Kayak Fishing Fun, Crappie Times…

There are days Kayak Fishing that are more fun than others.  Some days you get out and its windy and nasty, no fish, no fun, and your cold and wet for nothing.  Some days kayak fishing is just plain fun times.  The other day I went out on my kayak just to go for a little paddle and do some after work fishing.  I was hoping to catch a few really nice crappie, or a big fat Pickerel, paddle around for a couple hours after work, nothing serious.  So I threw some gear in to the kayak, pushed it off the dock, and hopped in and went.

 

I paddled my kayak out to a spot near my house.  It was slow at first but then 1 Crappie, 2 Crappie, I got on a nice roll catching them for a while.  I released each one.  Each Crappie was just barely over 9” and after a few minutes I already caught 6 of them, and decided there weren’t any BIG girls around.  Even though I didn’t catch anything big, its always a ton of fun just yanking a bunch Crappie into the kayak 1 after another.  So I had my fun, now WHAT!?!

 

I decided I’ll pull on my anchor and let the kayak drift out of the cove and into deeper water.  As I started reaching the edge of the weeds where the water deepens, I put my light action rod behind me in the rod holder and pulled out my heavier Abu baitcasting rod rigged up with a large Jointed Rapala.  This has always been a GIANT Fish magnet, the only fish I’ve caught on it really have been really nice Pickerel.  I was in a good mood, and thought I already caught my fish today, I’ll throw something big and see how it goes.  I was heading to another spot I found last year where a local marina was tearing down all its docks and replacing them.  Last summer there was a piece of plywood teeter tottering, and hung up on a piece of cable.  Every time I skipped a Senco under it last year, out came a 4-5lb largemouth.  I figured I’d go see what’s up down at the docks.  Casting as I drifted along, I noticed, OH NO!  They finished all the docks…  Well actually, that seems pretty cool, all new pilings, all new structure.  Anytime there’s a new piece of structure, I’ve always done well checking it out.  The fish are just as attracted to new things as we are sometimes!  I checked out the new dock situation, and finally positioned myself to drift alongside it for the next couple hundred feet.  The wind cooperated, and just gently placing my Big Rapala right next to the dock on each cast.  Pull a little too much and the weeds let you know it.  I kept fouling up on every other cast being impatient, retrieving too fast.  Oh man, my lure is stuck again, BAM OHHHHHHH BIG FISH BIG FISH!  So a big Pickerel SLAMS my Rapala, and as big as it was I practically took it waterskiing I reeled in so fast.  I didn’t’ want to give it any leverage in the water, this one would be a shame to loose!  But I didn’t think ahead, I reeled in too far, I didn’t have enough line out to reach him.  Turns out I was the one who didn’t have any leverage left to swing him in the kayak.  As I was trying to reach for my lip gripper he finally jumped and threw the lure.  NOOOOOOOOO!!!  I franticly casted back to where he got off, to where I hooked him thinking maybe he had a buddy.  But nothing else would bite.  I anchored up again and took a few more casts and decided to call it quits and head back home as the sunset.

All in all I had a lot of fun on this quick trip out.  I caught half a dozen Crappie, and hooked into a big Pickerel.  Turned out to be another Crappie Day!