This past week included 3 trips with 4 different boatmates which made for some great banter aboard the Lund!
Day one, my brother-in-law Gord and I hit the Rideau system. We found a pocket of hot fish in 43 degree water. They were active and stacked like chord wood as Mr. Lindner would say! One issue. They were all males, so it was dinksville. The females must have been staged elsewhere readying to join the party as we only found a handful of those big girls.
Baits of the day were 1 inch tubes under a float for myself while Gord played with some Nuckleball jigs and a variety of plastics.
Gord was happy to take home a few for an upcoming family fish fry.
A pair of the ladies who graced us. Big fish was 13 inches.
The next day I had old buddy Bill with me. It was great to have our schedules marry up so we could get out. Bill is just an easy going funny guy to fish with. We tried to find some local Crappie but a major cold front had moved in over night that vacated the shallows. No biggie! Plan B. Jumbos.
Billy was giggling at these plump ladies.
The last trip was a good one. My buddy Chris in town from SW Ontario for Easter and was hoping to get out if we could make it happen. Of course! Phil joined the crew and away we went.
Chris had never been Crappie fishing so we were hoping to put him on some fish. It didn’t take long for floats to start dropping. Almost as far as the barbs, jokes and insults started amongst the three of us. Just a great afternoon and evening with two good buddies.
You know it’s a laid back day when at days end our “big fish” bet was met with confusion. No one could remember who caught it. Phil grabbed her for a pic, a hair under 13.
As the sun fell I wanted to try something. Off came the float and on went the crank. A tiny one inch diving crank didn’t take long to get hammered…
I’ve had a handful of emails regarding what setup I use for Crappie. Pretty simple really but a few things I do I think helps a bit. In the photo below you’ll see from the top: bobber stop, bead, float, split shot, swivel, split shot, split shot and then the bait.
The split shot are in place to get the float sitting upright much quicker than without. They also provide enough weight to have the float sit a bit deeper in the water so the slightest take is noticed easier. The swivel is for trouble free fishing! Tubes spin and create line twist and a mess by days end. I simply cut off 2 feet of mono from my main line to use.
For rods I prefer a longer rod. I use a 7′ medium rod with a 500 series reel with 4 lb test mono.
Get out and enjoy some panfishing this spring. Things are about to get real good I bet!
