Thursday started off as just another typical work day for my wife and I. Up with the alarm at 3:15 am. Home from work at 7:30 am. A bit of breakfast, and then relaxation time, deciding what to do with the rest of our day. My wife, Dawn, had big plans of chillin, all day, doing absolutely nothing but relax. While I do enjoy a good day of doing nothing from time to time, but Thursday just wasn't one of those days. And even though the weather wasn't supposed to be ideal. And the solunar calendar did not have it listed as a good day for fishing, I decided to make Thursday a day on the water.
A day of fishing it would be.
Huh, go figure.
My plan was to fish for a meal. No video, no photographing, just fishing for my personal enjoyment and hopefully take home a meal of crappie for my wife and I. Little did I know my day of fishing was going to be so much more eventful than taking home some filets.
Off in the distance, to the north of us on County Rd 100, Dawn and I could hear what seemed to be multiple sirens, but we really didn't pay much attention to them at that moment. We chatted another minute or two before we realized the sirens were just down the road by the Country Peddler party store, less than a mile from our house, and they were headed our way. Considering that we live on County Road 100, Dawn and I see quite a few police and emergency vehicles pass our house, but the last thing we ever expected to see was a slow speed chase. And at 9:00am to boot.
Yep, you heard me right. Slow speed chase. A four car chase at about 40mph, led by a man who looked to be talking on his phone in his car while being pursued by three police cars with their lights a blazin and sirens blarin. We have no idea what became of that situation, and I just chalked it up to a crazy way to start the day as I headed off to the lake.
When I arrived at the lake I made quick work of unloading my kayak and gear and getting on the water. About five minutes into my paddle across the lake, I notice another kayak angler not far from where I would begin fishing. So being the curious angler that I am, when I was within talking distance, I greeted the other kayak angler and asked if they had been having any luck. Lynda, the other angler, replied that she had only caught one small bluegill so far. After a short bit of chit chat I learned that she recognized me from some of my posts on Facebook, she had been fishing an area that I was sure was holding plenty of panfish, she was using leeches and night crawlers suspended under a bobber, and has been kayak fishing for just about a year. Not wanting to be to pushy or seem overly sure of myself, but not being able to control the desire to possibly help another angler catch fish, I offered to show Lynda a couple of my methods and locations for catching panfish. She graciously accepted my offer and we headed back toward where she had already been.
We paddled a few minutes before stopping near the fishing spot so that I could set Lynda up with one of my favorite jig/soft plastic/bobber combinations. I pulled my kayak right along side hers so that I could show her close up just how I rig my gear. I had already prepared my rod and reel and had it hanging over the side of the kayak just about two feet under the surface so that it was out of the way for the time being. As I was rigging the soft plastic lure on Lyndas jig I heard a bit of commotion toward the front of my kayak, and when I looked forward I saw a little twitch on my rod tip and quickly lifted my rod toward the sky, pulling a nice 9 inch crappie out of the water. Honest to goodness I wasn't even fishing yet and I already had one crappie in the boat. Of course, as per my personal tradition, I released the first keeper of the day. We both got a kick out of that one as I gave Lynda a few more tips before wishing her luck and heading off to my own spot.
I cautiously approached the first structure that I intended to fish, doing my best not to make much noise as I cast my micro jig about five feet from where I figured fish my be positioned. I slowly reeled, retrieving the tiny jig at a steady pace back to the kayak, just waiting to feel a bite. But that first cast went untouched. On my second cast I placed my jig about two feet closer to the cover. Before I could even give my reel a turn I saw my line tic right where it meets the surface of the water and then I felt the thump. The one of a kind crappie thump, and I followed it up with a upward sweep of my rod tip followed by a steady retrieve of a beautiful 10 inch crappie. And though it was a really nice speck, I released it as I considered it to be my first actual keeper of the day.
My second, third, and fourth casts all ended with the same result, a good size crappie in the kayak, with the only difference being that I put one of those three in my bucket. I spent about 30 minutes fishing that particular structure, landing a total of 13 crappie between 8 and 11 inches, and one nine inch bluegill, adding four crappie and the bluegill to the bucket. At that point the bite slowed so I moved on to the next similar piece of structure, but planned to return to that same location later in the day.
At my second location it didn't take long to figure out a distinct pattern of crappie being in six to eight feet of water, suspended four feet down, and within three feet of the structure. There were more crappie on the east side the individual structures, and the bigger crappie were hanging right in the middle of the smaller ones but had all the key locations on each piece of structure. And, best of all, completing the pattern, those crappies were all loving my micro jig and soft plastic presentation. At that point it was looking like a great day on the water was inevitable as I was already working on a pretty good bucket of fish and had made a plan to concentrate the majority of my fishing on five similar pieces of structure.
It was about the time I was paddling to my third fishing location when I heard a gentleman say "hey Frank". As I looked toward the approaching blue fishing boat, I immediately recognized Don. I had the pleasure of fishing with Don for the first time last September when I offered up one of my kayaks to use if someone wanted to join me for a bit of panfishing. We caught a few fish that day and had some great conversation and he turned out to be a heck of a fishing partner. We chatted for a few minutes as I picked a couple nice specks out from my location and he worked an area not far away. Then after adding a couple more crappie to my bucket I wished Don luck and told him I would see him again in a bit as I made my way back to the areas I had already fished.
At that point it was getting close to noon andd already been a great day. Lots of fish, a bit of conversation and sharing among anglers, and watching nature and the people in nearby yards go about their lives. One of those people just happened to be a construction worker of some sort, possibly a siding guy. Anyhow, I had been watching him up on a high roof for quite some time as he went about his business, appearing to not have a care in the world. Then, as he made his way off the roof and onto his ladder, a very tall ladder I might add, I have to believe that his carefree morning changed instantly as the ladder, tools, siding, and the worker all came tumbling down in one fast crash. I heard the man holler out a couple expletives on his way to the ground before he and the ladder came to a smashing halt. Another person, I am thinking probably a coworker of the fall victim, appeared from the other side of the house almost instantly. I could no longer see the man who fell but the other person was crouched down talking to someone so I figured it was him. At that point I knew there was nothing I could do to help so I said a silent wish for his safety and carried on about my business.
I made it to my third fishing location and picked up right where I left off, catching fish. Almost every cast was answered by the thump and produced another decent crappie. One after another the feisty fish ate my offering and then came to my kayak with the typical wet paper bag fight of a crappie. However, there was one thing different about this particular piece of structure in that it held a couple giant crappie. Now I don't use the term giant very often in reference to panfish because, to me, giant is reserved to describe the biggest and baddest of a particular species. But on back to back casts I hooked into, and briefly fought, two crappie that were well over master angler size, which is 14 inches. Those two fish were no longer slabs, they were true giants, the size of which I have only caught a couple of in my entire life. They were both well above 15 inches and most likely 16 or more, and as each of them slipped off my jig just a few feet from my kayak, my heart sank a little. But that's ok. That's what it is all about. It's fishing, right? Anyhow, I put a few more fish in my bucket from that spot and decided I needed to change the water in my bucket to keep the fish as fresh as possible.
Now I don't know if any of you ever use a bucket in your kayak to keep fish in, but I can tell you it is a chore to refill the bucket and must be done with caution. Knowing what a chore it is, and always being one to air on the side of caution, I headed for shallower water before changing the water, just in case there was a mishap.
I made my way to a little out of the way area that was only about three feet deep and, while holding my hand in front of the bucket to keep the fish from getting away, I slowly poured the old water out of my bucket. When the bucket was just about empty of water, I dipped the open edge into the lake and refilled it to about the 3/4 mark. Now, with a dozen and a half fish, and three or four gallons of water, the bucket was pushing the 40 pound range and was a bit difficult to lift over the side of the kayak. I had to give it all I had to clear the top of my kayak and get the bucket into my seating area. Then, just when I thought I had it, the bucket slipped out of my hand.
So now picture this. You are in a tug of war and are pulling back on the rope with everything you have when the guy on the other end of the rope decides to let go. What happens??? Well you go flying backwards of course.
Well that is exactly what happened to me when the bucket slipped out of my hand. I had already been leaning back to lift the bucket, so when it came out of my hand I was shot out of my kayak like a pilot in an emergency ejection. In a fraction of a second I was under water. I opened my eyes to see nothing but murky brown rain run off water. I popped to the surface and stood up, soaked from head to toe. I took just a few seconds to gather my senses and then began checking myself and gear. To my amazement, my glasses were still on my face, and, unbelievably, my kayak was upright, all my gear was still in it, and my phone was sitting on my tackle bag right where it had been before my surprise swim. There were a bunch of fish swimming in the few inches of water in my kayak, but other than that, I was okay and lost nothing, except a little pride. For the first time in 35 years of kayak angling I ended up in the water rather than on the water. Oh well, life goes on, and so did my day of fishing.
While still being drenched from my dip in the lake, I made my way to the next structure and got into fish right away once again. I had landed about a dozen good crappie when I heard someone ask me if I was catching any. It was a young man taking care of the lawn near where I was fishing and he mentioned that he knew who I was from seeing my on Facebook and Youtube. I told him that the fishing was actually going quite well and while we were talking I was lucky enough to land a couple in mid conversation. After a few more minutes of chit chat, and several more fish landed, I wished him good luck in his future fishing adventures and headed to another location.
On my wat to that next location I heard a boat approaching from behind me so I pulled toward the side to allow them to pass. As the pontoon neared my position I heard a gentleman say "Hi Frank". When I looked to see who it was I recognized the pontoon captain as Fred, an angler who I had to the to join on the lake with his buddy Terry just a couple weeks ago. I had taken them to this exact spot and put them on a few good crappie so I was hoping to hear that they had been catching fish. Much to my surprise Fred told me they had only landed one. I was a bit bummed for them and really didn't want to tell them that I had landed well over fifty by that time. Once again we shared a bit of conversation before I moved on.
By then I was getting close to a limit, and as I passed by Don once again, he said that he had been doing pretty good on bluegill, but had still only landed one crappie. While talking with Don, I landed my second "not fishing" fish of the day on my line that was not cast, but was simple dangling about two feet from my kayak. For me, it was just one of those days. I had to chuckle to my self as I wished Don further luck before heading back to where I left Lynda at the start of the day.
I was hoping to see Lynda catching fish but wasn't surprised to find that she was no longer in the area. I am not sure whether she had some luck and left, had no luck and left, or just left, but either way I just had to give that one last piece of structure a shot.
Well as luck would have it, that spot was holding a bunch of fish as I put sixteen in my kayak real quick, keeping the last three I needed to complete my 25 fish limit for the day and wrap up yet another amazing day on the water in northern Michigan.
I would like to say thank you to all who take the time to read my tales or watch my video. Though it is a bit of a funny feeling being recognized by complete strangers, it is always my pleasure to meet you along the way. I would also like to pass along best wishes and good luck to all anglers. If, by chance, I am in some way able to help anyone catch a few more fish, then I am a happy man.
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