Cool morning trip

40 degrees at 5:30 this morning, but it was a warm 40 and not a cold 40; most snow belt folks will know what I'm talking about. I checked the radar and the forecast and decided to try my luck on the pond. I was geared up with lines in the water at 7:30; mill pond flat water, 41 degrees at water's edge, surface water temperature out over the basin was 49.4. Foliage has gone well beyond peak, we had nearly 3" of snow earlier in the week and probably 2/3 of the leaves are down.
No water turnover yet that I can detect, had good sonar conditions but not many fish showed up on the gadget. I had 2 quick hits early on but missed 'em. I ran the 20' ish contour over along the drop off and found 1 good perch of 11" which got tossed into the cooler. 3/4 of an hour later found me in the deeper water and that's where I found the crappie once again. Suspended at about 20-24' over the 30' deep basin.
The wind had been very quiet but about 8:30 it began to build and when it did, surprisingly the bite turned on for me!






That BG Bleeding Shad Swimm'r was a winner today, landing at least half of my keeper crappie. I had 2 Roadrunners clipped on to the other lines, one with a straight tail stinger in Tennessee Shad color, the other with a Southern Pro Triple tail grub with a chartreuse tail, black/blue body and they would do well once the crappie were located.
Wind was basically from the west so I'd point the bow in to the wind and troll until one of the poles would bend over. I'd get that fish in and by then, I'd have to pull the other lines in and reset. Can't tell you how many times I got wrapped around the transducer on the drift backwards. I'd have to pop it loose from the magnetic mount, clear it and remount and get set for another run. But it worked and fish came in to the boat steadily for the next 90 minutes or so.







By 10am, I knew I had enough on ice for this trip and gave thought to calling it a day. A few fish later (all of which got released) I called it a day and headed for the beach about 10:15 and left them biting out over the deep water.



19 fish (3 perch, 16 crappie) came up for some fresh November air and 14 came home on ice, 2 nice perch and an even dozen crappie, all between 10 and 12" (give or take). All cleaned up and ready for either a fresh fish meal or 2 or the freezer.