Change of pace

As much fun as the coves have been, we decided today that it was time for some new scenery. Josh has relatives that live on a lake known for very large crappie,  we’ve done well there in the past, so we decided to make the drive. We knew it would probably be a short trip as the crappie there seem to feed the best in low light. We were on the ice by 6:30 and drilling holes shorthly after that. I grabbed my Humminbird flasher and went to check some holes for signs of life…  I found what I was looking for on the very first hole. We were in 31 feet of water and I had some very nice red marks suspended at 24 feet. I sprinted back to the sled, grabbed the rod with the Lindy Rattl’n Flyer and scooped a small shiner out of the bucket as fast as I could.

It didn’t take long for the first fish. It was only 12″ or so… A nice fish for where I had been spending all of my time, but not for this lake. All 3 of us were in to fish and the sun hadn’t even cracked the horizon yet. I moved on to my third hole and marked 4 or 5 separte fish suspended again. I dropped down to them and 3 of the fish converged on the jig but just sat there staring at it. Josh came over to see what I was so excited about. They just wouldn’t eat my jig… I reeled up two turns and one fish followed but still wouldn’t eat. I reeled again and as she followed, I reeled even faster. Once I came up another 6 feet, I paused this time she smashed the jig. Aside from the obvious weight, I could feel that the head shakes were pretty big. I went easy with the fish, especially when I got close to the hole. Josh saw it first and I could tell by the tone of his voice that this was a good one.  The fish became wedged in the 6″ hole and I could see that there was only one hook in her lip. I jammed my hand in the hole and gently eased her the rest of the way up. This was a new personal best by quite a bit. She taped out at just under 18″. What a fish!!! After a couple of pics, I put her back. It was actually harder getting her back in the hole than it was taking her out…

My day was made… We fished for a couple more hours and had some more nice fish, but was pretty anticlimactic. Most were over 12″ with a few at 14. Once it got bright out, the bite really died off. The fish just disappeared. We found a few holding tight to the bottom but they just stopped eating. I packed up at 9:15 and headed to work. Between the 3 of us, we iced 24 crappie, a few perch and a bass. Not bad for less than 3 hours worth of work…