Thread: First Time on Lake St John

Went to Lake St John Saturday morning. Got to the lake around 9am and there was almost nowhere to park. On the lake I headed toward the south end. There were at least 20 boats fishing well offshore, making me question my thinking that with a water temp of 66 degrees, that the crappie should be heading shallow. There is a point at the south end with coves on either side. As I approched it, I marked a couple schools of fish that looked like crappie. I fished for 20 minutes or so and caught a crappie of about a pound. Fished the area for 20 more minutes without a bite. I could see the big cluster of boats down the lake. That many boats had to be catching something! I trolled toward them slowly moving closer to the bank and then further. Caught a 3# gou, ND a 1# catfish. I got close enough where I see if the boats were catching, and they weren't. I decided to go check out the shallow cove, but when I tried to crank the big motor, the battery was dead! I had to switch over the cables from the trolling motor battery and limp back to the landing. Got a new battery at O'Reilly's, but I got a wire in the wrong place when installing it. I could get the big motor to run or the trolling motor to run, but no both!

Will try again when I get my boat fixed. Got the big motor working, but no 24 volt trolling motor. Time for electrical tester. It has a Perko switch, so you can start boat from trolling motor if need be, but it didn't work that way Saturday. I had to move the wires around and I didn't do the modern thing, which is take a picture of the wires before you mess with them!! Thanks for the words of encouragement. It seemed like a nice lake, and it is very easy to get to from where I stay over there. Also wonderful ramp except too crowded Saturday! There are so many wonderful places to fish in that area, although many of them aren't so great due to the high water.