Yesterday my partner and I heard that using a float and small tube could catch panfish in a wetlands cove. It did to the tune of 20 fish for the two of us. Before that my buddy called me at home asking if we could take out my 12' flat bottom and trolling motor and find similar spots on a private lake I've fished for over 40 years. My fishing logs don't show a whole lot of activity consistently in mid April but I figured it was a nice day to be out so why not.
After casting all over a large shallow flat we finally got 5 decent yellow perch. The fishing as expected was not worth staying out considering the weed growth absent this time of year and that the day before I hit another lake and only caught 10 fish in 7 hours.) I don't know what hit me but at the last minute I suggested going to this wetland (swamp) cove accessible by a shallow channel. A good amount of rain this year allowed the boat to access 2.5' deep water into an hourglass-shaped cove surround by woody brush separating it from the main lake.
I still can't remember having done well there after so many decades, but I must have considering the difficulty of rowing and pushing us into the cove. The shallow water came alive with hundreds of spooked fish. What kinds of fish, we soon found out!
My partner cast a Crappie Magnet and hooked up with fish after fish, the same for me using different soft plastics on light jigs. The first cove produced over 35 fish between us; the second cove over 60 fish. Now, when have you ever heard of a mixed school of fish sitting in the same shallow water? We caught mostly crappie and sunfish (3 species) but also 10 11" bass and a few of the following: yellow perch, a gold shiner and a 12" white perch.
I needed fish for my pond and put 18 of what we caught in a wire basket. I knew that if I went too fast, I could suffocate fish while towing the basket behind the boat but still wasn't sure if any would make it. Must have been the water in the mid 50's and the slow trolling motor speed that allowed all fish to survive the 14-minute trip back home, but they swam off into their new home like they never left it.
My partner will want to go back soon, but in my mind why ruin a good thing? April 10, 2021 will go down as one of the most prolific days of fishing I've ever experienced, unique in the small area and very shallow depth where close to 100 fish slammed our lures! Last year we ht another lake and caught close to 200 fish in one day in early May but in deeper and warmer water.
As usual, I am in complete support of fishing with a partner to help find fish and what fish will bite. We caught fish on 15 different shapes of soft plastics rigged on ball head jigs 1/64 oz - 1/24 oz. 8 lb. test Braid was all we used to cast the light lures over 40' and felt the strikes immediately! Hook sets were a bit tricky at first for my partner because of the small hook gaps so I suggested he not set the hook like for bass meaning: raise the rod tip to the side allowing the fish to begin the hook set from panic and then one more rod tip tug. He immediately caught 6 crappies on six consecutive casts! Always glad to help a partner.
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