Fishing with Debbie 7/08/19

If I don’t do a better job of getting my fishing buddies on fish, they might have something else to do when I want to go fishing. Big Smile. Debbie has been after me for weeks to take her fishing and I finally had a day to work her in.

You all have heard the old story - “you should have been here last week”. Well, it was almost like that today. But on our first spot which was an offshore spot with 3 prominent stumps that were in 18 feet of water and just off the drop into the main river channel, I hooked a crappie that looked about 12” and not having the net deployed yet, I tried flipping it into the boat, but it flipped back into the river instead. Groan. That sort of set the tone for the next 3 hours.

However, on my second cast, I hooked and landed a 10”+ keeper and about 5 minutes later, caught our biggest crappie of the morning, a healthy chunky slab of 13.25”. In the meantime, Debbie was catching a 9” short and then it went all downhill until the last hour that we were out.

Water temp was a robust 86 degrees and a North wind that was variable, would blow from time to time and then stop and let us get hot from the morning sun which somehow seemed angry with us. Grin.

I hit all the hotspots to no avail and had decided to quit fishing around 9:15 and was headed toward Wolftever ramp when I was suddenly inspired to check out Lebron’s ditch. I really don’t know the name of this ditch, but it has a nice drop on both sides of it and it is just off the main river channel. I had marked a couple of spots there previously and wouldn’t you know it, I ran across a huge bait ball with crappie over/under and around it. They were suspended in the middle of the ditch and pushing the bait toward the downstream drop off.

This was perfect for us to setup on with the North wind and current pushing down. Crazy Ivan behaved beautifully and I got lucky and caught our keepers there. The bite was so subtle and with Debbie’s lack of experience, she could only feel the fish as they were spitting the lure back out. We ended up with 9 for her to put in her freezer.

It was a tough morning compared with the normal bite that you get with a good moon phase. I’ll take Debbie again when the moon gets right. My hot lure was Blue Ice Slab Slayer. 1/16 ounce jig heads. 13,500 cfs current flow.

Not too shabby, I think I am suffering from the detecting a bite syndrome now. I went 3 mornings this past weekend with only 2 shorts each day to show for it. Huge schools and nothing to show for it.

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Originally Posted by crazyju

Not too shabby, I think I am suffering from the detecting a bite syndrome now. I went 3 mornings this past weekend with only 2 shorts each day to show for it. Huge schools and nothing to show for it.

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Detecting a crappie bite, especially in less than ideal conditions, is the hardest thing to teach. Hi-vis line and watching it like a hawk is the only reason that I was able to catch those fish today. On most of those bites today, the line would only slightly move as I was dead sticking the lure just at the drop off. I never did feel any of those bites but the jig was deep in the roof of the mouth of the fish after I landed it.

I had a strange experience on one fish today that has never happened to me before. I had a really good fish on the line by the weight and feel of the fight, and it suddenly just pulled off. I have had fish pull off before, but when I got the jig back in, I looked at it and the hook had broken off just where the collar and barb was. Bummer. Never had that happen before.

9 is a good mess for the freezer, especially in this heat. I caught some Sunday on the Blue Ice, it seems to be a good color when the sun is out bright and shining. As far as the hook breaking you must have caught so many fish on that particular one it just gave way :biggrin

I asked you not to divulge the location of my honey hole aka "LeBron's Ditch". :biggrin
I'm glad it payed off for yall. :ThumbsUp

DK, what you described is a lift bite. I know you don’t need ‘splainin but I wanted to bring it up to those that have never experienced it before. The fish is rising to the bait and just opens the mouth, maybe flaring the gills too but with this going on you don’t feel the thump like usual. I agree it’s frustrating, especially with a novice. Good job sticking with it and next time Debbie will be just that much further along. Good read.

Great report! Thanks for sharing ! Still not bad for a almost 100° day

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

DK, what you described is a lift bite. I know you don’t need ‘splainin but I wanted to bring it up to those that have never experienced it before. The fish is rising to the bait and just opens the mouth, maybe flaring the gills too but with this going on you don’t feel the thump like usual. I agree it’s frustrating, especially with a novice. Good job sticking with it and next time Debbie will be just that much further along. Good read.

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Thanks for the input, Skeet. I have never heard the term lift bite before but most of the time crappie do feed upwards. But I have caught crappie on the bottom and never feel the bite or fish until I set the hook. With over 45 years of crappie fishing experience with a single pole in hand, I have noticed that when I feel the thump and catch the fish, most of the time, the jig is caught around the lips of the crappie. When I see the bite and catch the fish, the lure is deep into the throat or roof of the mouth 90% of the time leading me to this conclusion. When I feel the thump, it is because the fish has already sucked the lure into its mouth and has tried to reject it and the hook just happened to catch the lip as the fish was moving off. Now the exception to this is when fishing vertically, you will feel the thump as the fish takes the lure because of the direct line. But this is only my theory and is an assumption based on ignorance of the subject matter. Grin. Sometimes, I get distracted while I am fishing and look off for a few seconds and have a fish make a fool of me. Lolol.

I have always read and been told that crappie mostly feed upwards. After watching them on the livescope for a spring now, what I have observed is it is 50/50. At least with a falling jig.