Colder weather

[CohuttaCrappie]

How has the weather the past few days effected the fish down your way Jerry?

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Chris:

Don't know but I'll find out in the morning. We're under high pressure now since a cold front came through but they should turn on with the surface temps falling.

I'll let you know how we do tomorrow.

Have you put a jig pole in the hands of your newest recruit yet?

[CohuttaCrappie]

Newest recruit not yet been fishing though Carter and I fished my pond friday afternoon. I tossed Carter's line out for him and a nice slab got on and pulled his Scooby-doo pole out of his hands and off the end of the dock. Little guy bawled his eyes out. Luckily I was able to grab his pole from the water and reel the fish in. Same trip caught a 7lb. green carp on my Ultra Lite using a black and chartruse jig tipped with a minnow, needless to say it was a fun time.

[Jerry Blake]

Making memories - that's what it's all about!!! Glad you got the pole back for the little guy. I had to wade into a pond to get a Kermit the Frog pole when my oldest son was about 3.

[crap-king]

Fished High Rock yesterday morning air temp at 7:30 am was about 34 water temp was 55 right after rain front passed through and we caught 33 we kept and threw back 40 plus - some would measure but were a little on the slim side - so the cold weather seems to be heating the fish up in NC
crap-king

[CohuttaCrappie]

YEAH! I like what I hear.....well read anyway. Thanks for the report crapking.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Chris:

Well the crappie here are a bit scattered, I guess from all wind and rain we've been getting. We had to fish a bit deeper today and the bream and stripers were hungrier than the crappie so we kept one striper and one hybrid - my client wanted to see how they taste.

We had 5 that were 13 to 13.5-inches and a few other keepers. We released several that were 8 or 9-inches.

The surface temp was down to 56 so they should settle down and stack up once this weather straightens out.

[CohuttaCrappie]

Your guy still got to take home a nice mess. I don't recall ever eating a striper. Thanks for the report, it's nice to read what the fish are doing since I'm still on "Baby" house arrest I did manage to slide down to the watershed this evening for a few minutes though. If I had more time I think I may well have wore 'em out.

[bentpole]

Stripe is fair to eat,If you will cut out the red meat,But I wouldn't trade one crappie for a dozen stripe,That's JMO,nice fish Jerry.>>>>Bentpole

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Bentpole:

This guy had a good time catching the stripers on light crappie tackle. These were small but we have landed them up to 10-pounds while crappie fishing.

I rarely keep them for myself but I have a recipe for whites, stripers and hybrids that my boys just love. Works on Green Carp (Black Bass) too but they can get a bit dry. The whites, stripers and hybrids have plenty of oil in them so they don't get too dry.

Bacon-Wrapped Fish

Cut Black Bass, White Bass, Hybrid White Bass, or Striper fillets into about 1/2" x 1" nuggets

Marinate nuggets several hours or overnight in Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Cut a package of Hickory Smoked Bacon into thirds so each strip makes three short pieces

Wrap each nugget with a piece of bacon and skew with a toothpick

Place nuggets on a broiler pan and bake at 425 degrees for ten minutes then turn over and bake 10-minutes more

SERVE HOT AS AN APPETIZER OR SIDE DISH

Reheat leftovers in 375-degree toaster oven for about 5-minutes