January 12 Trip

I had today off, so I loaded up the kayak and some light tackle. Got to the lake a little after 8:30 and was was paddling by 9:00 a.m.. There was only one other truck & trailer in the parking lot. There wasn't much showing up on the depthfinder where I expected to find fish, so I started searching the main basin of the lake within sight of the dam. I set lines out and noticed a few fish holding tight to the bottom between 18-22 feet. They seemed big and weren't interested in anything I dropped down to them. By 9:30 the wind picked up, which made vertical jigging from a kayak next to impossible. I tied on some chartreuse RoadRunner heads and threaded chartreuse & pearl bodies on since there was a slight stain to the water. I also painted on a heavy coat of Slab Sauce for any edge I could get. Paddling slowly and steadily for the next 105 minutes didn't raise the first bite. There was nothing along deeper points, bluffs, and steep drops. I saw fish holding around 20 feet, but there weren't any takers. By 11:00 a.m. I was getting frustrated with no action. I decided to head to a section of the lake with deep channels and some shallower flats, figuring the fish just had to be somewhere in that smaller part of the lake. I followed a creek channel up shallower hoping to find some willing crappie. I noticed baitfish by one of the shallow ledges and caught the first crappie nearby by 11:15. I paddled across the flat, hoping for another crappie bite, but they just weren't there. I couldn't imagine one crappie being by itself this time of year, so I traced the channel up again without a bite. Hummm? Nothing doing. The wind pushed the kayak across a shallow ditch and the depth finder lit up a school of crappie in the connecting ditch. So, they'd followed the channel up to the ditch, then followed the ditch to a depression on the flat. Bingo! I picked out a big tree on the bank even with the ditch, then lined up a point with an old building across the lake to triangulate the spot. I started getting bit almost every pass. By now, the wind had picked up, so fighting every fish would blow the kayak 40-50 yards off course. I'd have to paddle into the wind beyond the ditch, set my lines, then drift over the ditch, back paddling the entire time to keep the lures at depth and the right speed. It worked. I ended up boating 30 crappie and 3 junior bass (from deeper in the channel) & lost about ten more. Had to quit by 1:30 as the wind picked up and was blowing the kayak too fast too control the lures. The crappie were all between 9-11 inches...not exactly what I was after, but they made my day. It sure beat going to work.

kaboom is the word.

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Jim

Good report and pics. Sure beats work any day! Thanks for sharing.

Certainly beats a day spent at work

Nice image and great report! Thanks for sharing

Wow, great report. Thanks