Rinse and Repeat

I was thrilled last week to revisit what three years ago I thought would be my second (catch a) 1000 crappie hole on my summer crappie lake and find them loaded up in there, again. There was too much wish and not enough reality three years ago-the approximate 5 acres of crappie holding water isn't a heat of summer comfortable area. They'll likely clear out when (if) the heat ever gets here, just as they did three years ago. And why I've no logs or recollection of checking it in 2024 or 2025 probably relates to hotter fishing elsewhere, as well as this crappie acreage being one of the longest hikes that I make. Also why it tends to be my private crappie hole. People want everything easy anymore. They aren't going to hike that far to catch fish. Still, while I generally stand in the water my foot traffic back there is becoming pretty obvious and pointing to "something good's going on". Should the stars align and an experienced crappie fisherman wander back there, stop, and put together the pieces of the puzzle.

This is also some of the most boring water. Until you live back there for awhile and begin putting together everything using equations relative to the size of a crappie. Not a human. No brush. Flat mud. Probably not more than 6 feet deepest point. But a ditch runs into the lake from the woods. It's silted in, the part of the bottom that I can observe. But I'm betting it's not silted in where I'm catching them. So, a 12 inch deep ditch probably not 12 inches wide though, for crappie that are 4-5 inches "tall". Think about that-relative to their height that's a wall of security taller than the walls of your home. Then, while there's no brush, aquatic weeds grow in the mud. Luckily, back here they don't seem that fertile so they grow in taller patches from the weak carpet of aquatic weeds that's fairly consistent. And there's your crappie resort. A tiny ditch they can drop into, and patches of underwater aquatic weeds that may be as high as a couple of feet some patches. I can think like a crappie-I'd buy a lot of real estate in this area under those conditions. Here's a picture that I took lining my bobber up with a tree across the lake in relation to one of the weed patches.

I've learned a lot...a lot! About crappie in general this year, that I hadn't figured out yet. On the other hand, without some kind of cheater box to see under the water, I'll never know if I'm exactly right, That's the mystery and magic of "hard work fishing" And that part that I'll probably never know is what's going on with the clown car. What's the clown car effect? Crappie and especially blacks, school. Socialize big time. My goodness I can't believe how many crappie can populate a patch of underwater weeds the size of my small deck. It's as predictable as sunrise this year, I'm going to catch 3-4 from a patch of weeds and either they're getting the 411 and closing their mouths, requiring me to cast to another patch of weeds with a clown car of crappie waiting, or they're moving to the next patch of weeds in their clown car.

And this year is also more satisfying than 2023 because of the statistics. In 2023 I was catching over 100 in about six hours but there were a lot of Pedros (small ones). Three of four outings I'm more likely to fish about four hours anymore-it's an age thing. So while even the average is less crappie per hour this year, the size is exceeding what I could catch on Mark Twain Lake or Lake of the Ozarks on many days.

Crappie are moody. Three primary techniques I have to use to catch them-only one usually working a particular day. Crappie are terrible parents. I'm catching most of the table steak fillet parents early. Then more of the catch gets smaller. Because adult crappie are going to eat first. The kids get the leftovers.

My logs indicate I may only have another week or two of fun at this crappie resort. But I follow complex meteorology for fishing planning purposes. Rare Arctic blasts are forecast to the end of the month. That may keep 'em in place.