A break from Bass

Today I met up friends Don Henry and Jacy Large for a little fun fishing at Lake Red Rock.  We were hoping to catch the crappies that always start to school up and feed during the fall and winter months on this huge reservoir.  I rarely fish for panfish without my kids, so an "adult" trip for panfish was something I was looking forward to all week long.

The morning started off much slower than I had anticipated, but I had the feeling that once the sun got up higher in the sky, that the fish would cooperate much better.  My hunch was spot on, mid to late morning was a good, steady bite for all types of fish.  Bluegills, crappies, largemouth bass, and white bass all showed themselves today.  We ended up focusing on water that was around 10 feet deep.  Shallow flats near the deeper water  seems to be the best places for catching fish this particular day.  Thinking back on the day, I am not 100% sure that the shallower water was key or not though.  The Vexilar FLX-28 was marking fish in all depth levels, however we were able to battle the wind by dropping the Minn Kota Talons anchoring system down in water less than 12 feet.  By setting the anchors we were able present our jigs and minnow/plastics at slower rates and make multiple casts in the same area.  Either way by putting the Talons to use once again, and locating the fish on Vexilar we were able to focus in on higher productive areas and catch many fish today.  A few gills and a dozen or so crappies were kept for  fish fry at a later date.  All in all it was a great day of fishing and was glad to get out and enjoy this unusual 70-degree October day.