Last Day of Summer

jigngrub

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Mar 19, 2011
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8,155
Since yesterday was the last day of summer I decided to spend it on the water and terrorize some fish.

It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine with Bluebird skies and a high of 85*F.

I didn't have my hopes set too high on catching many fish because of the clear skies and warm temps, but the power company generation schedule said they were going to pull water with 2 units and I knew that might help a little.

Water temp was 79*F when I arrived at 10:30 am (generation start up was 10:00) and there was a southwest breeze of about 5 mph.

The parking lot was half full at the ramp and there were a few boats in the area, but everybody was fishing.

The bite was slow to start out but picked up a little after 2:00.

I watched an older guy (older than me) on the other side of the creek and he was fishin' hard and not catching anything. He had his marker buoy out and casting to it and working his jig meticously while fighting the variable breeze with his trolling motor, I kinda felt sorry for the poor guy because he was working so hard.

I was trolling back and forth over my hidden underwater point, just by looking at the shore line you'd never know it was there until you ride over it in the boat and see it on the sonar. I was catching the occasional fish at the 8-10' depth on the point as it sloped up from the 16' surrounding depth.

Jig color was important, they only wanted the yellow and white combo called Acid Rain, I pulled some other colors and got 2 fish on the green and yellow Lemon Lime, but the Acid rain was the ticket. Trolling speed was slow at .7-.9 mph, they wouldn't hit anything faster than that.

After about 3 hrs. that guy that had been fishing the other side of the creek had had enough and was idiling back out (very considerate) and passed by me just as I was reeling in a nice size Crappie. I heard a rather emphatic "Hurmff!" and turned to look at him and smiled, he turned his head quickly and continued on his way. I know he was thinking how in the heck was I catching fish in the bright sunshine in what looked like open water when he couldn't catch any in the shade around structure. If he had stopped to talk I'd have told him what I was doing and how I was doing it, but I guess he wasn't in that good of a mood.

I didn't see anybody else catch any fish, but most were Bass fishing.

When I quit at 4:00 pm I had 15 Crappie in the livewell with none under 10", I also caught 2 chunky Spotted bass about 2 lbs. each, 2 dink Spots, and a 16" Striped Bass (all released when caught).

Now for the fish porn:

The livewell:
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The 2 best of the day:
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Cooler shot:
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It was a beautiful day to be out and I was pleasantly surprised at the number and size of fish I caught.
 

WIMUSKY

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Staff member
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Sep 26, 2009
Messages
19,897
Re: Last Day of Summer

Those are some really nice looking slabs right there..... Hope to get out next week when the air temp warms up to around 60. I would guess the lake temp to be in the upper 50's.
 

sschefer

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Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
4,530
Re: Last Day of Summer

Nice report and a nice bunch a crappie! Lake Sonoma has Crappie but I've never fished them. I fished them as a kid once but my Dad was a die hard trout/steelhead guy and wouldn't have anything to do with them. I love to fish and my Dad was my vehicle for the most part so I never fished them again. I'm going to have to broaden my scope a bit now. Just looking at those I'm pretty sure I'll get over the stigma quick.

I know what you mean about the poor guy wearing his arm out. Pretty much the same thing happened to me this morning. I felt sorry for the guys but hey, what are you going to do. Some see it as stuborness, fisherman see it as relentless persistence. I'm guilty! Maybe they'll read my report here or on Fish Sniffer.
 

ngt

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
874
Re: Last Day of Summer

I like fishing for crappie. Never trolled for them, but a small jig, bobber, and tiny split shot always worked like a charm. A buddy of mine fills 5 gallon buckets up with 14-15 inchers in Yreka regularly. We usually did ok out in Petaluma, but nothing worth bragging about. They're good eating. imo..
 

jigngrub

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Mar 19, 2011
Messages
8,155
Re: Last Day of Summer

Those are some really nice looking slabs right there..... Hope to get out next week when the air temp warms up to around 60. I would guess the lake temp to be in the upper 50's.

Your fish should be on fire with water temps like that, they should be gorging themselves for the winter ahead.

Nice report and a nice bunch a crappie! Lake Sonoma has Crappie but I've never fished them. I fished them as a kid once but my Dad was a die hard trout/steelhead guy and wouldn't have anything to do with them. I love to fish and my Dad was my vehicle for the most part so I never fished them again. I'm going to have to broaden my scope a bit now. Just looking at those I'm pretty sure I'll get over the stigma quick.

Crappie really are excellent table fare. I know trout is too, but Crappie are a lighter white meat fish.

I enjoy fishing for them because they can be a challenge to catch when they're not in the spring spawning run.

They aren't that much of a fight to bring in unless you get a big one, but I catch some good size Bass, Catfish, and Striped Bass that are a real challenge to get to the boat on the ultra light Crappie tackle and they make the trip interesting too.
 
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