Proper sliming

Didn’t wake up til 7 and had to shake the work week off before I went anywhere. With the boat hooked and rods already loaded it was an easy thing once I found the energy. Left the house about 8:30 which is dangerously late with the crazy weekend people that abound. It all turned out good and the fish cooperated enough for me to enjoy. I had caught the first fish earlier in the week but a proper sliming was in order. I went to the same area that I’ve been to a few times in the past weeks. I’ve found that the first fish is somewhat of an indicator of what the day will be like, and todays first fish was a good one.

And the second one a few minutes later was also pretty nice.

Someone else was working the same shoreline so I just moved on and let them have it. It kinda felt like it had been worked over in the past few days anyway, a bit slow compared to normal.
Next up was some deeper water where the crappie sometimes hang out, and there was a few there today. Also not as loaded as most times. Though numbers weren’t up to par, the size was still real good. Here’s a few and there were none to the boat under eleven inches today





And there were others too but I didn’t want to attract attention by digging for the phone and the fish flopping, you know the drill. But like someone threw a switch, they were done. I threw an ultralight bait a few times and bagged a few more but there’s too much junk and I didn’t want to retie. The first fish I had there must’ve been a big cat, I couldn’t do anything with him. I got him coming my way for a few seconds but when he figured out what I was trying to do, there was a couple of surges and he was gone along with my jig. The last five feet of line had to be cut off when I retied from being rubbed under pressure. Would’ve been nice to see him. With Mother’s Day tomorrow I didn’t want to spend too long out today so I moved on in search of some of the gills with the ultralights. The five footer got carried but didn’t get any play today, I was too busy having fun with the others. The new Daiwa and the Phenix, both six footers, got the play today. And play they did. I learned that a rod this light and a stingray makes for a tough fight. Like to never got him to the surface but when I did I just grabbed the jig and shook and off he went. I’m quickly falling head over heels for the Presso’s. Line management is much better or easier and they’re plenty smooth with very nice drags. The Daiwa rod casts a light jig very well but the casting motion is different than the others. The tiny taps or nibbles or chews or whatever it is they’re doin down there sure feel bigger. The .15 Varivas braid on those rods is all I need. I watched this area get worked twice this morning by some green fish guys and NiNo was there yesterday but they’d recovered nicely. See for yourself, and look at how the new rod loads up.







And one of my posts wouldn’t be complete without one of the giants to be come looking for Gillchaser, and this wasn’t the smallest one today.

I wound up calling my Queen for a lunch date at 12:15 so I’d been out about three hours. Timing was just right for a lot of things and I left with a smile and fish still biting. I gave Mom her choice of what she wanted for tomorrow and got a real surprise when she said she wanted her kitchen painted. Kinda doubt I’ll get a special dispensation in any way to get out of that so I guess there’s no fishing for me tomorrow. That’s gonna be tough cuz the new to me Lunakia was waiting on the doorstep when I got home from lunch. Maybe next weekend. That tip sure is tiny, gonna need to be careful with that one. Total number of pictures was just over twenty and the phone got too hot a couple of times and others just didn’t get famous so I’m confident the total number of fish was near 40 pretty close. I’m happy with that. Til next time…….Skeet,