Seth

Crappiemasters tournament was coming up that Saturday. Winners had 11.00# and I "think" the biggest fish of the tournament was a 2.22. We fished around Possum Holler and Browns Bend on Friday, April 19th and kept three limits with 10 fish breaking that 1# mark. The biggest was a 14" sow that weighed just under 1 3/4#. The wind was horrible and it was tough to control the boat, but we just vertical fishing minnows and jigs tipped with minnows in 12-14' of water in the middle of the coves. Most of what we caught were staging sow white crappie. I did pluck a few decent black crappie from a dock near the mouth of the cove. People that came by said the males were on the banks towards the back of the coves.

Speaking of leaving shot guns....I had my vest and everything ready to roll and headed off to the blind and realized about 250 yards away that I'd left the gun in the truck. I hadn't hunted in five days due to being busy and out of town fishing that weekend and was out of my rhythm, I guess.

All I heard was that it was caught on a Crock O Gator Swamp Bug in Proctor Cove. That is what the guy said on the live stream of the BBB awards ceremony. I'm curious if it was a bed fish.

Tagged out this morning with this guy. 22.5lbs, 1.25" spurs and a 11" beard. He's the tom I goofed up on Saturday morning. The bird roosted in the same area and went through the same clearing the previous two mornings so I got up 30 minutes early and slipped in pretty close to his bed room this morning. He wasn't as vocal today, but it didn't matter. After two gobbles on the roost, he pitched down just before 6am, stood around waiting for another nearby hen that would occasionally yelp. After she opened up, I let out two round of soft yelps, he answered and a few minutes later I heard him spitting and drumming just over the lip. I was ready for him this time and as soon as he came in to view and stuck his head out, I rolled him. I had to throw his one in too just because I thought it was funny. The cat is named Pumpkin, but we like to call him Nosey Ned because he ALWAYS has to come inspect our critters that we harvest.

I typically use an Alberto knot for joining braid to fluorocarbon and a uni to uni for mono to fluorocarbon/mono. I love the FG knot for joining braid to fluorocarbon BUT it is hit or miss whether I tie it properly. Not sure what the secret is to that one, but it is amazing when the braid grabs hold of the leader. A lot of times it all just pulls apart though.

Been a tough year for me. Had a tom come in this morning and was turned the wrong way and didn’t get a shot. While trying to call him back three jakes came in and only two left. At least I won’t get the skunk this season. Hopefully it will be like last season and a tom will soon follow.

Sorry for the late follow up. We fished Friday down around Browns Bend and got three more limits again. This time we found some really good quality sow white crappie staging out in the middle of the coves in 12-14" of water. Targeted them the same way with minnows and jigs. Ten of our 45 were a pound or better and the biggest was a egg laden 14" that pushed the 1 3/4# mark. Other boats were pounding the males up on the banks.

It was a good year for us at Snagmasters. We took 8th and 10th place with a 71.7# and a 70.0# spoonbill and pocketed around $1600.

Tommy Biffle ain't skeerd of no shorty shorts.

Do you guys go to a dermatologist for regular check ups or just if you notice a weird looking spot on your skin? I've got a lot of freckles and always worry about skin cancer since I pretty well stayed sun burned all summer long when I was younger.

I don’t believe they are made anymore. I believe Phil Lilley has the last remaining stock in his shop.

I despise sunscreen. Makes you feel like a greaseball and has to be reapplied throughout the day unlike UPF clothing. Since I started wearing the long sleeve UPF shirts and buffs, I feel like a million bucks after fishing all day in the heat and sunlight. Sun screen sucks! Buy the buffs with mesh around the mouth area. Gillz brand is one of my favorites.

Three of us fished from boat in dead channel from 3-7:30 and caught three limits of keeper crappie. Jigs and minnows fished close to bottom in 23’ of water. Pretty consistent bite the entire time. Had to weed through quite a few shorts.

Bring a big snagging hook and a 4oz weight. Might come across a big school of spoonbill to play around with.

I messed with one for a while this morning before work, but ended up leaving him gobbling so I could get to work. Suck sat in one spot all morning about 150-200 yards away so I decided to try and circle him and get better positioning. Once I got around him to where I wanted, I realized that he had finally moved and went down to where I had been sitting. Go figure! If he's in the same area, I should be able to get him killed next time.

@fishinwrench with friends like @BilletHead you don't need any enemies!

I'll be up around the 66-55mm snagging tomorrow. I can give you and updated number after our trip. I'm betting crappie are on the banks spawning by now if it's in the 60's. They were in full blown spawn mode yesterday evening here at a lake near my house. Water temp was 62 and stained.

I think some people go way over board for sure. If you got the $$$ then more power to you. I'm sure those types pay a lot of your bills and put a lot of fuel in your boat. It's not like I have anything crazy. My console graph is an 8 year old Humminbird 998c hdsi. It has side imaging, GPS and a mapping chip. I'm able to scan a large area in minutes and find all of the cover with it as well as find suspended fish, but the pictures are nearly as pretty as the newer units. You can find my unit used online for $300-400 all the time these days. Panoptix is pretty awesome, but I'm not sure if I will ever actually invest in it because I don't know if it would be worth it like the side imaging was. Sure I can pin point fish and get a live view of them, but if I'm on fish then I'm going to catch them anyways. My fancy 5" black and white graph on the bow works for staying on brush piles and that's the main thing I need out of it.

This link will tell you the current generation numbers. Each unit is roughly 50mwh. Anything over 1 unit is pretty iffy for wade fishing. You can always fish the outlets regardless of generation as long as they aren't full of people before you arrive. http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/tabrock.htm This link gives you an estimated generation pattern for the following day. https://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx

Now don't go proving fishinwrench wrong! Everybody knows bass only live in less than 10' of water and you don't need a graph to catch those fish! Lakes are where graphs shine. I'll use my graph for GPS purposes on the rivers, but I flip the transducer up and disable sonar on the unit. Doesn't serve much purpose on a shallow river.

My guess is they don't know how to put them to good use. Plenty of guys out there who have fancy graphs that don't know how to use them properly. I'd bet far more guys who rule the LoZ tournament scene are good with sonar than those who aren't, especially when it comes to summer time. The best angler I know doesn't even bother fishing outside of winter and spring simply because he knows he can't compete in the summer time against guys who are good with electronics. He can' barely turn a graph on. I as on the Gravois a few weeks ago to chase crappie. We had a half dozen guys come up to us while getting the boat ready and told us they barely caught anything all day. We put the water in, graphed a few of my go to spots and they were void of fish. Went to a new area I'd never been and found a mega school in a matter of minutes and we limited out. Sure glad I had my electronics because I wouldn't have caught jack squat with out them. Some of those guys had some decent graphs too, but apparently they suck at using them.

So fish the way you want and let others do the same. Electronics make guys who already understand fish habits better anglers. If you don't understand the fish, chances are you pretty high that the fancy electronics are not a magic pill to turn you in to Kevin Vandam over night. Crappie is one fish that I rely heavily on my electronics. Finding paddlefish is second. After that, I really don't rely on them a whole lot.

If the water is off, definitely hit Taneycomo. If it's still heavy generation, then I'd say Montauk.

I've never worked so hard in my life to catch 10-12" fish. If I didn't have Ipilot, I wouldn't have come close to putting up the numbers that I did. In that fast current, I could set my heading and speed and the boat would handle itself while I dealt with fish. Without Ipilot, the drift would have been over as soon as I landed a fish and had to measure it in that fast current. I'm sure it looked about like a cat with a hot stove poker up it's rear end was trying to fish with the way I bouncing between the front deck and the drivers seat. Poor DJ even got dumped on to the floor when a wave hit us just right as I was about to take off and bummed up his shoulder a bit. It sure made me wish I had enough room in my bilge for one more battery so I could rock a 36v 112# pound thrust trolling motor. I could have just stayed put out in that current then!

That 20" brown is going to fall sooner than later. I'm starting to have more and more encounters with them. I might have to start fishing by myself so my co-anglers don't get first dibs though!