Thread: Our day at Lake Shelbyville - 8/22!

Thanks to crappie24!
By Bob Zettler


The day started out early as my co-worker and I left Springfield at 4 AM and arrived at the Leprechaun Landing shortly after 6 AM – after a few stops for gas and the like. Then we thought we would try a new area of Lake Shelbyville and put in on the northeast end. I guess when we discovered we were the ONLY vehicle in the parking lot at nearly 7 AM that should have been a clue but we forged on!

We boated around and nothing looked promising as we trolled for White Bass or whatever. My friend caught one and then I caught two but lost both as I got them to the edge of the boat. Que sera. Then I caught my first (EVER) Walleye and I was pumped! While not a good sized fish, it was my first and I was elated.

Then we headed to troll off of Point 6 and 5 where we caught maybe one or two fish. That took us till nearly 11 AM and it wasn’t looking too good for finding the White Bass – even though I did catch a couple of Smallmouth Bass – and that is when my Cell rang. It was crappie24 and he was already done and had his limit stowed away. Now this is where it gets interesting as here is a guy I have never met and only briefly chatted on-line via PM’s and posts, and he offers to boat down and escort us to where he had caught his, show us what worked for him and basically do it all sans catching them for us!!!

How nice a guy and lucky for us as we only had a couple of fish in the live well and we were losing minnows faster than we were catching fish…
Brian arrives and after a short introduction and discussion, we follow him south to his spot. Now my friend’s boat wasn’t moving too fast on Sunday and we thought it was due to the wind but it was most likely due to my girth and all the gear I brung with me so the trip wasn’t exactly a quick one.

Within minutes of our arrival he had us on fish, or should I say he had ME on fish as it wasn’t Greg’s day what with tackle issues and very few bites.
For a change, I was catching Crappie, White Bass, Walleye (yeah!), Smallmouth Bass and even a few Bluegill while poor Greg was dealing with keeping us in the spot Brian took us to and having more tackle issues. As Brian (crappie24) had to leave – after all, it was after Noon now and he had his limit more than two hours earlier – so we went solo. However, Greg felt we ought to move his truck/trailer so shortly after Brian left we motored all the way back to the north end, put it on the trailer and drove back down and put in by the Dam. That ate up more of the day.

Now the weatherman had forecast light wind but he was sure wrong as we had white caps and that wind was making it very difficult to hold his boat over the Crappie so we gave up and went looking for White Bass. We focused on the rocks around the Dam and caught a few but never really got into the fish that day. We blamed it on the wind, all my “heavy” gear and the time we wasted exploring early in the day but in any case we had a pretty good day and was exhausted well before we made it home around 10:30 PM – that took almost 2 ½ hours for a 85 mile trip!!!

Final tally was 16 fish, two extremely tired men and great appreciation for how good people are that populate this forum for their advice, counsel and for Brian who “guided” for us – gratis no less! Thanks again and look forward to getting out there again, and again, and aga…

The Unknown Crappie Fisherman!

cONGRATS ON THE DAY ITS OUNDS LIKE IT WAS A FULL ONE!

Looks like you had a fairly good day with all that driven and movin

WOW is that a big load with NO.... wide load sign....:D

Trust me, there was lag time between pushing the button and the picture from my Blackberry...


And yes, there was a lot of down time due to exploring...

All in all, I had fun and the fish was good. Heck, even my picky daughter ate some last night And liked it!

Amazing, simply amazing.

Again, kudos to crappie24!

Can't beat a guy that helps other people out on the water. Sounds like a good day.

CX.

Originally Posted by Crappie Xtreme

Can't beat a guy that helps other people out on the water. Sounds like a good day.

CX.

Agreed!

And please excuse some of my posts during the day as I have to use my Blackberry Storm and it is VERY SLOW AND DIFICULT!!

Anyway, I look forward to getting out again soon and I hope (and plan) to return the favor(s) of good people like crappie24 have extended to me and others - people who have never met yet share a common passion.

Thank you!

Wow what a great post.

Glad you had a good time!