Trip Report For 8/28

[straw hat]

Put in at CC at 9 AM and finished at 6 PM. Very windy most of the day including a few white caps. We picked up about 50 crappie and came home with 9 keepers, 2 whites and 1 flathead. The flathead weighted 12 lbs. He sure was fun. My crappie rod didn't like him much, it wound up popping in half just as my wife netted him. Like usual she is always bailing me out. LOL Most of the crappie were caught 7 to 15 ft deep on windy pea gravel points. We also talked to two boats that said they had caught several whites. It sure seems like you could walk across the backs of the shad anywhere you went in the area.

[Predator1]

Nice Straw Hat,

I am taking the wife in the morning. Did you head up pass the bridge or were you down river from the ramp? We were thinking about hitting Aldrich bridge in the morning, but it sounds like more action on your end of the lake. Also, where can I buy minnows early in the morning on my way to CC from Springfield? I will be coming up from I-44.

Thanks

Charles

[straw hat]

Nice Straw Hat,

I am taking the wife in the morning. Did you head up pass the bridge or were you down river from the ramp? We were thinking about hitting Aldrich bridge in the morning, but it sounds like more action on your end of the lake. Also, where can I buy minnows early in the morning on my way to CC from Springfield? I will be coming up from I-44.

Thanks

Charles

I was a couple miles down river. There is only one place that I know of to buy minnows on your way there. That is the new place in Willard. It is on the west side of town, just off to the right. However, he seems to have trouble counting the number of minnows he gives you. To me it is worth it to go on into Greenfield and pick them up at the Trading Post and then go back to CC to fish. It is only a few miles out of the way and the minnows are better quality and quantity. Good luck on your trip.

[Predator1]

Thanks Straw Hat.....lots of shorts this morning in the little sac arm from Aldrich. Even the 5 cats I caught were small. Just got the wife back. I will probably head to CC with my neighbor. Wife can't sit in a boat all day.

[Thunderin Gobbler]

I know it's a little late now, but here are a couple other spots to get minnows. Round Two Outfitters in Willard is a good place. I am pretty good friends with the guy. He has a hunting/fishing consignment shop out there and has a lot of tackle and bait. He can also order anything you want from Bass Pro and sell it to you significantly cheaper. (I had him order some plastic worms for me a few weeks back and I got them for right at a buck cheaper per bag.) His shop is right off of HWY 160 on Jackson street. It's easy to get in and out of with a boat trailer too.

Another place for minnows is the Handy Hut in Everton. Not much of a selection there, but as a last resort they can usually hook you up.

[Thunderin Gobbler]

Straw Hat, I just realized that I probably saw you up there Saturday and didn't even realize it. We got up there sometime between 5 and 6pm. It would have been a lot earlier, but we had a wheel bearing go out on the trailer and it was a pain trying to get it back to the house to fix it. Fishing for us was not so great. I hate it when I don't get to fish the way I want. I've been catching lots of bass up there every time out, but for some reason my other two partners (dad and brother-in-law) wanted to do something different. We crappie fished for about a half hour with no luck and then threw spinnerbaits the rest of the night. Not a single bite!!! I finally got to throw a plastic worm is the short distance between the bridge and the ramp and had 3 hits. I think I could have done pretty good with plastics the other day.

[straw hat]

I understand about not getting bites! If we weren't on a windy bank you could forget it. We caught about 8 small bass in with our crappie. Most were about 10' deep and just bloated with shad. I saw a low ot bass (whites or blacks, I don't know which) blowing up on the schools of shad. Some of the small coves had been "blown" just full with those young shad and the bass were going crazy in there. It sure is nice to see the weather break and the fish activity to begin to get better.

[Predator1]

Thanks for the info guys.