Hard Freeze or not ......

[Ketchn]

The show must go on ! So yes we had single digit temperatures here a day or so and highs that didn't make 32 down in good ole Texas . The only question is should that deter the ever faithful that are driven to ketch ? I say no way and break out my sleigh ....
I can say several things about weather this cold though and first off it isn't pleasant for me to try to ketch fish when its quite this cold . Might be the blood thinners or my older bones but whatever the case may be it was a challenge to break ice out my rod tip and handle fish that feel like they are ice cubes . My finger tips grew numb several times and of course I missed a lot of bites , but none the less the fish were feeding hard .
I noticed on one visit to the old fish house a guy that was for sure ketchn more than anyone else and noticed he was juicing up his jigs . So I broke out my slab sauce and did the same and sure enough my slab sauce dipping made a difference !
Now mind you it still isn't a scientific type thing but for sure a fresh dipped jig got bit quicker than a been in the water or fishes mouth jig multiple times .
Two different visits to the ole crappie house I enjoyed the "sauce " and I am sure at this point beyond much doubt that crappie like this formula. I saw a definite correlation to thumps and in some cases was ketchn while others wasn't . Again I want to say it isn't the only thing that made them bite in my opinion , but to be sure I feel like it enhanced my presentation and made fish that were not interested in feeding take a bite .
Gave away most of the fish on one of the visits either to fellow anglers or back in the lake and kept a couple of dinners on one of the visits for myself and family . I hit it with SK on one visit and we sure enough had us some laughs and tore some lips up . He sat on a bench one evening and never moved and just hung his rod over the railing and just flat ripped the fire out of them one after another .
he wasn't using the sauce I don't think and to be sure not everyone sauced up jigs ,but again for me more than a few times I am right sure it got me bit . Sure is wrong though for Texas to have weather temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below Anchorage Alaska .....
all the fish were parked on the bottom and wanted almost NO movement in water depths of about 12 to 15 foot deep on lite brush . Some kind of plankton is swimming around in the lighted areas and I have seen this before , the beginning of the food chain.
hope you enjoy the photos and the read

[jackie53]

Way to ketch em!!Never Stop!!

[StantheMan2567]

Awesome catch in the cold. May I ask what brand name plastic is shown in the above pictures. I do not recognize it. Thank you for sharing.


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[ad1974]

Good report and nice catch.

[sinkermaker]

Those are some nic catches wish I had your fish house close to me

[Ketchn]

Awesome catch in the cold. May I ask what brand name plastic is shown in the above pictures. I do not recognize it. Thank you for sharing.


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that plastic is made by some friends of mine over at lake fork ,Belinda and Todd Box and they have a small ma and pa shop right by the lake . Thermocline lures is the name of the outfit and that particular bait is a uv enhanced regular size 2 inch tadpole in a color called pearl ice . they are not the cheapest baits as far as price goes , but to be sure I love the side to side real fish action of this particular style bait . I think they are pre juiced in something called slab slobber if I remember correctly .
my 3 favorite colors are...
1 pearl ice
2 glo truese
3 citric acid

[Crestliner08]

Nice job and some dandy crappie. I like that jig!

["G"]

Good job

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[scrat]

Been cold here in Mississippi also but starting to warm up now. So this fair weather old fisherman may have to give them a try pretty soon. Thanks for sharing the report and pictures.