Went fishing

Sorry for the long lapse. I had to travel to North Carolina for some work and some fun - which included crappie fishing on Good Friday. The dogwoods are out in NC and that means it is time for crappie fishing. My father and I caught a bunch of crappie, as well as some largemouth bass, a random white bass, bowfin and a bunch of channel catfish. Oh, and a few stickfish as well.

The picture above is of a crappie - note that its mouth is very very thin. This presents several challenges, which is why many people fish for crappie.

The first challenge is that crappie bite very, very softly. Usually the bobber will twitch a little (wait...), then it will very slowly cruise along the surface (wait...), and when the bobber begins to descend underwater - you then take in the slack in the line.

The second challenge is in setting the hook. Once the bobber is heading underwater, you have to be gentle in the hook set. I like to let the fish finish taking out the slack and essentially let the fish set the hook itself. My father is more of an active hook setter. The problem with setting the hook too early is that the crappie carry the minnow (little minnows (1-2 inches in length) are best for lake fishing) in their mouth (the bobber twitch and the bobber cruising stages) and when the bobber begins to go underwater is when the bait is moved from the mouth and onto the hard, fleshy palate. If you set the hook too early, you will rip the fish's mouth up by pulling the hook out.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass season is right around the corner - get your pole ready Jimbo, we got some fishing to do!