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05-16-2005, 08:15 PM
Article published Friday, May 6, 2005
FOLLOW THE FISH
Just say 'croppie' and go fishing
Two guys sit quietly in a 17-foot aluminum canoe, each careful not to bang the hull and send a resounding boom through the water.
They are moving slowly — s-l-o-w-l-y — down a brush-crowded creek just a mile from Sandusky Bay on a warm May morning. Each man deftly moves around a slender spinning rod like a maestro in slow motion, jigging a stacked, tandem-hook rig around the bankside brush, logs, stumps and other stickups.
Every once in a while, the stern-man dips a paddle and moves the canoe a short distance. There is little or no current so near the creek’s mouth; it practically is a backwater of the bay, so the canoe drifts very little.
Often enough, one of the anglers sets a hook, the ultralight spinning rod bends double, and a white wiggling slab of a fish is brought into the canoe and gets flipped into a cooler.
Crappie fishing. It is the stuff of spring. Quiet, relaxed, yet intense. And popular.
"It’s pretty big statewide," said Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2. "There are guys — that’s all they fish for." Anyone who has enjoyed a platter of freshly pan-fried crappie fillets can explain why that is.
Crappies — say "croppies" — have such a following that their fans form clubs, compete in tournaments, hold contests galore. And you most often refer to these fish in the plural, for where you find one there likely are plenty more. Crappies are a school fish, especially when they have moved inshore to congregate and spawn.
The trick to finding crappies, in the plural, is to keep moving until you find where they are holding on a given day. Often you start fishing shallow, from just one to five feet deep, but veterans will keep going even as deep as 10 to 15 feet if no schools are located up high.
Tackle is unsophisticated. Just use a light or ultralight spinning outfit with a float and a hook tipped with a minnow. Avid crappiemen use a stacked "crappie rig," one hook stacked above the other with each tipped with a minnow.
Goedde said that minnows are the most reliable way to put crappies in a cooler. But some anglers also use a small jig with a minnow or they cast small spinners, such as a Mepps in chrome or white, or tiny spinnerbaits such as the Beet-L-Spin with a plastic tail.
Two species of crappies, black and white, can be found in northern Ohio, though white crappies tend to tolerate a wider variety of water, including silty or turbid water. Black crappies like clearer waters.
White crappies have 5 to 10 vertical bands on their sides and backs and black crappies have dusky or dark blotches, with deeper bodies. White crappies, moreover, have just five or six spines on their dorsal fins and black crappies have seven or eight.
Crappies are not huge, averaging 8 to 12 inches, but larger "slabsides" are not uncommon. The state record white crappie is 3.9 pounds, 18.5 inches long. The record black crappie is 4.5 pounds, 18.12 inches.
Goedde noted that one of the go-to crappie venues in Wildlife District 2 is Pleasant Hill Reservoir, east of Mansfield and south of U.S. 30. It is well worth the drive, he notes, adding, "Pleasant Hill has been phenomenal [for crappies] the last couple years."
Closer to home, Findlay Reservoir No. 2 is a premier crappie impoundment, as is Veterans Memorial Reservoir along State Rt. 12 at Fostoria.
Nettle Lake in Williams County is a good crappie water, and Harrison Lake in Fulton County is decent, Goedde noted, though fish size there is just average. The two lakes at the new St. Joseph River State Wildlife Area southwest of Montpelier in Williams County also hold crappies.
Goedde noted that Sandusky Bay and the several slow-moving creeks that empty into it from the south are good crappie waters, as are the waters around East Harbor State Park.
Many shoreline marinas along Lake Erie hold excellent crappie populations, but be sure to obtain permission to fish if you intend to work from the docks in private marinas. If you are in a boat you can fish any waters but you may not tie up or fish from private marina docks without permission.
The public marina at Mary Jane Thurston State Park, on State Rt. 65 west of Grand Rapids in Wood County, is a good crappie venue, as are any structure and brushy banksides on the Maumee River there and on side creeks nearby. Crappies also can be found off the boat-ramp at Farnsworth Metropark near Waterville, among many other likely streamside hangouts.
One last tip: Do not get too enthusiastic when setting the hook on a crappie, or you’ll soon understand one of their nicknames: "papermouth."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050506/SPORTS08/50506001
FOLLOW THE FISH
Just say 'croppie' and go fishing
Two guys sit quietly in a 17-foot aluminum canoe, each careful not to bang the hull and send a resounding boom through the water.
They are moving slowly — s-l-o-w-l-y — down a brush-crowded creek just a mile from Sandusky Bay on a warm May morning. Each man deftly moves around a slender spinning rod like a maestro in slow motion, jigging a stacked, tandem-hook rig around the bankside brush, logs, stumps and other stickups.
Every once in a while, the stern-man dips a paddle and moves the canoe a short distance. There is little or no current so near the creek’s mouth; it practically is a backwater of the bay, so the canoe drifts very little.
Often enough, one of the anglers sets a hook, the ultralight spinning rod bends double, and a white wiggling slab of a fish is brought into the canoe and gets flipped into a cooler.
Crappie fishing. It is the stuff of spring. Quiet, relaxed, yet intense. And popular.
"It’s pretty big statewide," said Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2. "There are guys — that’s all they fish for." Anyone who has enjoyed a platter of freshly pan-fried crappie fillets can explain why that is.
Crappies — say "croppies" — have such a following that their fans form clubs, compete in tournaments, hold contests galore. And you most often refer to these fish in the plural, for where you find one there likely are plenty more. Crappies are a school fish, especially when they have moved inshore to congregate and spawn.
The trick to finding crappies, in the plural, is to keep moving until you find where they are holding on a given day. Often you start fishing shallow, from just one to five feet deep, but veterans will keep going even as deep as 10 to 15 feet if no schools are located up high.
Tackle is unsophisticated. Just use a light or ultralight spinning outfit with a float and a hook tipped with a minnow. Avid crappiemen use a stacked "crappie rig," one hook stacked above the other with each tipped with a minnow.
Goedde said that minnows are the most reliable way to put crappies in a cooler. But some anglers also use a small jig with a minnow or they cast small spinners, such as a Mepps in chrome or white, or tiny spinnerbaits such as the Beet-L-Spin with a plastic tail.
Two species of crappies, black and white, can be found in northern Ohio, though white crappies tend to tolerate a wider variety of water, including silty or turbid water. Black crappies like clearer waters.
White crappies have 5 to 10 vertical bands on their sides and backs and black crappies have dusky or dark blotches, with deeper bodies. White crappies, moreover, have just five or six spines on their dorsal fins and black crappies have seven or eight.
Crappies are not huge, averaging 8 to 12 inches, but larger "slabsides" are not uncommon. The state record white crappie is 3.9 pounds, 18.5 inches long. The record black crappie is 4.5 pounds, 18.12 inches.
Goedde noted that one of the go-to crappie venues in Wildlife District 2 is Pleasant Hill Reservoir, east of Mansfield and south of U.S. 30. It is well worth the drive, he notes, adding, "Pleasant Hill has been phenomenal [for crappies] the last couple years."
Closer to home, Findlay Reservoir No. 2 is a premier crappie impoundment, as is Veterans Memorial Reservoir along State Rt. 12 at Fostoria.
Nettle Lake in Williams County is a good crappie water, and Harrison Lake in Fulton County is decent, Goedde noted, though fish size there is just average. The two lakes at the new St. Joseph River State Wildlife Area southwest of Montpelier in Williams County also hold crappies.
Goedde noted that Sandusky Bay and the several slow-moving creeks that empty into it from the south are good crappie waters, as are the waters around East Harbor State Park.
Many shoreline marinas along Lake Erie hold excellent crappie populations, but be sure to obtain permission to fish if you intend to work from the docks in private marinas. If you are in a boat you can fish any waters but you may not tie up or fish from private marina docks without permission.
The public marina at Mary Jane Thurston State Park, on State Rt. 65 west of Grand Rapids in Wood County, is a good crappie venue, as are any structure and brushy banksides on the Maumee River there and on side creeks nearby. Crappies also can be found off the boat-ramp at Farnsworth Metropark near Waterville, among many other likely streamside hangouts.
One last tip: Do not get too enthusiastic when setting the hook on a crappie, or you’ll soon understand one of their nicknames: "papermouth."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050506/SPORTS08/50506001