Thread: Another after work trip, 10-5

The clock is ticking on fall, folks. Starting to get some color, but only in the swamps. I don't expect a great foliage year between the gypsy moths and the excessive rain. The oaks took a beating from the gypsy moths, lots of leaf damage that has been visible all summer long so I don't think they'll be looking like much compared to other recent years.





Here is a little wider shot of the same area.



I pushed off from shore at 3:45 in to some calmer conditions than I've had recently. Air temperature at 65, water temp between 62-63. The curly tail Southern Pro grub in blue/black/chartreuse seemed like it was gonna be the hot lure of the night; 3 fish right off the bat in the first 6-7 minutes. A 10" perch, average bluegill, nice crappie, in that order.





I think I caught 2 more fish with it for the rest of my trip. Other lures would do better tonight, those with some white in them would be the better choice. Lots of quality crappie again tonight, mostly 10" on up to 12" would come in to the boat. Here's a few of them:







For the most part, I found them suspended just above the thermocline (at about 22') in deeper water, from 25-30'. Slow trolling was my method as there was a bit too much breeze to hover over any schools. Actually, most of the schools seemed to deliver bluegill to the boat while the crappie were just here and there. The few times I was able to sit on a school, up would come a nice bluegill, most of them in the 8"+ class, really nice ones. They are such a blast to catch! Picked up 2 hard fighting 'gills from this bunch in the picture below.



I called it a night at 6:20 as the breeze was building and the bite was tapering off as well. I'd done pretty well, with about a dozen each of the bluegill and crappie, along with 2 nice perch of about 10" each.

You’ve got some great crappie in CT. The fish in VT seem to be smaller on average, or possibly I specialize in catching little ones.