Thursday/friday Crappie Report.........a Bit Lengthy

[motoman]

Fished Thursday, got a late start and did not get out on the water until about 9:00 a.m. and it was windy, gusting 15-20 I would guess? Air temps were in the 60's, and got up in the 70's by the end of the day. The whole time throwing a 1.5" tube, blue body with white tail and a 1.5" Kalins curl tail grub in white and yellow on weedless 1/16 ounce jigheads. We would cast them, give them a 5 count to sink, then slowwwwwly reel them back. Kinda frustrating throwing light jigs in the wind.

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Anywho; started in the Gravois, hit some brush piles and around docks in about 10'-20' of water, in pockets on the main channel; picked off a couple keepers. Went back into some coves and fished brush piles; until about 11:00, then the bite kinda faded. Water temps in the low 50's. Decided to shoot over to the Glaize around the state park. Picked off some dinks on the main channel brush piles. Water temps there in the mid-high 50's.

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Went back to the Gravois around 3:00'ish. Took a couple hour break, went and bought some minners (yah, I know, some really scoff at live bait ), then got back out until an hour before dark, and fished until after dark. Way in the back of some coves in the Gravois found some nice keepers in about a foot or 2 of water. Still on tubes/grubs.

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About an hour after dark, went back to the dock in the Gravois arm. The dock has about 20 slips. Fished the slips with the grubs/jigs until 10-11:00 p.m.; caught only a few dinks. Then switched to the minners. Things really took off. Stayed on the dock until about 3:00 a.m. We were initially fishing the more well lit slips by the lights, but then quickly found the fish were hiding in the shadows, and the darker slips. (Ones with larger boats on lifts) Keeping our line tight against the edge of the slip, nearest the floats; closest to the center of the dock walkway. We would drop it down about 10', leave it sit for a short while, then slowly (as slow as you can stand it), reeling it straight up. They would hit anywhere in the 2'-8' foot range. Mostly in the 2-3' range. (If you have kids, they would have a blast with a bobber and minnow sitting on the dock, fishing the slips! )

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Friday got a late start as we were up late on the dock that morning; so friday we started fishing again about 11:00 a.m.; again stuck around on the dock since the wind was really pushing; didn't feel like fighting it in the boat with the light jigs, as we had good results on the dock. About 2:00 p.m., the monsoon blew in, temps sharply dropped; and it rained until after dark. Kept fishing the dock/dark slips until after dark. Using the minners, and same technique as above. At nightfall, caught a couple nice keepers near the shore again; throwing from the dock.

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Ended up with about 40-50 keepers total, and 3-4 times that many shorts. All-in-all, had a great time, and got some nice fish. No complaints.