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Backwaters crappies


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I had a chance to sneak out with Down-to-earth this morning and we took on the backwaters.

We started where we normlly have been but found only one decent fish there. Lots of small fish....no larger ones. Soooooo, we went on tour and ended up on the dike road. Towards the Wisconsin side we found a puddle that was great and we got major league sized crappies. These guys did not want hair....they wanted paddle tails and tubes. Many of these broad-shoulder dudes were easily in the 12"+ range. Very nice to get into.

We did not get huge numbers of the big ones but did find a bite that kept our attention to the point that we went back to this spot after checking some other water out. The small fish were there too, but we did get more large fish that small.

The best fish came deeper. Andy fished everything under a float and I did my best with just a jig cast out and retrieved slowly after about a ten count.

A guy just has to love this fall fishing what with the colors and the other wildlife activity. It was great to be out and a great to fish.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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Junebug/chartreuse paddletails, black/ chartreuse, and purple/chartreuse tubes....all on light heads.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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I got my turkey hunting over with yesterday ( nice 14 pound hen), so I thought I'd go see some fish today. I was in the backwaters this morning and took only plastic today. I caught crappies on everything I could throw out, but Matt Johnson"s "pet" bait got the best fish. It seems that where I was fishing the structure has everything else beat out. It may be the cold front that is looming around us, but the fish were tight to cover. I had one fallen log that was fairly submerged. If I could get the jig to land on the log portion that was four or five feet deep in the water and then pull the jig off to allow it to drop, I would get a fine crappie every time. If I fished the limb tips, all I'd pick up were smaller fish. I brought home seven for a meal. The water temps have really taken a dive, judging by the feel of the fish. Fishing was good, but will get better now.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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Crappies and sunfish are still doing their thing in the backwaters. I was down today with a friend and we got into some fun fishing. We had to look for the larger crappies and managed a few nicer ones with some bonus gills of about 8". Hair and plastics did the deed today and the fish were very shallow over deeper water. Black head/pink hair turened out to be the best producer once again.

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Any chance that the Panfish would take some flies like wooly buggers or prince nymphs presented with a fly rod or is one just asking for trouble?

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Lots of weeds, lots of trees. You might be able to sneak a fly thru some of the stuff, but I think frustration will usher a long rod back to the rod case.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

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