Are The Fishies Awake?

[trout fanatic]

That was the thought going through my mind as I left the house this morning. Weatherman forecasting a very blustery day with a potential for thunderstorms this afternoon-so I thought I would head to a local state park to free my mind and hopefully catch a few. Tied on a small plastic swim bait and made several casts with no luck. Wind was really blasting and making fishing difficult to say the least. Went back to the truck to relax and get a chew and ponder my options. Decided that on this small lake I could not get away from the wind so I just bucked up and went fishin.

Third cast (fishing right next to where my truck was parked and a nice little 9 inch crappie inhaled the bait and ended the skunk (woo-hoo, first warm water species of the year). Over the next hour and a half I netted 5 more crappie and two bluegill. My confidence and smile were growing. Decided to make one more cast before going home to cut the lawn. After casting the wind really began to blast-my rig was blown as far to my left as it could go and I started a slow retrieve. 6 or 7 turns of the handle later my bobber disappears and I set the hook. Fish-on. This was no crappie. My ultra light rod was bent in half and the drag was singing. I worked him in closer and got a quick glimpse of him as he flashed once then headed for deeper water. Holy crap, it can't be. Finally worked my prize in and landed him. A 18 inch pre-spawn beautiful crappie!

I am still smiling

[brownieman]

18" crappie...that's great !

Sure would like to have a cooler full, pan full, belly full of those puppies, lol.

From past experience the crappie spawn is generally in full swing when the dogwoods are blooming...good indicator.