Had the chance to fish with a good friend and a couple who are his great friends. My buddy has only fished cranks with me once, his friends never. Actually they have very little crappie experience.
We met at Lake Barkley with the threat of bad weather mid day. They had a 3 hour drive there then back home. The pressure was on me to produce and do it quick. I took them to a spot close to our chosen launch site. I did my normal explanation of the gear and tactics and we dropped the Pico cranks over the sides.
It didn’t take long to set a pattern for the day when we hooked a pair of slimers (catfish) on the first pass and my clients showed they were just as excited with the cats as they would be crappie. It didn’t take long to get the crappie in the game and in the cooler.
The highlight of the day was a triple when each fisherman hooked up on nice crappie. I was lucky enough to be able to net the fish individually rather than the logistics of having to net them all at once.
The action stayed steady until the usual lake lice started to take the area back from us. A quick visit to a back-up spot proved to be a lesson in futility since the jets skis, tritoons, and large cruisers had the area mixed up like the ocean. We decided to call it a day at 21 keeper crappie and a mixture of 12 blue and channel catfish. Happy clients/ happy me.
Had to show a pic of my next trolling boat. I seriously doubt I’ll have competition for chosen spots but putting rod holders on it may be a challenge. It’s an ocean-going cruiser with home port of Montego Bay, Jamaica.