The end of the semester kept me incredibly busy and, hence, off the water. Then the weather foiled my fishing plans over the past week. But finally, Friday was looking decent so Mary May convinced me to load up the gear and take her fishing. Although it was tough to get out of my warm cozy bed (even my dog Brewer didn't seem to want to get up), I was excited to hit the lake. We bundled up and headed south.
Mary May had never been crappie fishing before and I knew the minnow fishing experience would be fun for her (and I). So, after a quick stop at the Wilsonville General Store we pulled up to the Seaforth launch and were on the water shortly after - around 1:40 PM. To make things even more interesting, the depth finder was still rigged for my old kayak, so she got to learn to read the fish finder for the day. We paddled out toward the HWY 64 bridge. There were 3 boats in that vicinity already and we decided to stop about a hundred yards away in an area I thought would be pretty good based on location of the river channel, depth, and a hump on the lake floor. Additionally, the wind was blowing under the bridge and it allowed for a nice drift down the old river channel with some subtle paddle adjustments.
Mary May had never been crappie fishing before and I knew the minnow fishing experience would be fun for her (and I). So, after a quick stop at the Wilsonville General Store we pulled up to the Seaforth launch and were on the water shortly after - around 1:40 PM. To make things even more interesting, the depth finder was still rigged for my old kayak, so she got to learn to read the fish finder for the day. We paddled out toward the HWY 64 bridge. There were 3 boats in that vicinity already and we decided to stop about a hundred yards away in an area I thought would be pretty good based on location of the river channel, depth, and a hump on the lake floor. Additionally, the wind was blowing under the bridge and it allowed for a nice drift down the old river channel with some subtle paddle adjustments.
Mary May was ready to drop some minnows!We got set up and dropped our minnows. No sooner did my minnow get set than I saw my rod tip bobbing and I set the hook into a nice crappie that measured 11.75". I thought I had the first fish of the day, but just as I landed my fish I turned around to see Mary May reeling one in as well. Her crappie, the first she ever caught, was 13.6" and a really chunky fish. Both fish went on the stringer and we dropped our baits again. Within minutes we caught two more nice fish - both right around 11". We tossed them back and repeated the process. The bite was steady for us both for quite some time.
A beautiful afternoon on Jordan LakeAround 3:50 PM the wind really started to die down, which seems to never happen to me on Jordan. The bite slowed a little, so we moved up close to the bridge pilings and were catching fish very regularly, but most were just under 10". Finally, we started getting into some nicer fish and boated quite a few that were right at or over 11".
MM cutting through the calm waterAround 5:10 PM we headed back to the launch, packed up, and hit the road. It got cold awfully quick as the sun set. We caught somewhere between 30-35 crappie with probably 10-15 keepers. We kept 4 that I breaded and baked Saturday night....yum yum!
Our dinner....and yes, she caught the biggestFish were all caught on minnows in 12-30 feet of water, but the best bite was around 20-25 feet deep. Again, I was impressed with the Coosa - it had plenty of room and performed well in the open water. Merry Christmas and, as always, tight lines!
Additional Photos:
Good looking girl, good looking fish, good looking boats!
A beautiful December sunset over Jordan
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