The blooming of the
Dogwood Trees are always the sign that the crappie has begun to spawn here in
the Deep South. I’ve been noticing the Dogwood buds but no bloom
yet. That didn’t keep me from joining one of my fishing buddies the other day
to test the waters for some slab crappie.
My 7 ½ ft. microlight
spinning rod paired with the Pflueger President XT spinning reel is perfect to
handle big crappie. I’m using 4 lb. test vanish line with a small curly tail shad
jig to duplicate small minnows. The balance of this rod makes it effortless to
cast for distance and accuracy. Using the micro light combo parallels the light
7 ½ to 8 ft. fly rods.
The dark male crappie is
one beautiful fish in the early spring.
All the crappie today was landed using the micro. I had the 4 wt. fly
rod with me but the wind was too strong to get a dissent case in place; in
other words, my patience has worn thin dealing with the gust coming from all
directions.
The in results, using my
new fish cleaning table from Bass Pro Shops; these ten beauties yielded 40
mouth-watering fillets.
The blooming of the
Dogwood Trees are always the sign that the crappie has begun to spawn here in
the 
Hi Bill, Nice post. I really enjoyed it. I'm an enthusiastic fly fisherman for trout and landlocks but I much prefer spin gear for warm water fishing. I have more than a few bamboo flyrods which I combine with silk lines and antique skeleton reels for trout. I have a f/g Zebco short rod (with large white ceramic ring guides) that I fish with a Garcia CAP spinning reel. Spinning simplifies casting into the wind. I'm 78 yrs old and no longer have the energy and endurance to fly cast into the wind for hours. I don't kill trout but I sure do enjoy eating calicoes and walleye.
ReplyDeleteYes Bill the work begins after the fish are caught. Well worth the effort I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteWind definitely puts a damper on fly fishing. Good start.
ReplyDeleteJohn
ReplyDeleteI understand the endurance factor, even more now that I'm getting older. A four hour trip is usually my limit these days----BUT if the fish are biting like crazy I might stay an extra hour or two.
I've been fishing light spinning gear for over 40 years; even before the tackle industry started to discover ultra light fishing. The ultra light spinning gear is my go to tackle when I'm not using the fly rod. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment
Alan
ReplyDeleteYes it's work after you've been on the water for 4 or 5 hours and then spent another hour dressing fish-----but it is worth it when you sink your teeth into the tasty baked fillets. Thanks for the comment
Mark
ReplyDeleteI know you experience a lot wind fishing the lakes you fish there, especially if you are using the float tube---a pain in the butt!!! Thanks for the comment
I've actually begun to think about tossing my ultralight spinning rod a little bit this season. I used to really enjoy that before I got into fly fishing. No slab crappie, but maybe some gills or a fat trout!
ReplyDeleteHoward
ReplyDeleteThe fly rod and the ultra light are the only tackle I used now. I enjoy landing fish with the ultra light, but my first love is the fly rod. I would give the ultra light a try on Clear Creek, might be surprise what it would yield. Thanks for the comment
Oh man.....hard to beat crappie fillets. Nice fish!
ReplyDeleteRalph
ReplyDeleteThe Cadillac of all warm water fish to eat---thanks for the comment
wow...
ReplyDeleteawesome.
Science
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and glad you enjoyed the post! Thanks for the comment