Three Lake Tour in Three Days

My original plan was to leave on Friday and drive to Florida with 65Pontiac (Russ), fish at Harney at the SlabTogether thingy on Saturday then drive home on Sunday....1:30 a.m. Friday morning I wake up and can't get back to sleep. The truck is already loaded, so I get on up and hit the road about 2:00 a.m. At 5:30, I call Russ and tell him I should be at his house around 6:30 and he says "Cool. I'll have the boat ready". So I get there and jump out of my truck and right into his truck and we're off to go fishing. We put in at Sunrise Park on Crescent Lake and headed for Dead Lake...It lived up to his name So we headed back up the lake and drug some jigs south of Bear Island. Managed to put a few small fish and 1 nice one in the boat. We got a little hungry so we pulled into 3 Bananas and ate some lunch then decided to shoot some docks. Well, Russ shot docks and I shot everything else around the dock including a gentleman sitting there enjoying a cold beer Russ pulled out some nice slabs from the dock we were shooting and all I can do is watch and learn. Although I am not a dock shooter, I did get some practice in and enjoyed the learning experience. I will do doing more of that in the future!!

Saturday morning, we left early and headed to Harney. Little bit of a drive but it was worth it. Although the fishing started out slow early, it just got better and better as the morning went on. I had a blast catching those slabs. We boated 45-50 fish. Jeff (Speck Detector) did a great job of organizing the event and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone there. A good time was had by all and there were alot fish caught that morning. After we ate, I was willing to hit the water again and pick up where we left off but I knew we had that long drive home. Russ said I would be crazy to drive home in all that Holiday traffic on Sunday and suggested that we fish Monroe on Sunday....Didn't have to twist my arm too hard!!!!

Sunday morning, we were at the gate at 6:10 waiting for them to open the park at Monroe. The 2nd day in a row that I was fishing on a lake that I had never been on before. Once we got set up, it didn't take long before the fish were biting. They bit steady until the wind got up and they slowed down around 11:00. With the wind blowing and the fish not biting as well as they were, we packed it up and left around noon, putting 59 crappie in the boat along with 1 real nice bream. On all 3 days, all fish were released to be caught again.

I made it back home around 10:00 this morning and had time to reflect on the past 3 days. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed my self that much. The time I spent on the water was Priceless. Russ was a great host and he showed me a great time of fishing on 3 different lakes in 3 days. Friendships like his are to be treasured. On Saturday, seeing older friends such as Mike, John, Ed, Danny, Bryan, Danny, Bruce, Huntinslabs, Shu....I know I am forgetting someone but that comes with age!!! I'm sure most of you that don't have a Jay-Oh-Bee understand.....Thx to everyone for making my 3 day weekend one of the best fishing weekends of my life. You guys in central FL are truly blessed to have the fisheries that you have and a great Crappie.com group!!!!