Mississippi Fruit Jars

[arkansasbowhunter]

Well Lil Bit and I were excited this week as we made plans and prepped for the haul down to Lake Washington. We were finally going to meet a lot of the folks who we have befriended on crappie.com in person. We have talked on the phone and corresponded via pm but now the opportunity for us to meet was drawing near.

Tuesday found us rigging 40 Capps and Coleman rigs to use . Autumn learned to tie fishing knots this night and the proper length of the rigs. It took us a while but we got them done.

Wednesday night we were packing clothes and food and loading the boat with all of our poles. We gathered extra hand warmers and made our drift sock harnesses for the boat. We were ready to go. Lil bit was excited to say the least and was filled with questions about this "fruit jar" we were going to fish in. I had to explain to her that was just the name of the gathering but we would fish in lake Washington and not a jar lol.

Thursday found me working a 24 hour shift and lil bit in school. She was prepping her las few lanyards to sell while I worked in the hospital. . Autumn learned to tie these by herself for the ipilot controler and put a fish counter with it. We hope all that has bought them enjoy them as much as I do mine.

Friday morning fast approached and when I got off work I headed home for a short nap. Lil bit quietly loaded the truck and got us ready as I slept for a few hours. When I awoke were we ready to attach the boat to the truck and go. I was surprised to say the least. She had a gleam in her eye and was full of anticipation of catching a big Washington slab.

We made the detour by the bait shop for miners and of course the donut place on the way. The roads were clear from the recent ice storm and we had a good 2 hour drive ahead of us.

We neared Lake Washington and stopped in Roys store for a hamburger where we met blue thunder and arkdrake. They pre-fished that morning and gave us the bad news about the slow to non existent crappie bite. I bought my Mississippi license and we were ready to fish.

Without hesitation we were putting the red boat in the water. Bundled up like the kids on "Christmas Story Movie" we set out across the water in search for crappies. The wind was howling with 2-3 foot waves and the clouds were out with threat of rain . We fished 5 hours without a bite. We searched deep and shallow seeing many fish on the sonar but they wouldn't take a jig or minner.

We finished out the evening with one gasped goo caught lol. We loaded the boat and went for the meet and greet. Time came to a halt as we were greatest by many Mississippi and Arkansas folks who we had conversed with via keyboard but never met.

Met the always pleasant cray

Reese guide

Scottv
Ez pole gene

Donnie crappie logic

Hawgdog, yikes, mrgoodtime, feesh, kdavid1 and his dad, billye, blue, and many more who I cannot remember there names.

A great get together ensued eating Scottv's hamburgers and Billye's hotdogs. The air was filled with fish tales and excitement from all as the anticipation of the next day approached. lil bit was greater by everyone and got meet several whom she had made lanyards for.

We nestled in on our air mattress in Scottv's camper that night. I am not sure who tossed more me or lil bit. The excitement of fishing on our mind was keeping us from sleep for sure. The morning arrived quickly as Scott gave us the wake up call. Scott cooked breakfast and my mouth watered as the wonderful aroma of sausage and biscuits filled the air. Gene, lil bit, and I made quick work on the breakfast we were treated to by Scott. We said our good lucks and be safe as we exited the camper.

Wow the parking lot was full of trucks and boats as we made our way out to our rig. The sky was clear and the air crisp with a light wind blowing.

Lil bit was bundled up and I too. She knows exactly what to do when it comes to launching the boat. I never have to ask her to do a thing. Well most of the time, today she was so excited to get on the water I had to remind her to get her life jacket.

The boat was in the water and we were running late. You could start fishing at 0700 but we were just leaving the launch. As we idled down the lake we were blessed with he national anthem being played at the bass tournament launch. I accelerated the boat just enough to get on plane as not to freeze out lil bit in the 30 degree morning air. After a good boat ride down the lake I spotted a potentially good looking spot with some fish on the sonar. I showed lil bit and she was excited to see all the yellow streaks on the graph as she can read the sonar pretty good. We marked it on the GPS and went back up wind to prepare for deployment of the spider. After just short drift a rod bent and up came a fish on the rod and into the dip net.

Well for the next 6 hours we fished without a bite. Lil bits attention never wavered as she watched for the rods to flicker. Nearing the end of fishing time we got 3 bites missing 2 of them but landing one fish. We both were excited but I didn't have high hopes as I knew we were fishing against a lot of good fisherman.

We left the water a little early and boated around exploring new waters. Boats were everywhere ya looked. We slowly made our way to the ramp and had to wait to load the boat.

With the boat loaded we headed to morning star for the weigh in. We were greeted at the store by Mr. Mike where we smelled the aroma of his famous tamales. We sat on the bench and filled our bellies with fresh steaming tamales and crackers.

Many folks came to greet us and shoot the fish tales. As the weigh in started we went to our boat and gathered our catch. I walked lil bit up to he weigh in station where she nervously approached Mr. Reese with our cooler. I stayed back and snapped some pictures to capture the moment. This was lil bits first ever weigh in!! To this day I still remember mine. After the results were tallied much to our amazement our names were called for 2nd place big fish. Lil bit accepted the envelope and smiled ear to ear. I grabbed her and gave her a big hug. We sat and watched as the winners for over all weight were announced. Autumns and my name was called again. Yes we took 3rd place overall. We both grinned and I knew divine intervention was to thank for this opportunity. I never expected to win anything. Today we were both winners in more than one way. We made new friends and memories that will last a lifetime!!!! Lil bit is already asking when we are gonna fish another tournament. God bless and thanks for taking the time to read my post.

[arkansasbowhunter]

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[Hogster1]

AWESOME story and pics. That's some memories that will last a lifetime. Congratulations to you both

[CrappiePappy]

That's got Home Page Article written all over it !!! Just wait until Slab sees it, and I bet it ends up on the Home Page !!

Tell Lil Bit (Autumn) that Pappy is proud of her for hangin' tuff, and for her awards. (and PM me an address/price on one of those blue/white lanyards)

... cp

[thereheis]

Great story. Thanks for posting. Like 2 peas in a pod for that last pix #151201.

[BAMA S]

Good report, glad y'all had a chance to go.

[olduckhunter]

what a great story and you are very blessed with a beautiful young girl that will be a great fisherperson in her own right. you have spoiled her in the right way.

[Zinger]

You guys are definitely hard core!! I use to be but at 70 I am now a little more into the fair weather stuff! Those times with the kids are the best ever. My boys are in their 40's now and we still talk about trips when they were little and we still fish together. It just don't get any better than that!!!!

[shipahoy41]

Great article. Thank you for sharing this. I agree with Pappy. This should get Ed's attention and be a Home Page article.

[Donald@CrappieLogic]

awesome stuff JW you have done a fine job with Autumn nice article hope to see you at the next one