Congrats on a productive evening
I went back to that pond I fished about a week ago that was so high and muddy last time. Air temp at 85 and water temperature was 76. Very hazy and mostly calm air; the haze is from the fires out west and you could actually smell the smoke, too.
I have to row over a good size patch of grass to get to the deeper water on this pond. As I was going over this grass, a good size snapping turtle (12-13" diameter shell) bobbed to the surface ahead of me with a good size fish in it's mouth. I've never seen that before and stood up to get a better look. Turned out to be a good size crappie, perhaps 8" or so; turtle had the fish's head down his throat. He submerged down on to the top of the weeds where I could see him. By the time I got the camera out he had disappeared so no picture but that was pretty neat to see.
I pretty much trolled along on the same line I did last time but my results were much better.
Lots of bluegill like these 2 were caught and released last night. That 1/32 oz. Roadrunner with the blue/black/chartreuse tail was a winner last night. The orange colors that worked so well on Saturday morning didn't do so well today. They did get a few here and there but I felt the fish might be looking for a something other than the orange hue. I clipped on a Southern Pro curly tail in the same color scheme as above; turned out to be a good choice. I also clipped on the green/white tail stinger that I use so often and would leave that on for most of the trip as well as it landed bluegill, crappie and 3 large yellow perch of about 11".
What little breeze I had to deal with died off for good shortly after 7 and the water became flat and calm. The crappie began to bite about that time and all 3 lures would begin to bring crappie in to the boat. Some casting around was tried and some fish were caught but trolling seemed to work the best.
For the most part, crappie would be 9-11", no real small ones tonight. Totals for the night would be upwards of 30 'gills and pumpkinseeds, 10 or 12 crappie and 4 yellow perch, 3 of them very nice as mentioned above. I left them biting at 8pm and headed for home.
Yes, I was talking to myself; sometimes even I have to ask for expert advice.
Congrats on a productive evening
The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along
Congratulations again. You are having a banner year thus far. Hope it continues for you. Keep it up. Tight lines.
That's a busy evening. Way to go.
Nice to see such a great evening of fishing!
I know what you mean about the smoke and high water -- it's the same here in southern Vermont. Oddly the rest of the state is in a pretty bad drought, but we've been inundated with rain down here near the Mass border.
Unfortunately, I've been having a hard time finding crappie on the Connecticut River here. Just one yesterday, about 9". They are not in the regular places I used to catch them. Seems like a continuation of last Fall. I did notice that the one crappie I caught yesterday did have evidence of Camallanus worms. And I found that the crappies I caught last year had them, too. I wonder if that is causing the reduction in numbers? Or maybe I'm just not fishing right!