Early Spring Crappie Fishing

Hi All Fishers
The Crappie Fishing was amazing today!! Yesterday...Not so much. But today my fishing rod and I, had great fun. And I even have some pretty cool 'crappie fishing tips' for you, in good time. hehe. ((-;

So for the 12th of March, we here in central Missouri near the Lake of the Ozarks, are having beautiful weather. It was 55 by 11:00 AM today and I was already at my favorite lake. For this early in the year the water temp is warming nicely, so I was hopeful the fish were biting.

3-12-15 First Fishing Trip in March
My Favorite Lake

I love crappie fishing folks, when they're biting the action is hard to beat. Today it started off slow as I walked to the shallow end of the lake, making a few casts along the way. When I get to the willow trees (red arrow) I start to see some fish movement beneath the trees. So I ease my way close enough to cast near the swirls.

Strike...And a miss! A few more casts, still nothing hooked, so I walk on down to the point of the cove. Now usually there's some slab crappie hanging out in this area, not today though. I started here because the water would be slightly warmer, but the wind is blowing towards the dam, the opposite end of the lake.

So after catching a couple of crappie, I work my way to the dam. Now here's a little "crappie fishing tip", whichever direction the wind is blowing, fish at the bank that it's blowing towards. The choppy water stirs the baitfish and that's where the bigger fish will be feeding, and that increases your chances of catching more fish.

I've been here about an hour, and it's warmed up a few more degrees, the fish are starting to bite more, so I've added a couple more to my bucket. This time of year in ponds and small lakes, the crappie are usually hanging close to the bank. I was casting 4-5 feet out from the bank and catching some 9-10" fish.

I like to use a bobber this time of year, about 12-18" deep. This keeps the jig at a consistent depth where the crappie are feeding and with a solid weighted bobber you can cast farther even with a strong wind

3-12-15 First Mess of Crappie

So I'm walking along the bank, casting ahead of my direction of travel. Finally a good solid hit, there's a slabbie, a nice 13 incher, in the bucket she goes. Prespawn crappie fight like the devil and I'm having a blast. I've added 8 to the bucket by now, and since crappie like shade I'm headed to the tree lined side of the lake.

Now it's warmed up to about 70 and the fish are really starting to bite. My next 5 casts I land 3 nice slabs. Next I cross the fence and sit down on a boat that the owner keeps there, this is a nicely shaded area, and the crappie have really started to bite.



For the next hour I land over 30 fish, some small 7-8" but out of those I have 14 nice keepers 10-13". I also kept a few small bluegill to fertilize my tomato plants, that makes those tomatoes taste so good! I ended up keeping 22 nice filleting size crappie, what a great relaxing early spring fishing trip.

Thanks for visiting folks
(-: jono

Childhood Fishing Ponds Revisited

Hi Fishing Friends

I made a trip back to my hometown this last May 2014. My sis Lois had some business to take care of there, and asked me to ride along. So we loaded our gear, and 'hit the road'.

We get to Fulton, she gets her business dealt with, and off we go, to my old favorite clay pit. When we get there, we grab our rods and tackle, walk about an eighth of a mile thru the brush and scrub and approach the water. This pit is a pale blue/green, and about 40 feet deep.

I scan the water along the edge, looking for bass, and all I see are perch. For the first half hour or so, we catch a few bluegill and shellcrackers. Finally Lois hangs into a decent bass, and lands a 2 LBer, good enough to keep so she puts it on a stringer.

By then it's time for me to move, so I work my way on around the shore to 'the spot'. It's pretty overgrown since hardly anyone fishes this hole anymore.  Fighting, thorns, briars, and thick brush, I finally clear a place well enough to fish at.

Now you may ask, is it worth it?

Well my first few casts weren't. That third cast though - wham! That bass hit hard, then it took off running for cover. I lowered my rod tip, reeled some line in, and horsed him away from the brush. Oh man, I love it when a big ole bass starts 'tail dancing', shaking his head the whole time. Sorry bud not getting away this time, I reeled him into shore to my waiting hand. As I lifted him from the water, I could tell he was nice 5 pounder, sweet!!

First one for me on the stringer, and I'm not a bit disappointed in my ole fishing hole.  The next few casts I catch some perch and smaller bass, from about one to three pounds, add a couple more to my keepers, and man am I having a blast.

#2 H&W Claypit This is also where I learned how to swim.<(;HF+<

I work my way around the bank a bit, to a slightly less overgrown place, then make a few more casts. The darn perch keep hitting my jig. I make a long cast, quickly a perch gets
hooked. As I'm reeling in, A BIG bass attacks the perch I hooked. Oh baby, Fish On!!

This bass dives deep, I can't even turn him, no control at all. And then, SNAP!!! Grumbling as I reel in my line to retie a new jig on, oh well, plenty more bass in this pit. Pretty disappointing though, I didn't even get to see that one, it had to be a monster bass.

Still all in all, no disappointment in the fishing trip, I had just as much fun here, as when I was a boy, to me that's what counts.

We kept 8 nice bass that day, between 2 & 5 lbs, I sure do 'love them pits'. I'll be back next spring to catch that huge bass, we have a score to settle. :-)

Well folks thanks for visiting. It's the beginning of March now, in about a month, I'm heading back to that old pit, look out monster here I come!! (((-: j

Pond Fishing Love

Hi Fishing Friends

So you love pond fishing too, well YOU are in the right place. Here at my little site we can share that passion!!

My fishinglove bond
Began in a pond
My passion is plain to see
Scroll down my wall
Come one, come all
What pondfishing means to me.

Pond Fishing at my Childhood Fishing Holes

Hi Fishing Friends


I grew up on the outskirts of town, there were 6 houses on a mile and a half stretch of road where I lived. With a nice little stream running beside the road, that also flowed behind my house. To the east & west of my house were 4 pits, 2 clay pits to the east with 2 rock quarry pits to the west.

#3 H&W Claypit One of my
Childhood Fishing Places 

One of the rock quarry pits, is where I caught my first big bass, the ignited that fishing passion that I hold so dear. But it was the 2 clay pits that I fished the most later on. After a short quarter mile stretch, with rod & reel and my gear in pockets, I'd usually bring home a fine fish dinner. (After I cleaned them, of course)

I recall one trip where I even got a pierced ear. Using a mini-Lazy Ike, dual treble hooks, I'd been catching some decent 2-3 lb bass that day. The wind started blowing pretty hard in the afternoon, I was making a cast, had too much slack in the line, and the wind caught it. The next thing I know I have a fishing lure for an earring, ouch!!

It took a bit to gather my catch & gear up, but I did, then headed home, walked into the house shouted MOM! She came running, I told her, " Mom I caught the biggest one ever". Then I turned my head so she could see my new orange and black spotted earring. After she quit laughing, she scooted me to the hospital. (((-:

 I was pretty fortunate that the hooks only stuck in my ear, not my head. And lucky the doctor didn't trash my favorite Lazy Ike, he just clipped the barbs from the hooks, pulled the hooks from my ear gave me shot in the butt, then gave me my lure back.

And again Mom laughed, (behind her hand this time) So I squalled a bit, sit funny on the way home, but was back fishing the next day.

I still hate needles!!

Well folks that happened over 35 years ago, now for the fun part of my story.

I started fishing that pit again this spring, and the catching was even better.  When I got to the water, it was still a clear lite green. At first, all we caught were a few small perch, but after walking around to the far side I started to see the bass..

And that my dear fishers, is tomorrows story. ;-)

Hey happy fishing to you folks, see ya soon. (-: jono

Catfishing in the Extreme

Hi Fishing Friends

Pursuing catfish on a regular basis can be an extreme sport. On  Sunday Oct. 19th that's what I did.

I was at a new pond that I fish from time to time and at first the catching was slow. After about an hour and making one round of this fishing hole, I'd only caught a couple of perch. So not being a quitter, I caught me a few grasshoppers and walked around to the old dock.

<(;HF+< (Tip) Now here's a very important 'how to' tip, my friends. Catfish love grasshoppers!!

I set up a catfish rig, with my favorite live bait, and put it out there. I secured my pole on the dock, then picked up my other rod already setup with a crappie jig and started casting. Then the fish start biting, so I toss a couple in my bucket.

Spring fed pond that I caught this Catfish from
 (pic taken- 3-11-15)

Seeing movement out on the surface, like a big catfish swirling, I reel in my cat rig. Recasting it near that splash I secure my rod back down and start catching nice sized perch with my other one.

Making a cast, my jig gets hung in a tree, I break my line and begin to retie. Hearing a noise, I look up. My catfish rod is bent over, hanging by the biggest eyelet on the dock rail.


Quickly dropping my rod I run the 25 feet to my rig. Grabbing my rod, I set the hook and the fight is on. WooHoo it's a bigun' too. With my drag singing to me, (love that song) I walk down off the dock to a good spot on the bank.

It takes a few minutes to bring in my fish, oh man, what a fish it is, a big fat catfish. When I pull it out of the water, flopping around, I know it's well over 10 lbs. Loading everything up, I head to the local bait shop to weigh my huge channel cat.

Now a 10 lb channel is a big fish, I've caught many under 10 lbs. This monster weighed in at 14 lbs with a huge belly on her. Biggest channel that I've caught on a rod & reel. That's some catfishing in the extreme to this ole country boy. :-)

Hoping you have a great day my fishing friends.
Jon

The Fishing Time Poem

Fishing Time

First rays of sun, through the lakeside trees. 
The sweet smell of lilac, mixed with the breeze. 
To the quiet of shallows, my craft I did ease. 
It's mornings like this, that make memories. 

A dip in the water, I give to the oar 
Pushing off smoothly, away from the shore. 
Another few yards, just a little bit more.
I'll begin my ballet, That's what I'm here for. 

I wind up my arm, to make my first cast. 
Just as I've done, many times in the past.
It's moments like this, I just want to last. 
It's "fishing time", and it surely goes fast.

An Original Poem by Jon Wright <(;HF+<
See More Great Poetry Here @ https://www.tsu.co/jonow

Photo taken on 2-16-15 by Jon Wright at a new lake I got permission to fish last year 

Again At The Pits

Hi Fishing Friends

Do you ever have the urge, to just get away from it all. Away from people, no tech, just you and a fishing pole, a little bit of tackle, some snacks maybe.  Well now you're talking my kinda fun.

Whether in a small boat, or from the bank, whichever I choose it's probably at a pond of some sort.

A couple of Sundays ago we (my sis Lois & I) did just that. We packed a few things, grabbed some snacks, and headed out to my brothers farm.  Now, about 4 years ago he had a pond built, it's a nice little pond about 12' deep, he and his sons stocked it themselves with bass, perch, crappie, channel and flathead catfish.

<(;HF+< (Tip) See my fishing pole there, if you see the bobber, it's one of those weighted ones. They're great for helping you cast farther, and without any extra sinkers, your bait has much better action too.

Anyway that is the first pond we hit that day, not much luck there that time, but we've caught some decent fish there before. Dave got home and we jumped into his truck loaded gear, and set out for another place.

               Here's a photo of this beautiful pit, it's too big to show it all, but you get the idea.

So we get here, unload boat, gear, trolling motor, battery, get everything ready, we all jump in, and a few minutes later, we are fishing. The simple life, luv'in it!!

I took the 1st pic right here, this is where Dave caught his first fish of the day, a nice keeper bass less than 3 lbs. This ole pit is SO clean, since Coal, like Clay are both good filters the fish from here taste amazing.

We caught a dozen good keepers from here, bass and big perch, loaded everything back up (the wind was getting fierce) and 'hopped' to the next place.( no worries next time I'll take pictures of the fish too!!)

For my family 'hopping' from pond to pond is great family fun, and usually we catch plenty of fish to eat.

So... to the next one, just a couple of miles away by gravel road.

We arrive at this small lake, and decide to leave the boat on it's trailer, it's just too windy!!
We're not fighting the wind, and ruining a fine trip. We grab our gear, walk a short distance to the water, and in 5 minutes we're back to fishing.

This is such a beautiful little lake, clean and very well taken care of too. The crappie weren't biting this trip but we caught many bass and large bluegill, one 'gill' at 13."

We ended the day at this place, took home a fine bucket-O-fish, and had some great fun and quality family time.
                        Thanks for visiting folks.
                                            Jono <(;HF+<