Sounds like you had a succesful night. Catching a few,watching fire works and spending time with some friends! Maybe next time you will fill the cooler with crappies. Thanks for the post!
Well it happened, Myself and MurrayCrappieHunter teamed up for some nighstalking on Murray. Was it a good idea to try the 4th of July for this first tag team? Not really.....:D
Lets just say that my thoughts of "not many ppl working Monday" weren't true at all. We set up over a brush pile that MurrayCrappieHunter and his grandad had been catching the majority of their fish on. We got rocked and rolled till dark and then it quited down except for the fireworks and party going on at a house close by.
We cut our lights on and kept fishing. Let me add to those on the board that I've discussed lighting with...the lights worked awesome... so awesome that they were blinding some fella on the bank trying to watch fireworks 80 foot in the air. He actually asked if we could turn off the lights :o I turned the boat around so as not to stir up any trouble but it did kind of make my blood boil a little bit. I told MCH that he must not have lights in his home if the 50 watt bulbs were "blinding him" and besides that, the fireworks he was trying to watch were through some trees! People, people, people...
We brought in a lot of bait, but the crappie weren't there. We boated 5 fish with only 1 being a keeper. I'm not sure if it was the fireworks going off over our heads, literally, or just all the boat traffic from the holiday, but the crappie just didn't seem to be there. O well, me and Jeremy had a blast and learned a few things... we are ready to try it again sometime!
Sidenote: in a hand full of times of trying to nightstalk this is the first time I've actually caught a crappie so I consider is a great success and a step in the right direction :D
Hooking up every chance I get!
Sounds like you had a succesful night. Catching a few,watching fire works and spending time with some friends! Maybe next time you will fill the cooler with crappies. Thanks for the post!
Ditto! CB, it was good to get to go and check out all the installs you did for your nightstalk. Now you know where ya stand and what still needs to be adjusted...if anything. IMO the crappie would probably be shaking in their skins with all the boat traffic over the weekend. It may take a few days/weeks for 'em to get over it but atleast now you know you can (and will) catch fish at night. Sounds like youre ready for alot of night time fun come this fall.
Oh...BTW...I woulda just ignored the guy on the bank. He could go to his front yard if my light was blinding him.:rolleyes: If that 50 watt bulb was bright to him just imagine what he'd a thought when I turned the Brinkman on!:D
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
MurrayCrappieHunter's mom snapped this picture as they were riding by on the pontoon. We getting all setup before dark. You can see the light set-up if you look closely. I clamped on on the trolling motor bracket and it shines straight out the front of the boat right under my rods.
On the back I clamped them right behind the driver and passenger seat and they shine to either side of the motor where there is a two-rod holder on each side. I had 1 75-watt bulb in the back, and 1 50-watt to see the difference, and 1 50 watt up front. I think 75's all the way around would do better because the light output is a good bit more.
On a side note, the 50-watt bulbs brought in virtually no bugs and a little bait while the 75-watt bulbs brought in bugs and more bait. I'm debating on whether to just use the 50-watts with less light so we don't have to deal with the bugs! haha
Hooking up every chance I get!
We had a blast out there on the lake... Hey gotta look at it this way. If we could catch 5 with all the boat traffic and fireworks, just think of what we woulda done with them on a calm night. It was a fun Learning experience... Nothin like a good buddy, fishin, and a cold one... Lookin forward to our next trip after the sunset...
PS... We did get a great firework show to watch if nothing else. Not to mention it was free one...:D
Good to see you got a few and now you know that they can be caught at night :DGood report and sounds like a good time on the lake
PROUD MEMBER OF TEAM GEEZER ---------
Ascend 133X 13' - MotorGuide Xi3 & Mercury 4
Hey CB, glad you guys had a good time out there. We also went out on Murray the same night. Went back up Little River to the little spot I told you about. Needless to say, fireworks blasted until well after midnight. We fished until about 3am. The only Crappie we caught was a 4-incher in the cast net. We did however land a 3 pound catfish.
ALSO... I think you may have jinxed me on the Gar there. Had only got hit by 2 in 10 trips, and this time got hit 10-times, and landed 4 of them and one.
At least we saw a little action, but not what we were looking for. Just too much commotion going on, I think the fish were scattered.
May try again once the holiday traffic calms down.
~Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught~
Sounds like you had a good time, and those crappie will fry up just fine. :D
Nothing like a good time on the water regardless of how many are caught.