Belle, my grandfather when he was alive was a very avid hunter and fisherman. He was born and raised in Smithville, Tennessee on a farm. In the 1930's he and his family moved to Warren County, that is McMinnville Tennessee. The reason he moved is that Center HIll Lake was being built on his homeplace and it would soon be under water. So from the time i was very little until his death in 1983, he practically lived on that lake in the summer and he tried to teach me everything he could about catfishing, walleye fishing and CRAPPIE!!!! Once he died, i was 14 at the time, i had nobody else to go with. I was raised on a dairy farm and just fished farm ponds catching bluegill, catfish, bass and the occasional turtle. My father didn't have a boat, so i fished these ponds until i grew up and had to get a job and raise a family of my own. I know, i am long winded.
Last May, a friend of mine at work, who was 50 at the time, woke up, told his wife he didn't feel well and promptly hit the floor with a fatal hear attack. I attended his funeral and then i took a look at my life. Lets see, i am a father and a husband who works a full time job and runs a very successful business. I also had no time for fishing or doing anything i enjoyed when i was young and my grandfather was alive. A week later i had a 18'6 Hydra-Sports in my driveway. I had to try and remember what my grandfather taught me so long ago about Crappie. So i started reading all i could, visiting Crappie.com daily of course and doing my homework. A year later i sure have improved on catching them, but i have a long way to go also. The reason I prefer Crappie is i don't work myself to death catching them. It relaxes me, unlike Bass fishermen who wear themselves out casting and working the trolling motor. As far as equipment, i have the usual fish finder, depth flasher, water temp sensor. I have only three poles. One is a 5'6 Shakespeare trigger cast , closed face ultra-light combo. The other two are BnM poles that are 12' and 16'. The long poles have a plastic Uncle Buck"s reel from Bass Pro that are a whopping $5.00 each. You don't reel fish in with them, they just hold the line. I don't use fancy stuff, i just do it to relax. With all this cheap equipment, i managed to have the annual lake record on Woods Reservoir last year. A white Crappie that was 17 and 5/8" and 3lbs 21/2 oz. Sorry i got longwinded take care. You should talk to Jerry Blake in Arkansas. He does it for a living , so i think he is the guru. Take care.
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Fatboy