Temps: 83-86
Water Conditions: Stained (incredibly thankful to see some rain around here)
Best Depth: 10-18ft
Favorite Rods: 8ft Epic and 9ft Hot Rod from Todd Huckabee Rods
Favorite Reel: Pflueger President and/or Shimano Sahara
Favorite Line: 8lb Wally Marshall HI-Vis mono
Best Bait Right Now: Live Minnows on a gold Aberdeen hook, roughly 18" above a Slab Syndicate Hand Tied Jig
Best Piece of Advice: Don't let big numbers of fish on your graph keep you in one spot for too long.


When you're making 30-40 mile runs across the Gulf, there is no shortage of time to think. On one of my latest voyages, I thought to myself "hey self, what if the next time you go crappie fishing, you put a hair jig at the bottom of the line, with a minnow above it. Just tie the jig at the bottom, and make a loop knot about 18" above the hand tie. Gold Aberdeen hook. You would eliminate the need for a split shot weight, and it would give the fish two completely different looks. It might not work out well in really heavy brush applications, but I bet that minnow would swim the jig around, might even stick a few doubles." After that, I probably saw a flying fish or a dolphin, and went on thinking about something else. Fast Forward to this past week, and I finally got to put this idea in action.

As I had hoped, this new rig put fish in the boat. I only had one customer stick a double, as most fish would choose either the tiny little hand tied option, or the live minnow. One thing I did like about it was that the minnow was always off the bottom, as the weight touched down first. This helped keep the minnows from getting hung up less, and eliminated the "how many turns up should we be" problem that sometime occurs with the split shot being above the minnow. I was also pleased with how the minnow made the jig "dance" on LiveScope. The customer would simply hold the rod dead still, and the minnow would do all the work. Although I've only had folks use this particular arrangement a few times now, I didn't see any difference in preference, when it came to the jigs and minnows. Half the fish ate the jig, while the other half preferred live bait.

The overall bite right now is consistent with what we usually see during the later parts of summer. The crappie are preferring a bait that's moving slow, or not moving at all. They have been hitting it when the angler is holding the rod completely still, or while lowering their bait at a painstakingly slow speed. I have not seen a crappie hit anything that has been pitched out; that will change as water temps start to drop. I am also seeing very large schools of fish, with only 1-3 aggressive fish wanting to play at each stop. It's hard not to take it personally when there's 50-60 fish on a pile, and only 3 come in the boat. Just move on. I see it every year around this time, and all I can say is just keep moving.



I have some weekday mornings left open in October, and RD has Saturday 8th and 29th if anyone wants to hop on those. The dude has absolutely been killing it this year, if you haven't seen our Facebook and Instagram accounts. You can call/text me directly at 817-266-9811, or simply visit us online at www.dfwoutdoors.com to book a trip with us. There is no such thing as self-made, and I wouldn't be where I am today without the TFF and these folks right here:

www.shut-up-and-fish.com
www.sscrappiejigs.com
www.toddhuckabeerods.com
www.bluewaveboats.com
Mad Crappie Jigs
www.constantpursuitoutfitters.com




Laugh all you want, but after spending two days with the Cobb family, that pink Zebco probably put double the amount of fish in the boat than anyone else.











That guy on the left is a hero. Ex Marine sniper who wanted to learn a few things about crappie fishing. It was an honor and a pleasure to have him on my boat.



I love fall colors.




And now, some deep sea fun.











And that one day we had off because it was storming too bad offshore, well, RD and I went fishing in the surf! That's my new personal best speckled trout.

Holy Mackerel! ! ! That was a great report. And Fantastic pics.

Thanks Laner! ! !

Awesome snapper

As always a awesome report!!!

That's good stuff buddy!!! I like them minnow and jig trick!

I'm jealous of the snapper! We didn't get to the beach this year and I'm about out of last years snapper. Stocked up on some Chubbies from Frank at Lakeside Lure and Tackle earlier this week. White Hot has been getting it done lately on Palestine!

Safe travels!

Slew

Enjoyed the report and especially the tips. I appreciate it.

Great report & pictures!

Solid post and fish. Good job Sir!

Solid post Lane!

Appreciate ya guys! I’ve got one more stint in the Gulf, then it’s full time crappie catching and deer hunting for this guy.

Love me some offshore stuff...