“I started out bluegill fishing when I was 3 years old. My dad took me, and when I began to catch fish, I was hooked for life, I just wanted to keep on fishing and not stop!”
Those
words come from Dakota Morgan, who on the eve of her 12th birthday was joining professional guide,Barry Morrow for a trip on Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma.At her young age, Dakota Morgan is already an experienced bass angler. She has some club tournament wins under her belt and a lot of experience working at some of the professional circuit bass fishing weigh-ins, where she helps with live release among other things.
If there were ever any questions as to whether girls can fish, Dakota is the perfect answer. But she had never really fished for crappie, and she was excited to get the chance to do it with a true crappie professional.
The weather man missed the mark, and what was supposed to be a warmer, sunny December day just didn’t pan out.
Barry met his young student late in the morning and they were met with cloudy, cold and drizzly conditions. “I’m used to fishing in the cold”, Dakota explained. Her guide, Lindy professional Barry Morrow said although he’d rather have sunshine, the weather probably wouldn’t hurt the bite for the afternoon session.
The trip began with Barry patiently explaining how the day would go, and introducing Dakota to the type of fishing gear and tackle they would be using. From there he went on to describe that they would be using two rods at the same time apiece, and each rod would have two Lindy jigs tied on the line. They would be bouncing the jigs in 10 to 14 feet of water around brush and rock cover.
Crappie fishing in this part of the country goes a little against the grain of typical methods. 11’ flipping sticks and level-wind open face reels (bait cast reels) are the main weapons, and to the dismay of the finesse gurus - the reels are loaded with #10 pound test line.
“I was excited to learn to crappie fish when I got an ultra-light a few months ago,” said Dakota. But she wouldn’t be pulling it out on this trip. “I was really surprised to learn that I would be using a flippin’ stick for crappie”, she said.
Barry Morrow has always been a fan of the Lindy Fuzz-E-Grub jig and he carries a selection of them everywhere he goes. He says that it is the most under rated jig on the market. He also uses the new Lindy Jig, and puts the new Dancin’ Crappie Tubes on them for a trailer.
It didn’t take but a few minutes for Dakota to catch on to bouncing the jigs properly. She took a rod in each hand, and she was looking for her first bite. Things started a little slow due to the weather, as Barry explained that the sunshine would help. Then… “I’ve got one!” Her voice was calm as Dakota lifted a crappie over 1 pound into the boat with the long rod just like Barry had showed her. And it was only the beginning.
Barry had the gone up a narrow creek, where brush and wood cover laid abundantly on both sides of the creek, right on the ledge drops. The water was low and very stained, but the contrast of the Dancin’ Crappie Tubes and Lindy Jigs made the baits easy targets for feeding crappie.
The bite was scattered, but Barry expertly covered water up and down the creek ledges, explaining to Dakota every step.
Barry uses a two jig set-up, with one jig tied about 18 inches above the bottom jig. “I do catch two fish at a time sometimes,” he explained. Despite the brushy cover, getting un-hung didn’t seem to be much of a problem for Dakota, as Barry showed her how to work the jigs in the brush and how to get them out of a snag.
“Most of the time, you’ll feel the brush first, then you’ll feel the bite,” said the Lindy Pro.
Morrow - no stranger to teaching kids. Barry is a former teacher/coach and before retiring to pursue guiding full time, he was a school administrator.
“I spent 16 years teaching and coaching 7 – 12th grades. I also spent 12 years as a school administrator. I believe education is very import, no matter what field one plans to enter. Looking at the fishing industry, it would be helpful having a marketing, business, biology, or journalism degree as well as many others choices. Your focus could be fishing, just channel your degree in that direction. Education is something that no one can take away from you and it can only help you. The number of actual fisherman that makes their living fishing everyday is very small. Most who are making a real living are working inside the marketing end and they are promoting fishing,” said Barry.
Barry spent some time during the day discussing with Dakota the importance of getting a good education. “I really want to get my education, and I’m really interested in going to college for conservation or wildlife management”, said Dakota. She has some experience in wildlife and bird rehabilitation in Alabama. “I also really want to be able to work for my fishing sponsors in marketing’’, she added. Dakota has already had an impact in the fishing marketing industry.
Barry’s idea for his “Crappie Academy” stems from his long-time career as an educator. Barry says, “I have always loved the outdoors either fishing, hunting or playing sports. After retiring, I started guiding. I wanted to attract young fisherman and encourage parents to bring their children and enjoy a day on the water. I was lucky to have the opportunity to fish with my dad and older brothers while growing up. Fishing was something that I just took to and found success at. Teaching and working with kids has always been something that I loved doing and I know many kids don’t have that opportunity. I love watching kids have success and learn something they can do forever. You never stop learning and I hope to share this belief with every client I have young and old alike.”
Do kids like to learn to crappie fish? Barry says absolutely. “Since crappie are known to be schooling fish, if you catch one, you can usually catch more. Getting kids hooked on fishing is about catching fish and crappie fishing can be just that. Most kids like to fish, but if they catch fish, they love it. The same can be said for adults,” Barry explained.
The most important aspect of teaching kids to fish – According to Barry… “All kids want to be successful and are willing to learn.
Kids like adults like to have fun and when it comes to fishing we all like to catch fish. Understanding that everyone’s attention span is not the same, and holding their attention is important.”He adds, “In some cases, it’s important to put your fishing pole down and give your full attention to the kids fishing. It’s good to be flexible when things get slow and use this time to teach how to locate fish and using your sonar. We talk about life skills, fishing ethics and conservation. We catch a few fish, tell a few stories and basically just have fun fishing. We keep it simple, yet we catch fish….big ones too.”
The curriculum - “I use three methods 80% of the time to catch crappie. They are vertical jigging/trolling with pole in hand, pitching and flipping standing timber and pitching slip corks during the spawning season. Other methods include spider rigging, pushing and/or pulling crank baits and shooting docks.”
Barry continued, “As to which method I like to teach kids, it has to be pitching with slip corks. I have to reflect back to my early days of learning to catch crappie. I started with a cork and a crappie hook with a minnow. It was seeing the cork move that drew my attention and to focus on crappie fishing. It was then that I learned that even with minnows, if the cork moves the crappie had the minnow in his mouth. You didn’t have to wait to see the cork move completely under water to catch fish. After all, fish don’t have hands and if the cork was moving, something had my minnow. I believe kids like seeing the movement of the corks and during the spring, crappie are really aggressive and they will hammer the jigs causing the corks to disappear before you can blink an eye. Vertical trolling and jigging with pole in hand is something everyone can do.”
Dakota’s thoughts? “Barry is an awesome guide," she said. “He taught me how to find the fish and to catch them using two rods, I’ve never fished with two rods like that, and it's a fun way to fish, crappie are so much fun to catch!”
Dakota caught all of the biggest crappie on the trip, having no problem handling the fish, including her big fish which was just over 2 pounds. “I want to catch the lake record,” she said. She caught bigger crappie than Barry did all through the trip. “I really love it that I was able to beat a pro,” said Dakota with the grin of her competitive nature all over her face.
Barry says – “For me, teaching kids about the outdoors is important. Preservation, conservation and continued access to lakes, streams and all outdoors are a vital responsibility of our society. Reaching out to all kids and opening as many doors as possible should be the responsibility of every adult. Even as I speak, I’m thinking of all the adults of today who have never gone fishing, hunting, canoeing or hiking in the outdoors. They too were kids at one time and missed out on learning or having a mentor teach them about the great outdoors.”
After the trip – Along with the learning, the photo’s and the memories, Barry gives each youngster even more. “After each fishing trip, I present each young fisherman a certificate of completion along with a few Lindy Jigs, Dancin’ Tubes and Fuzz-E-Grubs that we used that day to catch fish. All fishermen like adding to their tackle box. I try to get photos which go on my website. I want it to be a day that they will remember. “ Says Barry.
Dakota was very happy with the packet. “I’ve been fishing with Lindy baits for bass on Lake Wheeler and the Lindy Shadling has been great. I love the Dancin’ Crappie tubes and jigs, especially for stripe and now for crappie too.” She said.
Barry Morrow takes place in Lindy’s National Audio Fishing Reportswhere he updates the crappie bite weekly. Reports are updated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by Lindy. This is a unique and exclusive audio report system where you can hear the audio fishing conditions and reports by top guides from around the country in their own voice.
Visit Dakota at her website or on her facebook – Dakota Bales Morgan.
Visit Lindy Fishing Tackle for great products and in depth updated information.
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