Slow and steady was the day, but a cold wind and rain produced the fillets!

Spartannation and I decided to hit one of our favorite lakes yesterday down by Delton Michigan. Weather man said high of 45 and steady 10-15mph wind, but the rain from overnight was to clear by 9am for the day. We started with a few remaining sprinkles hitting sections of the lake that had produced in the past. We worked a jig under a float to slow our presentation down as the water temp was 54-55 degrees. Our first spot had a good weed bed and Jerry landed a couple of crappie putting one in the box and letting one go to get bigger. We continued on to a few other spots with no success as the sun started to break thru the gray. I did land a nice bass in one of these spots but no crappie.
Attachment 456399
Time to explore new water. We pushed on and tried an area of the lake we had only trolled thru on a previous visit with good weed cover similar to the first spot we had hit. We landed a couple keepers as the wind pushed us down to the end of the lake into a bay. As we worked our way back up the other side of the bay into the wind we landed a couple more keepers and found even better weed cover. The bites were few and far between, until mother nature decided to help and send a squall our way. There were times the wind was so powerful that spot lock struggled to maintain and casting into the wind only got the bait 20' from the boat. I think I even saw a few snowflakes wiz by.
But the bite turned on with the waves, wind and rain. I missed a lot of hits as I struggled to manage the bow in my line from gusty winds with frozen hands. As the weather settled down, the bite tapered off a bit so we called it a day. We ended up boxing 16 that went 10-13" and released another 6-8 that didn't make muster.
Attachment 456400
Attachment 456397
Needless to say, I am ready for a little warmer weather!!

Awesome job and some good fish caught.

Congratulations on a great outing. Thanks for sharing your story with us

I have to say that, being from the great white north, I don't mind the cold and even enjoy the spring fishing when we get the cold, windy rainy days. But yesterday was crazy! I was bundled up pretty good but when the squall came through and it was raining sideways, I had to question my sanity. I even got the shivers for a while. Full disclosure, Jeff caught at least 10 of the 16 and earned every one of them. He was in the nose and fishing into the wind or cross wind, I was fishing down wind. Like most of our fishing trips together, we managed to learn something yesterday. The area we fished was a last resort, a why not, a well, we haven't tried back THERE yet. And it paid off. The thick weeds were the key and I'm sure this spot will produce some nice boxes of crappie in the springs to come.

On a side note, this lake is also known for holding some big northern pike. When I cleaned yesterdays catch there were two crappie in the 11"-12" range that had survived pike attacks and still had the wounds to prove it. When we get tired of catching crappie, we may have to try and figure out how to catch pike.

Nice catches

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vbottom

Spartannation and I decided to hit one of our favorite lakes yesterday down by Delton Michigan. Weather man said high of 45 and steady 10-15mph wind, but the rain from overnight was to clear by 9am for the day. We started with a few remaining sprinkles hitting sections of the lake that had produced in the past. We worked a jig under a float to slow our presentation down as the water temp was 54-55 degrees. Our first spot had a good weed bed and Jerry landed a couple of crappie putting one in the box and letting one go to get bigger. We continued on to a few other spots with no success as the sun started to break thru the gray. I did land a nice bass in one of these spots but no crappie.
Attachment 456399
Time to explore new water. We pushed on and tried an area of the lake we had only trolled thru on a previous visit with good weed cover similar to the first spot we had hit. We landed a couple keepers as the wind pushed us down to the end of the lake into a bay. As we worked our way back up the other side of the bay into the wind we landed a couple more keepers and found even better weed cover. The bites were few and far between, until mother nature decided to help and send a squall our way. There were times the wind was so powerful that spot lock struggled to maintain and casting into the wind only got the bait 20' from the boat. I think I even saw a few snowflakes wiz by.
But the bite turned on with the waves, wind and rain. I missed a lot of hits as I struggled to manage the bow in my line from gusty winds with frozen hands. As the weather settled down, the bite tapered off a bit so we called it a day. We ended up boxing 16 that went 10-13" and released another 6-8 that didn't make muster.
Attachment 456400
Attachment 456397
Needless to say, I am ready for a little warmer weather!!

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Very nice for such a “ crappy” day[emoji23]
Good job you two


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I have one to many springtime hobbies!
I'm busy attempting to band woodcock chicks but will get out fishing around the middle of May.

Thank you all for sharing your successful crappie adventures!

We'll leave a few for you.

Wow, wind, and even snow, no, not for me. Good job pushing through, nice feesh.