NOT a Crappie

[Ketchn]

Many good crappie fisherman will tell you if you aint getting hung up you aint in the right spot . To some degree I agree but at the same time I don't ! I am of the opinion the best crappie anglers put their offerings just on the perimeter as in most cases a direct nose thump or a brush smack might make the intended victim nervous . This said I also know crappie like to ease out of hiding in a stalk like fashion and ambush prey .
Now mind you there are times one must get in the jungle to find the cat and to be sure cat like creatures don't in most cases come out of hiding in the daylight when most anglers pursue them .
So this in turn leads to the probe the brush and cover routine that often leads to a strike from a crappie that is nestled down in the cover .So you see I am often torn as to what approach I think will entice a strike and when I don't get bit close to the cover, as it is with most of the other crappie anglers I go on in for a probe ever so gently .
Now mind you good electronics make it much easier to see if one needs to be in the thick of it all , but when on the bank or dock guessing its typically a keep going deeper till you get bit program .
So it begins and no bites on the perimeter , time to go in the jungle and see what might be lurking . I feel a lot of stuff down there and even come up with about 10 foot of mono at one point . Then as it often happens I move a bit to the side and yet something else that is NOT a crappie gets on my jig
the good news is it stays on my jig and starts to ease up out of the depths and right about when I should see my jig up pops a rod tip ! Then more rod and then a reel full of braid and there you have it ….some of things I might ketch
The good news is it made me give up as I am sure everything with fins left the spot I was ketchn a few in and off to the truck I went .Pretty nice Ugly stick in the short version 2 pc. with an older Shakespeare reel on it , of course it wasn't easy to tell until I got to the office and cleaned it up a bit and after a little work the reel was ok .
But it laid down there a bit to long and was quite tired and so I applied a little smaller reel from the garage to it and some nice fresh 6 lb mono and into the hands of one of buddies at work , as he was all in love with it when we cleaned it up .
p.s. soon I will take him to ketch crappie with it and keep you posted on its revival

[Slab]

Way to recycle and help clean up the environment. And give a buddy a present. Good job. Thanks for sharing.

[ET Fish]

That Ugly Stik cleans up nicely!

["G"]

Way to go

[zig zag]

What was you using for bait again? Make sure I don't have it in my tackle box.

[Crestliner08]

Great find! It's amazing to me how many people leave all sorts of good fishing tackle along the banks. I've found rods and many lures that way.

[CrappiePappy]

Done that very same thing a couple of times (catching someone else's rod/reel) ... just wish it would have been some of my own, that had been taken over the side of the boat by fish (in the distant past).

Good job, bruh !!

[ezgoing]

Wife lost around one a month the years we lived near and fished the Gulf of Mexico. She insisted on fishing two rods, one in her hands and one a few feet over, propped up on something. Every so often you would hear a loud "zinging" sound, look up and see a rod flying through the air when some large fished took it for a ride. I would go to the back of the van, pull out a new rod and rig it for her to fish again. Those were fun days.

Got to the point I only bought $25 rod combo's from Walmart to use for fishing.

[skeetbum]

A good story. I once caught one just about the same way. Cleaned it up and gave it to a friends daughter, and she was thrilled. So I go to my crappie club meeting and tell of my experience, when one of my club brothers tells me what reel was on it and exactly where i found it. He had lost it about a month before. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever meet its previous owner. He was glad it went to an up and comer and had already replaced it.

[Grainraiser]

My dad always kept a heavy duty treble hook in the boat. He save a few rod/reels that went over the side using it. One had a 6lb channel that took it my brothers set up for a ride while he was taking a wiz. I still keep a heavy treble hook in my boat.