Miserable day weather wise. Was 35 when we launched with 15mph winds and 25mph gusts. Water temps 44*. We spent an hour in the channel where we launched and my dad caught what would be the biggest crappie of the day at 11". I have to laugh. (Dad is 80 and I just ignore the things he does) I told him I bought (2) two piece 12' Mr. Crappie combos for us. He went and bought (2) 12 or 14ft telescopic rods. I asked him what those were for. He said crappie. I said they look like they are for surf fishing. He says I think they are the carp rods they use in England. I specifically bought him a 12 crappie rod but he would have nothing of it and have to bring his own 12ft rod. Anyway, we headed out to the lake after that. Tooled around for 2 hours freezing our asses off looking for schools of fish. I was ready to call it a day at 10 this morning after 3 hours and 1 fish. Dad said lets go fish the channel some more but lets fish on the other side of the ramp. Ok, we head back and park ourselves on the other side of the ramp. There's about 50 yards of channel from the ramp to a spillway. I talked him out of using the telescopic rods and to just use his 6ft spinning combo's. So, I lose a crappie near the boat right away. Bite is extremely light. Dad nails a few and I'm still shooting blanks. I have a dead minnow on the hook and I'm twitching the line. Dad asks "Is that a bite?" I said no, my minnow is dead. Dad tells me to put on a fresh minnow, and immediately after that I land my first crappie on the dead minnow.We stayed in the same spot for the next 4 hours. I brought home 6 crappies and a 15" bass. We caught 10 crappies, a dozen or so small perch, a dozen or so bass, around 100 small bluegills, and a gizzard shad. For as shitty as the day started, it ended up not too shabby. For the last hour of the day, the guy who owns the dock we were Taloned down in front of comes down from his house with a bunch of rods. Dad says "We got some competition" I've had issues with people on this lake before fishing in front of their docks. Not this guy. Very friendly. Talked to us for an hour or so about fishing and he never wet a line. He was probably 15 years my senior and 15 years my dads junior. He brought up the time Iconelli fished the lake. I said I remember that because Ike fished a charity tournament, the day prior, at a nearby lake, that my son worked security at. Dad talked with this guy about walleyes on Erie, fishing in Alabama with snakes, fishing in South Carolina with alligators, my dad and deceased brothers trip fishing with Bill Dance in TN, and my dad told him about his favorite trip of all time which was last year when we killed the smallies in Sturgeon Bay. Dad called it at 2:10 this afternoon. We headed to the ramp which was only 20 yards from us. I dock the boat starboard but, mind you there is current on my starboard. Dad is a little too slow to get on the dock and I had to bear hug him and pull him back in the boat so he wouldn't land in the drink with his legs split like a wishbone. Don't know how much time dad has left on this earth. I do know he loves fishing and I can give that to him.
Nothing exciting. Pics of today's take home and pics of my son at the charity tournament from a few years back.
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Originally Posted by pantherdad
