Crip, Crip, Crappie!

Platte Lake Monster at least until you realize that Custom Jigs&Spins Glow Demon is about 3x bigger than the actual size. This guy was one of those O so cute 2" Crappies or about half the size as in the pic.

Note: These Reports are being written oldest to newest which is the opposite of normal blogging appearance if they were written in separate entries.

2/6/05 I headed out about 4PM on Platte over to the area where we caught lots of Bass through Ice around this time last winter. I brought the camera with as that it's shallow and the important factor last year seemed to be the weeds. I drilled about 6 sets of holes and started looking around with the camera. The bottom was mostly clear with only a few sparce weeds sticking up, which was nothing like last year where the bottom couple of feet looked like a jungle. I decided that if there were no weeds, there were gonna be no fish so I headed out to
the hole hoping to get in on some deep Crappies as the dusk prime time bite arrived.

On the way over I discovered that the batteries in the GPS were dead yet again, so I headed to the house to get the batteries so I wouldn't have to drill a lot of holes. It was kind of cool and windy this day and I didn't want to get it wrong. Once I got out I drilled holes and had some perch action right away. As the sun went down some suspended Crappies moved in and I got a good 9.5" Keeper. I then proceeded to miss a big one and then get another keeper. I started catching some smaller one's near the bottom. It seemed like anytime I got a good bite that I would lose the fish just before I got it up the hole. From 5:45 to 7:30 I caught about 10 Crappies but only 3 were bigger than 9" and the biggest was just over 10. I probably missed 3-5 other keepers. I was using minnows.

2/7/05

Headed out to "the Hole" about 5:30 to the same holes as last night. I decided to try a little trick that Cyberfish told me about where you drill a shallow hole that connects to your fishing hole and you use the shallow hole to move the fish into so they are easier to land. I should get a picture of this cause it works great.

I ended up getting the 3 in the Picture, the small one in that first picture and 3 other keepers with the biggest being 10.5"; I probably caught 25-30 or so total. with most being 5-7" Bulldog Lake Specials with a couple of mini's. I probably missed 4-5 keepers. The fish were mostly towards the bottom; they wanted a small minnow or minnow head and the fish were not very aggressive for the most part. I got several of the keepers after 9PM and it seemed like a group would move through about every 15-20 minutes and then there would be a lull.

Unfortunatly I have no Maggies right now, which I think they would just love. Another key was keep that Glow Demon glowing bright.

2/8/05 I cleaned the fish and then headed over to Jennie's so she could have fresh fish for dinner. From there it was out to "The Hole" and those same two holes I've been fishing. Sure enough the Crappies came in and they were very aggressive at times. Unfotunatly they were almost all "Bulldog Specials." I probably caught 50 or so Crappies but only 3 were over 9" and I think I only lost 1 keeper. I also had a 2lb Pike give me a tussle, fortunatly he didn't steal my Glow Demon as that he was hooked right in the snout.

I fished from 5:30 to 8, came in to watch The Amazing Race Final and then went back out at 10PM. Didn't get anything, a few fish came in but were only sniffers.

I think I'll head out again tonight, man I love them fresh Crappies and any bite in this lake could be a huge one or maybe a bonus Eye. Haven't gotten a single Wooly Bully (knock on wood).