Take Only What You Need … Mostly

May 15th, 2008 by Lead Jig

We are on the eve of another Reelfoot trip so I have been packing my gear over the last few days. After I was done I looked at the neat pile I had created and remembered the mound of junk I used to bring. What follows is not a complete list of all items, but rather specific to the gear I take along.

On my first few trips to Reelfoot I foolishly packed any and every lure and tackle I had. I figured if the crappie weren’t biting I could switch to bass. If bass weren’t biting the cats may be. At the end of the day I ended up losing sight of what I was there to do, catch crappie and gills, and subsequently was out of the water tying new lures. I ended up catching much less fish than I should/could have.

With each trip I learn a little more and have stripped down my gear to the (almost) essentials. I still add a few things just to mix it up, for instance this year I’m going to bring a 10” telescopic crappie pole so I will always have a live minnow rig ready. The core gear items however stay the same. The first 9′ spincast combo is rigged with a slip bobber and cricket hook for wax worms and cricks. The other 9′ auto-fly is ready for straight lining grizzly or other jigs around visible cover. The ultra-light with a slip bobber rig is great to have around when you are shrouded in trees and where a quick jerk up could cause all sorts of chaos.

You could argue that this is too much gear, but in my opinion this not only gives me the tools I need to fish Reelfoot, but also enough variety to keep myself entertained or to try new things if the bite is slow.

The bus for Tiptonville leaves soon!

• Rod and Reels
  • 9′ with spincast (4lb high viz)
  • 9′ with auto-fly reel (4lb high viz)
  • Ultra-light spincast combo (4lb high viz)
  • 10′ crappie pole with (17lb clear)
• Tackle Box (aka crappie purse)
  • Hooks (assortment of cricket/goldies)
  • 3/0 sinkers
  • BB sinkers
  • BPS cheapy bobbers (love the cheap)
  • Slips (tokens only)
  • Flys (gotta be Grizzlies)
  • Jig bag full of tubes
  • Extra line (4lb Mr. Crappie high viz)
• Live Bait
  • Minnow bucket
  • Cricket tube
  • Wax worms
• Booty
  • Electric knife
  • Ziploc bags

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Ozark Non-Believers

May 12th, 2008 by Lead Jig

Yes, I was one of them. I used to think fishing Lake of the Ozarks was a lost cause. I figured that being the hot-spot that it is that there was no way this lake could produce decent fish. I was wrong. This past weekend was proof that there is excellent fishing to be had at “The Lake”. Party Cove aside (which serves its own special purpose), much of the development on the lake has helped the fishing. With each new development, up comes a dock or two. In fact, there is a plethora of boat slips, docks, and other structure within each and every one of the lake’s fingers and inlets.

Minnows gave us the most success by fishing docks without bobbers just a few inches off the bottom, but by far the most fun was had with a Smithwick Rogue crankbait. When they were biting, it was on like, well you know. We caught quite a few bass over 14 inches and surprisingly enough a few crappie that pushed the one pound mark. Truth be told however, my fiancé skooled us all with a smaller sized (1/16oz maybe?) crank that mimicked a minnow. The only thing that did not work was the frozen shrimp for cat idea. Only one cat was caught on a minnow.

On Saturday before heading to the local establishments we fried up the catch. We used a live-well to keep them for the day instead of keeping them on ice. I’m absolutely convinced that ice makes the meat more al dente when it’s cooked. That’s right, I said al dente.

Side note, I need to find a better fish batter. The products sold at the Schnucks and BPS are awful.

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Ozark Crappie Fishing

May 9th, 2008 by Lead Jig

Lake of the Ozarks - land of drunken boat wrecks, STD infested coves and what could have been a sunken pontoon boat (more on that in another post). It is one of the few places in the world where the production and selling of hillbilly wallets still thrives. Not to mention the place where a few PVC crappie beds were installed around a dock owned by a friend’s father.

Because of this we are off to the lake we all love to hate - and to fish. I am taking a variety of gear from 12′ graphite crappie poles to an Ambassadeur 5000 rig for cats. According to my top-secret inside sources, the bite was on last weekend. Simple slip rigs with minnows did the trick.

The weather appears to be wet and rainy all weekend with chance for a break Saturday AM. I guess I will pass on the sun screen. .

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Bow + Arrow = Enormous Carp

May 8th, 2008 by Lead Jig

Enormous Carp Shot With Bow And Arrow Could Be World Record

This was sent to me by a friend of mine who fishes this area. Not only did he shoot it with a bow and arrow, but wrestled with it on the shore. There are some great quotes in the article such as:

“I threw the bow down and in the water I go. And I grabbed him by the gill; bear hugged him and started fighting him against the rocks.”

and of course there is…

“‘Oh good Lord, oh good Lord,’ they said. I heard that 500 times. I was kind of hoping to hear, ‘You need some help?’ You know, but I didn’t hear that one, you know.”

Darin Opel - LAB hero of the week.

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Back From Mid-April Reelfoot

April 22nd, 2008 by Lead Jig

The bite at Reelfoot was tough this past weekend. A cold front came in on Friday morning to start us off which kept most of the crappie in deeper waters. Everyone we talked to was catching them by drifting in the deeper parts of the lake, mostly spider-rigging; and they were catching them. Piles of crappie were stacked on top of each other in the fish dressing room. As one fisherman said, “Buddy, this cooler ain’t got ice in it.” I looked, it sure didn’t. It was filled to the lid with black and white specks.

We decided to take a different approach and fish the gills in calmer waters. Pitching around tree stumps and avoiding overhead branches is most of the fun of Reelfoot anyway. However, to quote Tim Huffman, “there is nothing more exciting than a tug on the line.” This quote and many others we refer to comes from the Grizzly Fishing video and can be purchased at the Grizzly Jig Co. website.

There were definitely some LAB award winning bluegills caught on the cypress stumps, but one in particular was enormous. A 1.1 lb redear caught by Gill Slayer. However, the judges are still out as to whether a redear can be considered a bluegill and thus win the award for biggest bluegill.

The days were cold, rainy and windy but we kept at it and found the gills holding close to cypress stumps. Almost all of them were caught on meal worm tipped “Killer” Grizzly Jigs. It wasn’t until the clouds broke on Saturday afternoon that I busted out “Norman’s Rainbow” and took a few more in all tight lining with a 9.6 pole and a Pflueger automatic fly reel.

Leaving on Sunday was of course beautiful and in the 70’s. We made it home in record time and before noon which gave me just enough time to do eight hours of yard work. Ah it’s good to be home.

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