Monday report.

[ChrisCarter]

Did not wake up at the time i wanted to, and when i did, it was because i got a phone call from my sister to watch my nephew for about an hour.

The agenda was to head back to Offutt Base Lake, on the north side to test out whether or not those crappie would stay there overnight. Turns out they didn't stay, with a good south breeze blowing towards the shore, most of what i caught on the minnows was largemouth bass that didn't meet the 15" reg and a couple of smallmouths too. After bout 30 min, i decided to try the south side where maybe i could replicate the conditions yesterday. Since the water level is so low, most of the southern shore is protected from any south wind, plus with the trees, it makes for excellent shade. But there was no crappie, not even bass, just a few small bluegills and sunfish that took no interest in the minnows. After that i decided to try out Wehrspann, over by the pier on the eastside of the lake.

When i got there, there were some "dock hogs", as one mans daughter pointed out to him and his two friends. Friendly guys, but they spread their equipment out all along the pier that made it difficult to try and find a place to cast. Maybe its just me and i don't want to touch other peoples stuff out there. Each guy had 2 "catfishing" rods and an ice fishing rod. My guess is that they were fishing for bluegills and crappies, using the bluegills as bait for the catfish and putting the crappie in basket. They also decided to grill some food on the pier, which cluttered things up, but i made due. I caught 3 good size crappie a foot or two from the pier (while the other guys were pulling crappie and bluegill from much further out. After about 1:30pm, the wind seemed to die down some and the high clouds didn't make it as sunny as it was earlier. That might explain why the bite from both species dropped off dramatically. While most of us on the pier were catching the fish out in the sunny part of the water, after those conditions changed, most of the fish came in the shaded part underneath the pier, and the quality was no where nearly as good as before.

I took the opportunity to shoot over to the opposite side of the Wehrspann, since the wind seemed to change direction too. Then i noticed how low that water was too. No cover grass anymore, and there are dropoffs on the west side. So i went back to the pier and gave it another hour, called it quits and went to Walnut Creek.

Walnut Creek was just terrible. Not many people, which made me perk up about an opportunity to really hit those crappie. Reality check was no bites. Not even nibbles. Talked to some of the guys who were there before me and they said the bite was good earlier that morning, but when i got there it was difficult to even entice the bluegill. I stopped by the island to see if maybe i could get something to bite there, either under the bridge or by the submerged trees within casting distance, nothing. They have wooden boards with styrofoam roped to the bottom and tires over by the bridge. I wonder if this Saturday, when they will have the lake closed all day, they are gonna try to make a temporary bridge between the first island and the second one. have to check it out Sunday.

After the Walnut Creek waste of time, i wanted to try one more time over at Offutt Base Lake. Same spots revealed pretty much the same thing Walnut Creek had to offer. Nothing.

So the plan for tomorrow is Wehrspann, right off the bat. Winds may play a factor, the wind today was South Southeast between 5 - 10. Tomorrow will be West between 5 - 10. Temps will be a smidge higher near 80. Hopefully i can catch a great deal of crappie tomorrow so i have time to fit in some catfishing late. If i don't go catfishing tomorrow, i might not get a chance until Saturday or Sunday.



Funny how the catch seems bigger when you pull it out of the water, but once you get them home they seem smaller.

[crappiedoc]