Thread: Saturday at Cagles Mill

Another great weather day Saturday had me packing up and heading out to Cataract Lake for a shot at some more crappie. With partly sunny skies and air temps in the low 60's, it was a pleasure being out on the water in mid-November without coveralls on. We had a south wind of about 10 mph with stained water and surface temps of 53-54 degrees.

Lee hit the ramp at 9:30 to get started early and I fumbled in around 10:45. Met him at the docks and found no more than 10 vehicles in the lot. Opening day of gun season for deer might have had something to do with the light crowd. Started looking for the shallow bite right off the bat and didn't take long to get the pattern down. Fish were on main lake banks exposed to some wind and up shallow in 4'-6' of water. Had the boat floating in 10' or less for a good majority of the day. Best bait for us today was a 1/16-oz. curlytail jig in lemon meringue. Kept popping around the lake not staying on any one bank too long and caught fish on this pattern for most of the day. Couldn't hardly get bit much deeper though we were graphing plenty of fish deep. Saw lots of bank fishermen with stringers of crappie, so everybody was getting in on the action.

Things changed around 4PM when the wind died along with the shallow bite. Quickly pulled out to an area where we had graphed good groups of fish earlier and pitched tube jigs to them in 11'-14' of water. Bingo! Fish we couldn't get to bite at noon jumped on the jigs this time. Spent the final 45 minutes before dark camped on a nice flat point whacking crappie on the cast. A perfect way to end the day. Didn't catch any giants this trip, but had a very fun day none the less. We estimated between 60-75 crappie throughout the day with a majority in the 9.5"-11" range.

Keep it up and you and Lee will have to join the tournament trail! I have found that the wind blown banks have been the best producers also but I have had better luck verticle jigging over the stumps as it is easier to get the jigs loose when you get hung up. Sure wish this weather would last until spring but I think our days are numbered.

I heard a rumor that Lee is going back to work part-time, so his days might be numbered anyway. He is sure going to hate it if he is still working next spring. I happen to know he has sure enjoyed his brief, but ever so fishing fruitful retirement. (I also know he wouldn't have agreed to take advantage of this opportunity if he didn't truly love what he will be doing.)
Fishing report for the St. Joe River, Berrien Springs, MI - One small steelhead, 4 lb, caught on spawn. Water temp - 47.5, river level - dropping :-( Decided to fish the river today, and give the crappie a rest.