I thought I knew something about fishing...

[PapermouthLegend]

I went to the docks at Cicero (morse) Lake here in Central Indiana today. I had been catching some good fish there using ice fishing jigs tipped with live bait. My buddy decided he wanted to tag along today. I had been telling him about the Crappie and he was excited. We got there about 11:00 and the water was Coffee w/cream color. So we hit the docks and right off the bat I hooked a small catfish on a jig & minnow. So I put the pole back in the water and about 20 minutes later another catfish. I decided to change tactics and fish for these catfish. So I put a 3-way swivel, larger hook, 1/4 bell sinker and baited it with a minnow. I casted toward the river channel. My buddy asked what I was doing so I told him I was going to try to catch some catfish since the Crappie weren't biting. After about 10 minutes I hooked a fish and it felt like another small catfish. It was a nice Crappie. I threw again and another nice Crappie. My buddy began to laugh and told me I didn't know what I wanted to catch .........lol I have fished for Crappie and Catfish a lot, but this is a first. When I was targeting Crappie I was catching Catfish and when I targeted Catfish I caught Crappie I sat there another hour or so with no action. I released the fish and came home. I thought I knew something about fishing, but this might beat all I've ever seen. I thought about going to Wal Mart and buying a snoopy pole and learning to fish again.

On the same note: I am getting the Boat out in the next day or two and was wondering........... With the cold fronts that have moved through the last few days, I think the Crappie have left the dock area and moved out into open water around the river channels. Is this smart thinking?? Or should I try a different approach??

I have officially moved back into ROOKIE FISHERMAN STATUS after today!! We got some really good laughs out of the whole deal.

[Specktater]

I hear ya. The older I get the less I think I really know.

[Bob # 1]

Try fishing for green carp :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[catman]

if you ever figure them out let us know

[john h]

i think its varying day to day really. one day or even in the morning ill catch them deep then in afternoon or another day there in 2 foot of water, darn if i know this weather screwing it all to heck

[smoothlures]

Lol that's how it usually goes when you take someone fishing that doesn't usually go with you. Everytime you go, you learn something new and that's what counts.

[SpeckWick]

I ran into something similar this past summer. The lake was way down due to the drought(yeah, remember when we actually wanted it to rain). We were having trouble finding any consistent pattern for a while, then finally got into them trolling mid depth flats. Caught 'em pretty well, good ones too, for a couple trips, then the next time out, we couldn't catch anything but catfish in the same areas with the same methods. Nothing had changed as far as water temp or weather. Heck we couldn't buy a cold front. When we finally found them that day, they were in the creek arms a couple feet deep. No reason they should have been there, but there they were. I couldn't really tell you what pattern we have now. The home lake is 18 feet above where it should be, and that's down from 25 too high a week ago. Water is cold and muddy and dropping as fast as they can blow it out the dam. The crappie don't know whether they are coming or going.

[gradall5200]

Things got easier for me when an older friend of mine told me to stop trying to figure everything out and fish. LOL. There is some science, some luck, and fish.- Joel

[Smoky]

reminds me of the bumper sticker I saw years ago that said "shutup and fish". It seems like the more ya think about it the harder it gitz. Tight Lines!

[joejv4]

A Forest Gump kinda thing.. Fishin's like a box of chocolate, ya never knows whatcher gonna get!!!