I hit Priest at 5am on 6/14 (Sunday) to get in a few hours of crankbait trolling for crappie before the pleasure boaters showed up. I had three rods out trolling 300 series bandit lures.
The area I fished had tons of scattered bait and the hits were coming quick. I'm not sure how many short crappie there were but it was plenty. Here is a breakdown of what I caught.
11 keeper crappie 10-14 inches. To many shorts to count.
Who knows how many yellow stripe.
8-10 largemouth with two being 15-17 inches which I kept.
1 giant bluegill that I kept.
14 pound buffalo that decided to come to life in the floor of my boat. I was covered in blood from the knees down till I could get it back in the water
8 hybrids. All between 3-5 pounds.
It is the first time I have gotten into hybrids like that while trolling for crappie. I saw an area with obvious bait on the surface with the occasional blowup scattered over a large area. I trolled through and sure enough got the hookup. Great fight on 6lb line and light weight spinning tackle. I eventually left the area because my lines were getting so tangled fighting fish.
Anyway it was an incredible morning and I was off the water by 10 am when the pleasure boaters started to arrive.
Here are a few pics.
The area I fished had tons of scattered bait and the hits were coming quick. I'm not sure how many short crappie there were but it was plenty. Here is a breakdown of what I caught.
11 keeper crappie 10-14 inches. To many shorts to count.
Who knows how many yellow stripe.
8-10 largemouth with two being 15-17 inches which I kept.
1 giant bluegill that I kept.
14 pound buffalo that decided to come to life in the floor of my boat. I was covered in blood from the knees down till I could get it back in the water
8 hybrids. All between 3-5 pounds.
It is the first time I have gotten into hybrids like that while trolling for crappie. I saw an area with obvious bait on the surface with the occasional blowup scattered over a large area. I trolled through and sure enough got the hookup. Great fight on 6lb line and light weight spinning tackle. I eventually left the area because my lines were getting so tangled fighting fish.
Anyway it was an incredible morning and I was off the water by 10 am when the pleasure boaters started to arrive.
Here are a few pics.
