Great post and pics. Congrats on a couple of fun packed trips
I need to give a little background before I begin this story:
Growing up my father was too busy building his farming enterprise to take any time off for fishing, I don't blame him....that was his passion. So there were two people who took me under their guidance and started me down the road to this obsession we call fishing. The first was my grandfather whom I lost in 1968 due to cancer (he never smoked) the other was my older brother Mark.
Mark was 8 years older than I, but always made time to take me fishing down at the nearby river.....and with that spent countless hours untangling me from trees, stumps, brush etc. I still get tangled from time to time (and as of this weekend every spool of line I have that is braid other than jigging rods is getting replaced) I believe it was my brother Mark who gave me my first fishing tackle box and put in it hooks, split shot, bobbers and maybe a couple crankbaits. As we got older we continued to spend time fishing and hunting......that is until about 15 years ago. I don't know why but we just didn't seem to have the time to get together fishing. A couple years ago as we were paying our last respects to our mother, we made a promise that we would make it a point to get out fishing together more.....like we did years ago.
Finally this brings me to this weekend, we made plans to spend Saturday fishing....and I asked Jerry if he'd go along with us which he readily agreed to. You can read about yesterdays exploits here:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/michi...s/#post3637326
After we did so well and had so much fun we decided to do it again today.
Jerry and Mark met up here at my house and we were off by 6:30 a.m. Last minute check I asked them both if they had everything they needed......yep we are all set was the response and I pulled out onto the road. Along the way we talked about different things, weather, quickest route to the lake etc........when I hear Sparky says....Oh, S&*^ I left the worms in my truck!!!!
We aren't turning around, we'll get some along the way which we did, the reason I bring up the worms is because at the end of the day it would have an effect.
We launched and made our way to yesterdays Crappie hotspot.....it wasn't long and I had the first crappie in the boat, followed by 3 or 4 more
Then Jerry put some gills in the box......I was feeling bad for Mark, he is quiet anyway.....but he was getting a little grumpy not catching any fish, and then he finally was on fire catching gill after gill
Then the bite stopped and we moved to another area where Jerry had a big fight on his hands before landing this 18 1/2" bass
We then trolled very slowly next to shore picking off gills as we went, soon we were at around 60 fish in the box when it happened.....we ran out of worms! Not worm dirt...oh heck no Captain Spilly (Mark) had plenty of that throughout my boats interior......but worms we had used up. The fish didn't want plastics....we tried that....they wanted meat, and we were out.
So we headed for the launch and loaded up the boat, interestingly they have a inbound and a outbound boat wash, so Mark got on the high pressure sprayer they had and washed the hull of the Haulin Ash Alumacraft and we were off to get ice and then home.
Final tally was 51 gills and 16 crappie, we fell a little short of our allowed 75 fish.
In closing, we had a successful weekend fishing, lines got tangled once again, and worm dirt is all over in my boat, but here are the memories that I'll keep from it:
Good hearted Jerry cleaned all the fish, I told him I did not expect anyone to clean my fish, but he wouldn't have any part of it..... Thank You Jerry, it was much appreciated.
The tangles are my way of thinking back to a time I must have tried my brothers patience, the worm dirt will clean up and not be another thought.....but having time, once again to fish with my brother, there's a memory that will last long after the worm dirt is gone!
2017 MiCDC fall crappie guide of the year (FCGOTY)
Member: “Michigan chapter of Team Overalls”
Haulin Ash Fishing Rocks-"D"
Caution: If we fish together, you may be on YouTube
Great write up Steve. The last two days were a lot of fun. What a hoot sharing a boat with a couple of guys that were prone to tangles, I think I learned some new words today. Catching a bunch of fish was just the icing on the cake. Thanks for inviting me along.
A little background of my own. Last week I was going through my rods and reels and I found one of the first "high quality" combos I ever bought, a 5'6" Berkley Lightning Rod and a Zebco 33 reel. I put some new suffix 6lb mono on it and decided to fish with it this weekend. I rigged it with a smelt stick and a set bobber and used both minnows and red worms for bait and it worked flawlessly. I caught a ton of crappie, gills and bass the last two days with it. That big bass was horsed through the weeds with that little set up. It will be going to the lake with me again real soon.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6Just Steve LIKED above post
What a great write up....Fishing with your brother and a good friend....dosent get any better than that.
I have spent most my life fishing........the rest I wasted.
PROUD MEMBER OF TEAM GEEZER
PICO Lures Field Rep
Just Steve LIKED above post
One thing I forgot to mention is that we sent Mark home with a lot of cleaned (Thanks again Jerry) bluegill and crappie fillets, but also some Walleye fillets from another fishing trip with a forum member!
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2017 MiCDC fall crappie guide of the year (FCGOTY)
Member: “Michigan chapter of Team Overalls”
Haulin Ash Fishing Rocks-"D"
Caution: If we fish together, you may be on YouTube
Nice story Steve. I envy you. My older brother never was much of a fisherman. Great memories were made!
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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.Just Steve LIKED above post
I'm glad we could load Mark down with fresh fish. I'll be passing fillets out to family members who don't fish but love to eat it. It's a tough job but I'll gladly do it. I'll take some to Georgia with me and we'll have a fish fry this weekend.
Cleaning them was no big deal. I don't mind doing it at all. With the electric knife it only took 1 1/2 hours to clean them, I put in Josey Wales and watched that while I was working.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Had all this worm dirt in my boat, back and front
So today it was time to make it go away......borrowed the brides carpet shampoo/vacuum and a couple containers of very dirty water was extracted
We are cleaned up and ready to go!
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
2017 MiCDC fall crappie guide of the year (FCGOTY)
Member: “Michigan chapter of Team Overalls”
Haulin Ash Fishing Rocks-"D"
Caution: If we fish together, you may be on YouTube
Now it needs some walleye slime and blood
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
get in, sit down, shut up and fish
2017 MiCDC fall crappie guide of the year (FCGOTY)
Member: “Michigan chapter of Team Overalls”
Haulin Ash Fishing Rocks-"D"
Caution: If we fish together, you may be on YouTube