Thread: Almost crappie skunked, 6-20

We've had record heat here the last few days so of course it's the perfect time for an after work trip, right? 870 and I talked it over and I headed over to his place and we launched his boat about 5:30 PM on one of his local ponds with hopes to put some crappie on ice and to check out his new sonar set up for the guy in the back of the boat which is often me.



It took us a while to figure it out but it's a great addition for the back deck guy for knowing depth and all the rest. We still need to watch some more video's on the DI side of things but the 2d was great. I'm happier with 2d anyway as I use it more in my own fishing than the DI.
Anyway, we had air temps right at 90 at waters edge and the water in this fairly shallow lake was around 88 at the surface. We were in to fish right away, literally first cast for each of us and we had good action all night, just wasn't the right species.



Lots of these guys, a few perch but mostly bluegill, some pretty good at 7"+ long; hard fighting and eager to bite. It wasn't until we were about 2/3rds the way through the trip that the 1st crappie topped the surface and it wasn't attached to my rod as usual. It would be the only one of the night and at about 9", as well as the only one thus far, he got a reprieve.
We had near dead calm conditions for most of the evening, with some pretty clouds to the north:



And to the west:



Had a few mutters of thunder way, way off in the distance to the west that posed no threat.
We were still calm at 7:50 but at that point we could hear and see the wind coming. Within about 5 minutes, the trolling motor at near full speed was just barely holding us in place. We exchanged looks and quickly agreed that it was time to go. I held us in place with the TM as 870 had a bit of a time getting the gas motor to catch but it finally did and we landed back at the beach just a few minutes later without issue. Before that front blew in the lighting from the west was just awesome in my opinion. Those sunbeams were just intense, I'm glad I had a chance to capture them.




A total of 67 fish got unhooked and all were returned for another time. After getting back to the garage, we spent a good hour playing with the Hook 7 in simulator mode trying to get a handle on it for next time. I think we made progress but I'll watch some more videos on the how-to before the next trip.

Good trip. I will take a lot of action no matter what the species. Good luck with learning the new sonar. They are a great tool.