Thread: Friday night fun, 10-8

I bailed out from work a little early to take advantage of a warm, calm day that simply said "go fishing"! I pushed off from shore at 3:30 with an air temp of 65 and water temps around 64. I started a bit shallower than usual, figuring the water might be warmer in the shallower contours. Thought I was on the right track as I picked up a nice 11" perch and a good 8" bluegill just a couple minutes in to my trip. Both went in to the cooler on ice.





But that would be it for in shallow, kinda surprised me. Other than a small pickerel, there wasn't much to be found there. I moved out in to the deeper water where I'd been having success recently and clipped on the 1/16 oz. baits. That's where I found them once again, suspended over 25-30' of water, still hanging out just at the thermocline at 22' for the most part. Big bluegill to start but the crappie were not far behind.









Those are a sample of what came home with me, all 11-12" beauties, no juniors to throw back tonight. That 'gill was a 9"er, most of them from the deeper water went 8"+, but most were returned since the crappie bite was so good. I had a great time with both species until I called it night at 6:15 as the bite had dropped off and the breeze was getting to be a wind once again.

All told, I kept 12 crappie, 4 'gills and 3 yellow perch. Most of these will go to others who don't fish but enjoy eating them. I'll try to get one more trip of keeping in and should be pretty well set for the winter. That is, provided I get out a time or 2 ice fishing and can bring home a few from those trips to add to the stash.

Nice job. That is a nice catch to bring home.