Hef
Sounds like you have done very well for your first time out on Hillsdale. How bad were the lake lice buzzing around out there? Hillsdale is my main crappie fishing lake. Just wait till this winter. I think you'll even like it better then.
Once summertime sets in I start pursuing channel around the KDWP fish feeders using my 10 ft crappie pole using braided line with a circle hook and cut bait. Since the KDWP doesn't have any feeders on Hillsdale I haven't been there for about a month.
After your post I'm almost enticed to get back down there since flipping and dipping the standing timber is one of my prefered methods of crappie fishing.
With you coming from Oklahoma was woundering if you brought with you a fabled method of crappie fishing that I have heard of that I think came my way via some okie fishermen. A fine fellow up here tried to show me this method and I've not continued on my own trying to learn and gain confidence in this method. This method involves dipping minnows around standing timber in the backs of coves in water maybe only 3 or 4 ft deep. This is July & August fishing very similiar to spawn fishing in the spring. If one catches a crappie just move on to the next tree because there won't be but one fish around each tree. Susposedly they are able to catch real nice slabs with this method say fishing from daylight to 10:30am in the mornings.
Part of what make crappie fishing so intriguing for me is the varied methods one can use to catch them. For me I know I could be a better fisherman if I would use different methods that are outside the seasonal patterns I tend to lock myself into while crappie fishing. Since I'm not a tournament fisherman I tend to be more lazy and fish the style and methods that I find enjoyable using on the water.
The main thing I have learned about fishing since retiring is that I always seem to gain more info by sharing what info I have with the fellow fisher folks. So if you have questions about Hillsdale just ask. I might be able to give you the straight scoop.
Anyhow welcome and good luck on Hillsdale.
Lee
“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” Ayn Rand