Nice catch Jerry. Keep up the good catchin!!!
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Sometimes, in our pursuit of fish of all species, we get caught up in the latest and greatest, the biggest and best, and forget that decent fish can be taken with the most basic of tackle.
Today was one of those days where fancy wasn't necessary and simple worked just fine. My neighbor Lee, you know him as Capt. Sinky, invited me along to fish a canal connected to a lake near Hastings. We usually fish this canal right after ice out but for some reason the fish didn't come in until this week. We picked up 3 dozen speck minnows and headed to the canal.
This canal is on a private lake and we have permission from the property owner. We got there about 8 am and before I could get a minnow on my #10 treble, Lee had a crappie in the cooler, a fat 10" female. He was fishing the left side of the dock, using a teardrop and minnow 18" under a set bobber and was getting hit as soon as his minnow hit the water. Most were less than 9" and were released back to the water. I fished the right side of the dock and, while I wasn't getting as many bites, my fish were bigger, easily making the 9" self imposed limit for the day. I was using a #10 treble under a slip bobber set at 2'.
By 9:00 our cooler was getting full and the minnows were gone so we switched to 1/32 oz jigs and small tubes under our bobbers. The crappie weren't as aggeresive with the tubes but we still managed to catch them at a steady pace. On one bite, when I set the hook, I had something WAY bigger than a crappie on my line. After a short game of tug-of-war I beached a 30+" northern pike. I'm glad season is open, pike is my favorite, so he went into the cooler. A few minutes later I got bit again by something big and, to both our surprise, a HUGE largemouth made a jump just off the end of the dock. I caught a 22" a couple of years ago and this one looked bigger than that. Lee says 24" at least but we'll never know for sure. I had her ready to beach when she changed her mind and made a run for deeper water. I was able to let her take some line and had her headed back to shore when my line snapped. I should have retied after the pike but oh well, the only thing I don't have is a picture. I still have the story.
We played a little catch and release until 11:00 then headed home to clean fish. We ended up with 49 crappie, biggest 12" smallest 9", one bluegill and one nice northern. Plus a story of the one that got away.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Nice catch Jerry. Keep up the good catchin!!!
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get in, sit down, shut up and fish
Nice catch...fishing with Capt Sinky off a nice sturdy dock in this wind was a good plan...
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“Everyone should believe in something. I believe I’ll go fishing.” – Henry David Thoreau
Great catch
I have spent most my life fishing........the rest I wasted.
PROUD MEMBER OF TEAM GEEZER
PICO Lures Field Rep
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Great catch but a much better story.
I'm playing keep it simple tomorrow. No big boat, no electronics.
Dang nice mess. It has been about 4 years since I caught a mess like that. Except for the pike. Never seen one up close. See you soon.
Nice job! I appreciate the pics and the story. Never been around those pike.
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Proud Member of Team Geezer!
Great story and some good looking fish
Good job you two!
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Life has many choices, eternity has two...choose wisely.
Unapplied biblical truth is like unapplied paint...how many gallons do you have sittin' around? U.D.