1st day fishing from the new Excel. Got one for Chaunc!

After putting some break-in hours on my 140 Suzuki and making sure I was familiar with the boat, I decided it was time to put some poles in it and catch some fish. Not just any fish, the 1st fish from it. Since my wife will not go on the lake in cool/cold weather, and being the type who was going to make sure I caught the 1st, I went out alone.

The temps were in the mid 40s but with light winds early. The sunshine made it feel better and there was almost no boat traffic on KY Lake, just a very few crappie boats and a couple of bass guys. I had my chosen areas to myself. I chose one of my best crankbait areas since it had a multitude of stumps that are decorated like Christmas trees with my lost crankbaits. I wanted to try out the down-image on my new Helix10. To say it is awesome is a gross understatement. The DI was like photos from a camera. More on that in a post in Electronics Forum.

After searching for 2 hours and finding nothing that would hit a jig trolled longlined, I moved into a cove that was shallower. I hadn't got past the 1st brushpile I had waypointed when one rod went down and toward the rear of the boat. While reeling it in and hoping it was a crappie, I felt sure it wasn't. When I went to pull it over the side, I saw it was a nice white bass. 1st fish, keeper, but not what I was really hoping for.

I went another 100 yards and another rod bent. As soon as I got a good feel of this fish, I had to think of my Brother from PA, Chaunc. He and I kid each other about what he calls GASPERGOOS, or freshwater drums. We try to pawn the title of "Gaspergoo King" off on each other. (Those are a few of the nice things they get called.) I got it in and fish #2 was aboard and quickly released.



After another hour of punching waypoints and losing jigs to both seen and unseen items, I headed back out to the mouth of the bay where I caught the white bass. A pass thru that area drew a blank and I decide to run toward a steep rock bank nearby and finish out the few minutes I had left. Just as I kicked my Terrova into "rabbit" speed, one of my longest rods bent back big-time. As soon as I got it out of the rod holder, I knew it was a nice crappie. I saw the pink and black curlytail come up in a mouth the size of a tennis ball. I had the net in the floor so I took a huge chance and swung the white crappie over the side. MY 1ST CRAPPIE! in the new boat.



Ends up nice wasn't the word to describe it. It was over 15 inches long, seemed like 2 inches thick, and about to bust at the belly. I took a couple of pics but since I don't do selfies, I figured the only way to prove it was to put the fish on a golden-rule board and get the pic. After I calmed down and sent texts to a bunch of my friends, I fished for a few more minutes and caught another nice white bass.

The wind was getting up, the sun was going down and I felt satisfied with my 1st fishing trip in the new boat, so I headed for the ramp---after releasing the 2 whites and the crappie back to the depths. I told each one it was their lucky day and to come back and see me later.

I still have to decide where I'm going to put my rod holders. I broke a rod stumbling around with the rods in the floor but while most days that would have made me really mad, I shrugged it off and finished up a good day on the water.