I made it down to Rocky today in search of crappie. The guys at the bait store, and everyone I spoke with on the lake said I should have been there a couple of days ago. Typical.
I went by a couple of old guys in a Ranger as I headed back into a bay I wanted to fish. They had been out all morning, and had caught NONE of legal keeping size (9"). Having heard the sad news from everyone I'd run into, I decided I'd dip my jigs in a secret potion my Grandmother had told me about 30+ years ago. She was 95 when she passed away in 1992, and by golly she could catch fish! Anyway, I've been thinking about her a lot lately like I do every spring, so I gathered up a bottle of her special fish magic the other day. I went on by the guys in the Ranger, dunked my jig in the special fish medicine and caught a 10" crappie on the first cast, and the second, and the third. After two or three fish, the potion seems to loose it's magic. I tested this theory several times by going a spell without adding more of the magic liquid. It never failed, I would fish for 20 minutes without a bite, add the juice and get two or three immediately! The banks were lined with boats with occupants fishing live bait...they weren't catching squat, I did pretty good, with good size fish!
I kept a few, all between 10 and 13". No really big ones, but the best is yet to come.
When I pulled my boat out, the old guys in the Ranger were there doing the same. The captain of the boat came over, grumbling about what a poor day they had. He said they tried every bait they had, all depth ranges etc. Heck, they had a Ranger, they should have been catching fish, right? Seems the missing ingredient for them was a Grandma that knew how to catch fish when fish didn't want to bite!
I was running a little short on time so I offered to let the old fellas have my fish. They were apparently hoping for a fish fry and gladly accepted. I was glad not to have to dirty my knife, so it worked out well for all involved. Imagine, spend all that money on a Ranger and have to rely on the kindness of a stranger to eat fish!
Here's a pic of 'em in the net as I gathered them up to give away. Wasn't great, but wasn't a bad afternoon for me. All thanks to Grandma...
And NO, I ain't givin up the secret.
I told someone about smoke once...