A Day At Fairy Lake With Very Hungry Crappie
It had been well over a week since I last went fishing. That’s a week too long without getting a line wet. With the forecast for this past holiday weekend looking like a lot of rain I had just about resigned myself to another weekend off the water.
However, the rain and predicted storms didn’t come in as strong as the chimps working at the weather station said they would and this morning we decided to hook up the boat and head to Fairy Lake in Acton to try for some crappie.
The big motor on the boat is still not working properly but since Fairy Lake does not allow gas motors we were good to go with only the electric trolling motor.
The cloudy skies and gusting wind made me a little apprehensive about heading out but once the boat was in the water my apprehensions were gone and all I could think about was catching some fish.
With it being our first trip in the boat this year I’ll admit we took even more tackle than ordinary. All the new rods and lures picked up over the winter needed to be tested, even if only for a short while.
The water temp was a nice 66F and it didn’t take long before I had our first bite, a real nice crappie suspending off the spawning flat, that attacked my white Strike King Mini King spinner with such zeal I thought I’d hooked into a much bigger fish.
My first crappie out of the boat this year.
I have never had a crappie hit on a Mini King before but my next five casts landed another two crappie. The bite was on!
With the wind working against us we had no choice but to let the boat drift down the shoreline and as we drifted we came across a stump with an extensive root system and crappie all around it. This area became the focal point of our morning as we would do our best to slowly drift by it, fight the wind to get to the top, and drift by again.
The Hot Spot - I don't think the geese were too pleased with us hogging the stump because they made a beeline towards it the moment we drifted by.
Tossing the Mini King, Rapala X-raps, a variety of jigs…you name it, chances are we tried it…the crappie hit on almost everything. The storm front moving in had really turned the fish on and gave us a heck of an awesome day of fishing.
One thing we have noticed on Fairy Lake is that, for crappie, a jig with pink and white always produces. To that end Darrell spent much of his time tossing a pink jig with a white hair body and I tossed a small pink tube with a white tail. The results were extraordinary.
Darrell with a nice crappie.
I lost count after I had caught 20 crappie, a couple rock bass and had a big battle with a sunfish. In the end I think we caught over 60 fish by tossing our jigs into structure and slowly pulling them along to deeper water. We pulled some fish off of their beds but most were suspending a little further out.
The wind began to pick up and the clouds looked even more ominous as we started to put stuff away. Both of us were reluctant to leave such a great bite so we tried one more area near the boat ramp. While I stayed with my pink tube, Darrell had switched over to a 1/32 oz pink jig-head with a tiny white grub twister tail. I was reeling in my jig when I heard Darrell’s line snap. I quickly turned around to see what had managed to break him off and saw the look of disbelief on his face and the shaking hands. I knew it was big and for the next five minutes listened to him tell me about the giant crappie that got away.
After a few more casts and a few more fish I felt we needed to get in before the bad weather hit. Darrell, as usual, told me he just wanted a few more casts. Since I just had another bite I really couldn’t argue. I released my fish and took another cast when I heard, “I’m in trouble. Oh boy, I’m in trouble.”
I turned around to see Darrell’s light action rod bent right over and knew he had something big on the end of that 4lb line. Did I reach for the net to make sure he landed the fish? Nope. I reached for the camera to make sure I could get a pic! Fortunately, Darrell managed to land what turned out to be a nice largemouth bass. Since they’re still out of season in these parts we took a real quick picture and got it back in the water.
A nice fish to end the day!
It was an incredible day out on the water. As usual, Fairy Lake lived up to expectations. The crappie in there are a blast to fish for year-round. It felt like going home to be in the boat again and I had a great time playing with all my new gear. Despite thunderstorms and pouring rain later in the day, today turned out to be a perfect holiday Monday!
argosgirl
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Great post! Thanks for sharing. Crappie fishing is fun when you find the right spot. Glad Darrell was able to get the Bass in hand, if only, temporarily.
Thanks Mel! I love crappie fishing, they always make for a good day on the water.
Nice! They have turned on around here too!