It was going to be a tough day of fishing.  My mind was on countless bills I had to pay when I get back to the house and a lawn I had left unmowed.  The next two hours were all mine though.  My fishing buddy had called and said "Lets" and I responded "Go" so we loded up the truck and headed off to Logan Martin Lake near Birmingham Alabama.

 I wanted to test out some new Wooly Buggers I had made to see if they would be an effective lure.  We were determined and had ourselves a game plan.  This day we would be very mobile.  We were not going to spend more than thirty seconds at any log and  absolutely no more than ten minutes in any ons spot.  We had gotten that idea from watching some of those "Stars" of the outdoor fishing shows.  We checked to light, feeding conditions, oxygen levels etc and decided on using my copper colored wooly for this outing.

 Old john, was a perfectionist.  He wanted to use a contour map, thermometer, polarized glasses and any other high technical tool he could find in the boat.  Me, I just wanted some shade and some wood.  I wanted shade because I figured those crappies were as hot as me and looking for a place to cool off, and some wood because I once heard the quote "If you are not fishing wood then you really are no good!"

 All of a sudden, (Yes I was fishing slow...a very slow presentation) the boat started to move and we did not have the trolling motor on.  Instinctively I set the hook.  I was about to have a major thrill of my life.  This was not a one pound crappie!  No sir, not even a pound and a hald crappie.

 You see, I had an anntactor jig and the wooly in double tandom.  I let it float among the woods and was in a slow retrieve when the boat started to move.  This baby was going to be at least two pounds!!!!  She could not resist the temptation to fight like a madman.  I guess those crappies knew that if you landed in Shipahoy's boat, you were headed to Lake Crisco.

 Then I looked into her eyes and weighed her on my scales.  She was 2.7 pounds a personal best for me.  I had no camera.   Boy I wanted to take her back and mount her on the wall.  She looked at me again.  It was is if she was singing the James Brown song.  Please. Please. Please. Please let me go.

 I kissed her goodby and remembered the time I had to Hold on tight.

Crappie