I fly-fished a public pond during lunch today. Water clarity was not good. With the sun shining, I could
sort of make out some rocks that were about 18” deep...barely. Water
color is sort of a gray. Don’t know where all that dirt came from…water
was really clear there earlier this year, and this place is surrounded by acres of mowed grass.
I was hoping for some nice bluegills. I caught one
small bluegill, one nice bluegill. I also caught 4 crappies…12”, 11”, a
female I didn’t measure but it was at least 11”…and a 14.5”!! Half-inch
shy of a Master Angler Award!!! Dang! They were all beautiful fish,
except the big one’s tail was kind of ragged from fanning a nest.
I’m flabbergasted that I caught 4 crappies from that
pond! I could probably count on one hand the number of crappies I catch out of this pond each year. It IS the same pond I caught (and released) the 14-incher from last year,
though. Experience paid off in locating the crappies…but I’m sure there are other
places in the pond that might have a few more.
I used a microjig for the first crappie and the bluegills. For the remaining 3 crappies, I set the microjig about 24" below an indicator.
Here's the first crappie, a 12" male White Crappie with the dark spawning coloration:
And then the 11" male (an 11" crappie in any of the public ponds is a NICE crappie, btw):
And then the lighter-colored female White Crappie:
And finally...the BEAST 14.5" male White Crappie:
Dave
ReplyDeleteThose are some nice crappie, I have to try the microjig, catching those crappie on the fly is like landing bass. Man those are nice!!!!
Very nice crappie! My largest was last year first of April in a pond that once was an old gravel pit, heavilly stocked with trout, one of those places they do not belong as the summer temps are too warm. I was after carp, but they were in an inaccessible spot only 30 yd. away. No crappie master me, but a small, size 8, black woolly bugger on a clear I line took what I estimate a 14" fish. No other crappie, just those trout. When I do target them, after finding them accidently most often, a #4 white/orange Clouser Deep Minnow is my best fly so far. Like I say, not a crappie master.
ReplyDeleteGregg
The biggest crappie I've ever caught was 16"... But this 14.5-incher beats my previous "fly-rod best crappie" by 1/2 inch!
ReplyDelete