Crappie And Big Boats

[stuartsx5]

My wife and I camped at Windermere for the weekend. Fished Friday pm, Saturday am and pm then Sunday pm. Caught a total of 30 all weekend. The females we caught were good quality and size just few and far between. Motored up to Linn Creek stopping at coves and docks. Caught several at one dock that showed 58 fow. Cast in, let it sink and reel back slow. The eggs in the females were loose and bloody so hopefully the spawn is coming. Caught very few on the bank, mostly around docks and brush. Couple of oh crap moments this weekend. First, broke the tip of a brand new Lew's Wally Marshall about the fourth cast. Cut my fingers on my fillet knife (sharper than I thought). The biggest oh crap moment of the weekend was on Saturday. Motored up to Linn Creek Saturday morning and headed back about 1 pm. Those big cigar boats scared the crap out of me. I could hear em coming but couldn't locate them till they were right on me. Learned my lesson, no more big water in the afternoon on a weekend. Those guys are crazy!

[WHARFRAT]

Harbor Hop on Saturday.

Even down on the lower end of the BN it was busy. Saturday Night was extremely busy, I guess everyone coming back.

Too bad about the rod.

[Blazerman]

Stuart, your right about the big boats flying all over. We did the poker run Saturday in a 27’ sea ray and it felt small out there in the main channel. LOZ is the chiropractors best friend. If you look at the water patrol website that list all the incidents from each part of the state, LOZ always has a numbers of falls within boats that shows people had to be transported to the hospital from injuries after bouncing around in rough water.

We actually rescued a couple of older teenagers on a jet ski in the middle of the day Saturday. They had broken down and were bobbing in the middle of the channel. So as we went by we stopped to asked them if they needed help. They said yes so we threw them a rope to tow them to their dock. It turned out to be a lot harder than we thought with all the boats and rough water and at one point the jet ski looked like it was going to sink from taken on water.

When the happened the one kid panicked and jumped in the water and then looked like he was going into shock by how cold the water was. I was afraid I was going to have to jump in to get him but managed to get the ladder down and help him on the boat. But he was visibly shaken and said he thought he was going to die. It was scary but funny watching him try to manage in the cold water. With him off the ski it made it a little easier to tow and we finally got them back and went on our way.

[stuartsx5]

That does sound pretty scary for a couple teenagers. My little 19' fish and ski felt pretty small out there too. At times when I was trolling and fishing I felt like I was climbing waves like the Deadliest Catch crab fishers.

[Old plug]

I had my share of crappie fishermen by the dock area. All here at the wrong time fishing in the wrong spot. they tend to put the bow of their boat into the stall so they can flip jigs down the side of the lift. Not a good practice. Someone got his bow in the to close to the motor and a large wake caught him and he hit the motor tearing up the prop. I am going to put a sign down there to bot fish close to the motor. I never bother anyone fishing. I have a 2 stall dock and the other one is blocked with a 2x10 across it. A lot of people think I am trying to block access to a crappie bed. WRONG there are crappie there but the real stuff is not there. The reason for the 2x10 is to give added support to the frame because there is no lift in there to do that."

The strange thing in my area is the lack of bluegills around the dock. I take that as a sign the fish level of activities. They certainly were late this year. They were around before the cold snap for only about a day or so. But since then I have not seen one. It seems like they should have been back by now.

[stuartsx5]

I've seen those boards and such across docks before and like you said, I assumed it was to keep the fishermen out. I have taught my kids and those that fish with me to respect the dock owner. The water belongs to everyone but the dock belongs to the owner. I see people get out on docks all the time and it always bothered my kids that I wouldn't let them. I always said if we want the dock owners to respect our right to fish we had to respect their dock. Only time I would ever get out on a dock is to retrieve a jig if it is in a spot where it might stick in someones foot. I hope to own a dock up there some day. Sorry to hear about your prop, I'm sure that is frustrating.