Lessons from an Expert

[KFC]

I consider myself a novice Crappie Fisherman. I fished with my dad growing up at little Jonathan Creek dipping minnows in brush when the crappie were spawning. I found my renewed interest in crappie fishing last year and bought a Tracker boat last spring. It has a couple of sonars and a fancy trolling motor with a remote control. We decided to try spider rigging. It looked relaxing and an enjoyable time with kids who are now grown, but haven't yet ventured from the nest. Even though we didn't know much about spider rigging, we did okay and caught fish to eat and a few to give to friends. Listening to those that know more than me is the best way to learn. Took me a long time to realize that I learned more with my eyes and ears than my mouth. I joined this forum last April and read a lot of posts on how and what others here were doing to catch crappie.

One of my boys and I went yesterday and planned to fish all day in blood river cause that's where we go most of the time and we hadn't fished it since spring. There were about 8 bass boats in line to launch and only one had spider rigs on the front. There were about 15 other trailers in the parking lot. At first I thought the fish must be biting or there wouldn't be all those boats here, then I remembered something I read by MR Dux. I don't remember if it was on this forum or in his fishing report, but it was about how he was fishing and catching fish and they decided to try another spot. The lesson was never leave fish to look for fish. I thought of MR Dux and wondered why I was gonna fish somewhere else when I knew where we had been catching fish. We got out of line and went back to fish that deep channel. It took about an hour of our fishing time to drive over there, launch, and get to fishing.

There was no wind and and we fished all day. We caught a limit of fish to eat and memories to keep a lifetime. MR Dux lesson was well learned. We may have caught just as many fish in blood river yesterday, but will never know. I do know that where we have been fishing has been good. I hope all the guys fishing blood river had good luck and a good time. We look forward to going to blood river as it does have good fishing. But for now we will continue to follow the advice of a wise fisherman and keep fishing where we are catching fish. Thank you MR Dux for lending us your experience and knowledge. You may not have made us better fishermen, but you did improve our odds.

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[sinkermaker]

Good rule of thumb is never leave biting fish to find fish. Keep doing what you are doing and when the bite slows then hunt new places. Nice catch

[Lipsticker]

I consider myself a novice Crappie Fisherman. I fished with my dad growing up at little Jonathan Creek dipping minnows in brush when the crappie were spawning. I found my renewed interest in crappie fishing last year and bought a Tracker boat last spring. It has a couple of sonars and a fancy trolling motor with a remote control. We decided to try spider rigging. It looked relaxing and an enjoyable time with kids who are now grown, but haven't yet ventured from the nest. Even though we didn't know much about spider rigging, we did okay and caught fish to eat and a few to give to friends. Listening to those that know more than me is the best way to learn. Took me a long time to realize that I learned more with my eyes and ears than my mouth. I joined this forum last April and read a lot of posts on how and what others here were doing to catch crappie.

One of my boys and I went yesterday and planned to fish all day in blood river cause that's where we go most of the time and we hadn't fished it since spring. There were about 8 bass boats in line to launch and only one had spider rigs on the front. There were about 15 other trailers in the parking lot. At first I thought the fish must be biting or there wouldn't be all those boats here, then I remembered something I read by MR Dux. I don't remember if it was on this forum or in his fishing report, but it was about how he was fishing and catching fish and they decided to try another spot. The lesson was never leave fish to look for fish. I thought of MR Dux and wondered why I was gonna fish somewhere else when I knew where we had been catching fish. We got out of line and went back to fish that deep channel. It took about an hour of our fishing time to drive over there, launch, and get to fishing.

There was no wind and and we fished all day. We caught a limit of fish to eat and memories to keep a lifetime. MR Dux lesson was well learned. We may have caught just as many fish in blood river yesterday, but will never know. I do know that where we have been fishing has been good. I hope all the guys fishing blood river had good luck and a good time. We look forward to going to blood river as it does have good fishing. But for now we will continue to follow the advice of a wise fisherman and keep fishing where we are catching fish. Thank you MR Dux for lending us your experience and knowledge. You may not have made us better fishermen, but you did improve our odds.

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I heard another valuable bit of advise last week when we went without a hit for some time. Slabseeker1 said don’t beg them to bite, so we moved to another spot and proceeded to catch fish. So much wisdom comes with age!



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[M R Dux]

WOW!! And I thought most folks thought I was just taking up print space with my reports.

Seriously, I thank you so much for your kind words. I try to use my reports as a teaching moment just like I do my posts here. It is taking some getting used to when I have folks walk up to me in town or at the lake and say "Hey, you're MR. Dux!" I then correct them and say "No, I'm m-r-dux but thanks for hollering at me." Many have asked why I put so much information in my reports that others don't bother to do? I truly want everyone who fishes with me or reads my reports to learn something they can take back with them to help their fishing later on. That should be the goal of every fishing industry professional rather than just write the "Me and Joe went fishing." reports.

I get tons of requests for help from some who are truly trying new techniques I might have brought up. I also get tons of requests from folks who want to be spoon-fed info so they don't have to put any effort into going to the lake and catching fish. I usually take a pass on those folks since they will never learn to find and catch their own fish if they don't have to put any thought or effort into it.

[Retired2Fish]

I have only been on the forum a short time but I have learned a great deal already. It is good to have those of you with more experience catching crappie share with the rest of us. No matter how long you have been fishing you always have things to learn.


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[CrappiePappy]

First time I saw Doug's screen name I was torn between it being Mr Dux (but in all lower case letters) or something on the order of a vanity plate ... when spoken ... translating to "them are ducks"
I went with the 'em are ducks translation, and I've even told a member or two that it is NOT "Mister Ducks".

[KFC]

I Knew that and I guess I hadn't had enough coffee when I typed the post. I was trying to finish to go to church.
mea culpa

[M R Dux]

My KY “vanity” plate on my pick-up is M R DUX.

I spelled my screen name with all lower case letters with no spaces after I wanted to use M R Dux in a hunting forum but somebody who had been a member for years but only posted a few times already had it.


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[crp4570]

He is just being modest. He and I are the spelling/grammar champions from the local 33 alumni school. That is we were 30 yrs old in the 3rd grade. Our posts only look good with auto spell ck.