Day of firsts !

[Spoonminnow]

First off, as I was getting ready to launch, I got into a long conversation with a very knowledgeable angler fishing from shore.
Second - though a first in my lifetime - was a falcon dive-bombing the water in different areas for surface feeding fish in open water - a clue where to start casting.

A severe cold front was expected by 4pm and, as we all know, fish go nuts before a front arrives. The day started calm and the catching was easy - cast to the surface activity and fish on! As the day progressed, so did the wind gusting to 20 mph - at times dragging anchor.But the fish hit no matter! Even after the surface activity died, after allowing the lure to go to mid-depth (4'-5'), the strikes were still obvious and the hooksets solid - even at the end of 40' casts. All catches were from the middle of the long (vs round) lake mostly towards the east shore and south end over 7' deep flats and humps nowhere near shore. Kind a felt sorry for the anglers beating the banks and shoreline anglers catching little to nothing watching me catch fish after fish in open water.

By 4pm I could see dark clouds moving in fast so after the c&r of 65 fish I figured it was time to leave. Quality was the norm for many of the y. perch, sunfish and crappie. Here are some examples:

Deformed perch and the lure that caught it:


average size range of the doz.perch caught 9-11", 11" the largest - another first!


...and sunfish:


Crappie weren't too bad either:


clear tail grub did good as usual:


Most of the day before the storm hit:


Front moving in by 3:30 pm (calm before the storm):

[DockShootinJack]

That poor little critter had a run in with something. Sounds like a great day fishing

[Spoonminnow]

I've seen that deformity before - thinking genetic.

[BobC]

Congrats on a super day, Spoon. Yea, it wasn’t the day for the bank guys. We had a humongous front move thru SE PA at about the same time as yours yesterday. I was over in my park; it came up real fast, at least 50 MPH and I was chugging towards the parking lot when the rain started. You haven’t really lived until you are being showered by hickory nuts and ducking the occasional walnut! Cripes! When I’m wading the walnuts hit the water like cannon balls!
Bob

[Spoonminnow]

Had the same experienc driving home - high wind an leaves blasting the windshield. At least I got home in time to charge the battery and unload some things from the boat before the deluge hit.

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Great day on the water, thanks for sharing

[crp4570]

Thanks for posting. Great report and pics.

[Ketchn]

I've seen that deformity before - thinking genetic.

not sure about genetics on that , we see it frequently in lots of spots on both black and white crappie .....
possibly an injury when they are in fry mode ?

[CrappiePappy]

not sure about genetics on that , we see it frequently in lots of spots on both black and white crappie .....
possibly an injury when they are in fry mode ?

Not sure about "genetics" either .... as I used to see it a lot in Smallmouth down at Watts Bar Reservoir in E. Tenn. .... humped back or crooked tail spinal deformities, mostly in the smaller fish. We used to jokingly put the blame on the Nuclear Power Plant, even though it's actually below the dam.

[skeetbum]

Another fun trip spoon. I’ve seen that spinal deformity in some bass in the past. These came from a pond that was stocked and he had a lot of them. They still fought like crazy, they didn’t know they looked different. I had a busy weekend myself but not much fish to talk of.