Holiday Homework Project - Free t-shirt and Hat and Jig Scent for articles

[it's a goodn]

I can remeber sitting in the floor on a saterday morning at my grandparent's house when I was a little boy whatching fishing show's with my grandfather. We watched all kind's of fishing show's every weekend. I still remeber my granfather's facial expresion's when a show would come on and the opening line was (today we will be fishing for crappie in.........). I could tell even as a young boy this was a fish he dearly loved to fish for.It never felled after a crappie show went off we would drive down to the river and look at the water
but we hardley ever fished. My grandfather had a stroke several years before I was born and he didn't fill up the challange of trying to get close to the water. I could tell every time when we watched other guy's fishing he wanted to very badley. As the years went on and I got a little older he would set at the truck and watch me try to catch my first crappie. He would always make me use a jig because he would say (any fish will bite a minnow but can you make him bite a jig?).I fished several times with him watching me and not one time did he see me catch a crappie. My grandfather passed away
in 1998. I was fourteen at the time. My grandfather was my world I would do any thing for that man. I cleaned my grandmother's garage out this past january and found an old crappie pole my grandfather had bought back in the 70's. I asked her what she was going to do with it and she told me (nothing if you want it you can have it.). I told her that I was going to go and see exactlley what my grandfather thought was so grand about a crappie. I went and seen my dad and talked to him about crappie fishing with my granfather (his father inlaw). He said (He was the best crappie fisherman i ever saw). My dad told me so many times he would make my dad so mad. they would be fishing the same tree,depth,bait and he would still catch ten fish to my dad's one. After all of my reading and story listing I was ready. I loaded my nitro bass boat with his pole and a couple of other's i bought I head to the lake. When I got to the lake and unhooked my boat I could not beleive that there was quite a few truck's at the ramp. I said then (there must be somthing to crappie fishing or there is several idiot's out today). I meen it was only about 33 degree's. I started fishing about 300 yards from the ramp on a old bluff mainly because i was already froze. I grabbed three rods and tight lined them
with minnow's. I could not beleive what was happing. I stared catching fish with in 5 min. I fished for about 4 hour's and I started to notice my livewell
was filling up with crappie. I got on the phone with my wife and asked her to get on the internet and see what the limit was I told her I knew the size but not the amount.She told me 30 and I knew I was close. I got of the phone
and counted my fish I had 29. I realed my poles in and told my self I am not leaving today until I catch one on a jig on my granddad's pole. About two hour's later Iset the hook on what I was betting was a bass. When the fish broke the water my eye's had filled with tears. I had finaly caught a crappie on jig. I know that my grandfather was whatching me that day and finaley saw me set the hook using a jig. I seen now why my grandfather loved the crappie fishing more than any other kind of fishing. You can bet if you see a blue nitro bass boat at nolin lake it is probubley me and his crappie pole will be with me.
This fish is the fish I caught on his pole. 1.92lbs

[CrappieCatcher27]

That is a very nice crappie man. Congrats and I wish ya the best of luck with the slabs in the future.

[it's a goodn]

Thank's and good luck to you.

[shipahoy41]

Rest Here........Fish Later


by Michael C. Carter

Shipahoy 41

We all have memories of a favorite fishing trip. One that we had planned and saved for knowing it was not going to be just an ordinary fishing trip. Everyone knows that I just love to fish for Crappie, Bluegill, Shellcracker and just about any panfish that will jump on my line. Heck, some people would say that I am pretty good at it too. This time was not to be the ordinary get away trip. This time I was actually going to the Gulf of Mexico to fish. I began to have nightly dreams of fishing. I was afflicted with the deadly piscaverbala disease. I suffered from the voices of the red Snapper, Flounder and Grouper. They would talk to me when I was awake and when I was sleeping. They said "Here I am Ship...come and get me if you can!"

Well I knew they eat anything, especially small fish so I wanted to try some beefier versions of what I use when fishing for Crappie. I was ready and able to do this task. I knew just where to get some babana leafs for grilling and my mouth began to water. I began to practice saying "Lutjanus campechanus" for the national TV audience that I knew surely would be there. Time to go fishing. Oh Yeah baby! They fight hard and they taste great! The wife and I packed up our gear with the ultimate destination of Destin and Fort Walton Beach. We would find a charter boat and head out to fulfill this dream of mine. Little did I know that she had ulterior motives. No sooner than we had gotten to Mobile Bay she said "Honey, why don't we rest here and you can fish later." I knew she was tired, after all it was our 40th wedding anniversary and I wanted to please her. We found the Mariott and had a lobster dinner. I ordered coffee with the dinner but it burned my tongue! Man was it ever too hot! Honey said "Don't worry about it. rest here and fish later."

I still had my heard on some delicious Red Snapper that I was going to catch, but she has said "Rest here and we could fish later." So we went to bed with visions of Red Snappers all about in my head. The next morning we loaded the car again and headed off to Destin Florida in search of a charter boat. The weather was perfect, I was feeling good and rested and those snappers were calling out my name. "Old Ship...here we are, come and get me if you can!" There was nothing for me to do but go and catch them.


My wife took one look at the Gulf and said "Honey, let's rest here and you can fish later." "The sand is so enticing lets just go beach walking and comb the beach for shells." I got so mad. I could not believe my ears. She wanted to take a walk on the sands. Being the good husband thaht is what we did the second day. We walked, laughed and talked about all the Red snapper we would catch the following day.


I sat and I rested. She had walked be for about ten miles that day and the old man was getting tired. We made up our mind that on the last day we would go and get that elusive Red Snapper. I finally admitted she was right and that the fish would still be in the water tomorrow so I rested like she said. Everyone was happy that Old Ship would finally fish the Gulf tomorrow.

It was Friday, the last day of our journey and I got up at 4:00 a.m. to check my gear. The weather was bad and the winds were howling. Thunder was booming in the background. It was a perfect day for catching Red Snapper and I began to pull on my rain suit. My wife said "Come on back to bed. We can catch the afternoon bite when this blows over. I'm not going out in that stuff." Rest here ...and fish later."




Well, as you guessed, on this trip I did not get to fish the Gulf for the red Snapper. I did not get to fish the Gulf for the Flounder. I did not get to fish the Gulf for the Grouper. I did not get to fish the Gulf at all this time. I spent it making sure that wife of mine had a good time. That is what life is all about. However, as Fiddler told Kunta on the TV documentary Roots...."There gonna be 'nuther day. There gonna be 'nuther day" When that day comes, those Red Snapper are gonna be in trouble!




_________________

[kincade]

The subject of crappie in farm ponds has often been one of the most debated. Fish biologists have differing opinions on this subject as well. I was always taught if you really want to know how to do something, do it yourself. I applied this principle to the crappie theory, in particularly black crappie. Now we all know what the problem is. Crappie are very prolific and will overpopulate a small lake very quickly. They can crowd out other species like bass and cause both species to be stunted. A little known fact is that black crappie do not produce as many eggs during spawn as white crappie. This information by itself makes black crappie a more practical choice.

So back to my experiment, it involves 2 farm ponds. Pond A is 3 acres and pond B is 7 acres. Pond A is very shallow on North side with an abundance of vegatation and bait fish. The deepest part of this lake is 9ft, and is populated with 2 lb. - 5 lb. bass, average bluegill and catfish. My friend and I introduced 50 black crappie that were 2" long in early 2007. By the end of 2009 we are catching crappie that are 1/2 lb. to 1 lb.
Pond B is a spring fed pond and has an abundance of 1 lb. - 2 lb. bass, 1/2 lb. - 3/4 lb. bluegill, and 2 lb. - 15 lb. catfish. The deepest part of this lake is 15 ft., but the owner does not want any bait fish or feeder fish in the pond. We introduced 175 black crappie that were 2" long in late 2006. In early 2007, approximately 6 months after introducing these fish, we were catching them at 9" long. In early 2009 they were being caught at 12" - 13".

These are two examples of what I have done. The only reason it has worked is because of a set of rules that everyone fishing has to abide by. 1st, you have to leave the big bass in the lake, they control the adult population of crappie. 2nd, you have to leave a healthy population of catfish in the lake, they are known to eat the eggs of spawned crappie. This is another form of control. 3rd, you have to keep 10 - 20% of the crappie you catch.
If you follow this example, you will be successful in raising black crappie without damaging other species population or growth.
Attached you will see a pic of a black crappie caught from pond A. 11 inches long.

[CrappieKillerJigs]

in 2004 i just turned 18 in jan. and my son was born in feb...i liked to party and carry on...my g/f now wife told me it was time i found somthing to do with my time...i have always fished and grew up fishing our farm pond in a small town in northern Fla...i started back into fishing and seemed like whenever i got time to get away i was always near the water...since my son has been able to walk he has been by my side and rather go fishing then do anything else...my wife always ask him what does he want to do and she get the same thing every time...."I wanna go fishing"....he is 5 now and the one thing he hasnt done yet is fish salt water but we have a trip planned this summer to go off shore...he has mastered the spinning reel and can cast a fly rod pretty good for his size but is still getting the hang of a bait caster...he gets paid $20 a week to help clean and keep up on the house....he always saves his money till he gets $80 and then we take a trip to Bass pro or cabelas....he now has 7 rods and 4 tackle boxes...he is some pics ranging from age 2-now

[Slab]

AtticaFish, poppop, flatfish46, G-3 Fisherman
crappieseeker, it's a goodn, shipahoy41
kincade, crappirkillerjigs

All you guys need to send me a PM with your address and shirt size.

s10chevy, and the lip rippers are already on the list.

You'll get your goodies eventually. As you know, I'm slow, but I don't forget. Now that I have my daughter helping with things, it likely will be sooner rather than later. Yay for the daughter.

[shipahoy41]

PM Sent. Thank you again for all you do Ed.

[Jameslin]

It was Dec 2008 Me and the wife was fishing our very first crappie tournament and it was 14 degrees when we got up that winter morning both of us looked at each other and said are we crazy or what loaded the boat and truck and headed to the launch site and waited on our turn to launch.We where next to the last boat to launch and by then the ramp had froze solid and trucks where sliding all over the ramp trying to get out I looked at my wife and told her I know where crazy now.As I backed my boat down the ramp my truck started sliding and the wife was very nerves about going back up the ramp I put it in four wheel drive and told her to just ease up the ramp and everything would be OK she drove that truck like a pro never spun a tire.I was so proud of her she looked like she had do this her whole life but in reality it was her second or third time.
We got everything ready and took off to our first hole ready to catch a bunch of crappie sitting there casting our jigs out my wife said somethings wrong with my reel it wont reel I turned around to see she had a big chunk of ice froze to the eye of her rod I told her she needed to put the rod down in the water to unfreeze the eye and she started fishing again as the morning went on the crappie didn't wont to bite and I told her that we needed to run up to a boat house I found to see if the where biting there it was a very cold boat ride but she never complained one time we both where froze as we started fishing the boat house it was about 11 am and we still didn't have a fish in the boat and time was running out so I told her we where going to sit right hear and not move the rest of the time it was to cold and she agreed.
about 12:30 she caught a crappie and I was tickled to death she caught one on the next cast I felt a thump and set the hook and boy when I did I knew I had something big figured it was a bass as I reeled it in I could feel the fish hitting the pillars under the boat house and told the wife to get the net finally got the fish up and couldn't believe my eyes it was a monster she netted the fish and I weight the biggest crappie of my life 3.2 lbs.We couldn't believe or good luck on the coldest day of the year.I told the wife I was going to mount that fish for us as I may have caught the fish but she put it in the boat.I told her where partners and that fish was for the both of us.
I am very proud of my wife shes my tournament fishing partner and my partner for life and I hope we always get to fish together I love spending time on the water with her we can sit there and talk about anything without a care in the world.
So I wont to think my loving wife for sticking with me on the coldest days of the year fishing for them slab crappie your my fishing partner and partner for life.
I love you always James

[shipahoy41]

TAKE CONFIDENCE WITH YOU
written by Michael Carter
aka Shipahoy41


You know folks, when I sat down to really write an article that I believed would really help somebody I wondered what could I possibly say that would inspire somebody. I am not a big name fisherman. I have never won a big tournament. I'm just the common man with an uncommon passion for crappie fishing. When I think about how I got started, I remember my father. He was a strong man and yet a gentle man. He raised a family by working hard and serving as a role model. He would always tell us to believe in what you are doing.

Well, I guess that is how I ended up trying to make my own lures and jigs. I believed in what I was doing. I also believed I could make something better than what they sold at Wal-mart or the bait stores. I remember that dad always said "Big fish eat little fish." Mam oh man did we catch all the crappies we wanted with minnows and maggots. Sometimes bait was hard to find. I remember a man named Jack Manda who owned a bait shop on Portage Lakes in Akron Ohio. This was back in 1975. That man used to catch 75-100 Bluegills a day on what he called Pinmins which I found out later was short for Pin Minnow. I was hooked then. Full of confidence I asked him to teach me what he knew about making them. Well for six years mine were pretty crappie. They were ugly, but they caught fish. Now, mine are looking pretty good and they still catch me all the Bream and Bluegill that I care to clean.

I continued to have that adventuresome and outdoor spirit all of my life. I was always trying to make something to make my life on the water easier. anything from jigs to ironing board cleaning tables, to rod carrying cases, to the poor man's fishing bucket and even making my own portable rolling cart.

The point of all this is that I have confidence that all of these things help me on the water when I go fishin 4 crappie. That is the most important tool I have in my tackle box. I believe fish are going to be near vegetation, so I look for vegetation. I believe fish are going to be near bridge pilings, so I look for bridges. I believe fish are going to be near wood, so I look for wood. I believe my setups are going to work so I give them two choices of color and types of lures. It is what I have confidence in. That is what I want you to have too. Whether you are in a big shiny bass boat, an ordinary Jon boat or just fish from the shore. There is one thing we can all have and take with us every time we go fishing. Believe in yourself. Believe "Big fish eat little fish." Believe that what you are using will triger them to bite. Have some confidence in what you are doing. It will pay off after while.