We finally hit on a day that one can call the fishing exceptional. It started off looking to be a dud but a change in tactics paid off big time. We started fishing on small bays with fairly deep water nearby and found water temps in the 54 degree range holding few fish. As the sun got higher it seemed that fishing picked up but nothing close to being good. I kept eyeballing the shoreline across the lake seeing plenty of trees laying over into the water in moderately deep water. We motored over to where this structure got started, found water in the 60 degree range down to 8 feet and it was game on from the first cast. In 200 yards of shoreline we managed to boat around 120 crappies inside of two hours. Most were 11 1/2" to 12 1/2" fish with only a few shorties tossed in. Right at 11 the heat set down on the lake and the fish stopped hitting so we got off the water before the idiots showed up with their jet skies and water skies.
Water temperature was the key today in a big way. The fallen trees offered some shaded water to boot and that was the frosting. When we first found the good bite it was a purple/chartreuse tail 1.5" Thump-It. As the sun got higher that switched to a partycrasher clear glitter/chartreuse tail 1.5" Thump-It. Pretty simple presentation under a small mini-stealth float on a 1/32 collar-less ballhead of Do-It ilk.
I tried a new rod today. A St. Croix Panfish Special. 6'9" ultralight action. I noticed I was having a bit of trouble getting more than 25 feet of cast distance and started checking the reel's spool for a line loop when my buddy asked what kind of float I had on. Looking to see what he was referring to I see the top 2 1/2" of the rod broke off clean as a whistle and wound around the line and rest of the rod. I bought the rod at Scheels and stopped by there after getting home and came back with a new replacement. I have no idea what the heck happened but the store was great to work with.
We have a couple days of rain forecast now so we'll have to see what that does to water levels but unless something radical comes about this nice bite should hold together for a couple weeks.
