Tumbleweed Crappie

Tumbleweed, to me, has always been restricted to cowboy music and Western movies. In Utah, tumbleweed is real, and at Lake Powell, it plays an important part in the fishing equation. There maybe various kinds of tumbleweed. I'm not sure. However, the stuff around Lake Powell, which is actually I kind of thistle, I think, breaks off and "tumbles," in the wind or down the hill, which means it collects along the lake's edge, usually in the backs of pockets, and the fish love the cover it offers.

From a practical standpoint, dropping a jig between tumbleweed clusters or casting to such an edge is little different from fishing around other kinds of vegetation in other parts of the country. From a western adventure standpoint, though, the simple fact that we were fishing around tumbleweed added to the whole canyon thing and only added to the fun factor.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the fish in those areas were big, boldly marked black crappie that were willing to eat our jigs!

2 Species Tallied

Today's ice adventure on Presque Isle Bay allowed me to add two new 2015 species, bringing the tally seven. I actually caught four kinds of fish today, but I'd already caught largemouth bass and bluegills this year. New additions to this year's list were pumpkinseed and yellow perch. I came within inches of adding black crappie to the list as well, but the one I nearly caught broke off about the time its nose hit the hole. It wasn't sufficiently in control for me to feel like it could be counted. I also had a break-off from something bigger and stronger that I never got a look at. I'll never know what that one was!

Species 27 & 28

The sun hadn't fully broken the horizon on morning one of my recent Rend Lake trip when my species tally for 2014 grew. My first white crappie of the morning (one in photo is probably about the sixth or seventh) was species No. 27 for this year, according to my records. Not long after, I caught the first of several yellow bass, which was No. 28.

It's odd for me to add a white crappie so late in the year. That normally occurs early in the spring. It just happens that everywhere I've crappie fished this year, black crappie have been the main attraction.

Black crappie actually made the list really early this year. I caught my first one (actually my first several) in January, through the ice in Pennsylvania. I recorded five species from that trip to start this year's list, but I'm not really sure of the first-catch order. My first fish of this year was either a black crappie or a bluegill.

My next trip is to the Tennessee River in North Alabama. If we do any tailwater drifting, I could catch a freshwater drum or a buffalo, either of which would be add to the 2014 list. I think I've already caught most of the sport fish we'd be likely to encounter, but that's a diverse fishery, so you never know. Between that an early ice trip to Minnesota, it seems at least somewhat likely that I'll be able to bump the tally to 30 before the year ends and it becomes time to begin a new list.

22 Species in 2013

North Carolina's Nantahala River accounted for rainbow,
brown and brook trout on the list, with all three coming on a cold
January day.

I suppose it's probably safe to sum up my 2013 fish species list. I may sneak out to a pond or creek before Tuesday, but I don't see myself wetting a line in any places where I'd be likely to add to this year's list of species caught.

Assuming that's correct and assuming I didn't miss any, I ended up catching 22 different kinds of fish in 2013. That's down from 30 in 2012, but I think that was an unusual year in terms of opportunities to travel farther from home and fish for different species than I normally encounter.

I always list the first of any given kind of fish that I catch each year and include the location, state and month. In terms of states, Louisiana accounted for the most listings (four, all salt), but Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Pennsylvania each added three, so places were pretty nicely distributed. May was the top month, with six new listings.

Interestingly, one of my favorite single fish on this year' list (if not my favorite) was somewhat of a confused listing. I caught a crappie this spring in Tennessee that very much looked like a black crappie, not only by its darkness but by a lack of distinguishable bands. However, it came from a place that normally produces white crappie and a friend counted the fin rays and said that was indeed a white crappie. It didn't matter on the list because I caught several other crappie of both varieties this year. I just thought it was interesting.

With two ice excursions on the books for early 2014 and a couple of other possible early trips in the works I hope to get next year's list off to a quick start. But first I might need to catch a few more pond bass or bluegills!

76 Fish, but Who is Counting Anyway?

Nathaniel and I are not big fish counters, especially when the bite is good and our focus is simply on having fun catching the fish. However, Asher, my 8-year-old, always wants to know numbers. Therefore, when we saw that the action was going to be fast yesterday afternoon, Nathaniel and I went ahead and started counting, confirming the count aloud with virtually every fish caught. We could have missed it by one or two, but I'm confident that our tally of 76 fish in about three hours was pretty close to accurate. The catch included crappie, bass and bluegills, with some hard-pulling, hefty 'gills in the mix.

The top producing baits were the smallest size of Lindy Watsit Grub, which we fished on ultralight spinning tackle, cast close to the bank and worked slowly with little twitches of the rod tip. However, I also caught several fish on a fly rod, which was rigged with a Sneaky Pete and a Tellico Nymph, and Nathaniel caught several bass on buzzbait.

We only caught three crappie, but all three were somewhat noteworthy. I dropped a tandem-rigged pair of Watsit Grubs beside the pond's spillway, got hit immediately and set the hook into what turned out to be a pair of black crappie.

About 15 minutes later, while I was casting my Watsit Grub for bream and Nathaniel was buzzing for bass, I suddenly heard racket behind me and Nathaniel calling out, "Whoa!" I turned to find him scrambling to grab his ultralight rod, which was about to go out of the boat. It seems his Watsit had been hanging barely in the water, and a seriously aggressive crappie that wasn't the least bit scared of the boat had darted up and grabbed it. He rescued the rod and landed the fish! (Photo below.)

It was one of those fun fishing days where everything just worked, and the result was a big number of fish caught in only a few hours and a big dose of summer fun.

Crappie Biting?

Yesterday was a travel day, with a big bird carrying me from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. This morning, I'm an hour and half north of Pittsburgh, where I'll spend the next three days fishing lakes Pymatuning and Shenango. All reports remain great for the lakes, both of which are supposed to be excellent crappie producers, so we'll see if the good action holds up for the next few days. I believe today's plan is to drift for black crappie. If there's internet access at the cabin where I"ll be staying for the next three nights, I'll post fishing reports. If the blog gets quiet, the computer is not connecting with the rest of the world!

2012 Species List

For no reason other than fun and curiosity, I decided that this year I would keep try to keep track of all the different species of fish I catch. I say try because I could forget for a while (although I will seek to stay updated) and then miss something as I'm thinking back. I might also catch a sunfish or something else that I can't positively identify by species.

It' easy so far: blue catfish, black crappie & largemouth bass. Come Monday, I hope to expand with a few more northerly species as I'll be fishing in North Dakota.

Maybe some day I'll try to compile a life list, sort of like birders do. I'd miss a few, I'm sure, for the same reasons listed above magnified by four decades of fishing. It would be kind of cool to have such a list compiled, though, and to officially add to my life list when I catch some kind of fish for the first time. In February, I might have the chance to catch a splake, which would be a definite first, and I have to think I'll catch something for the first time in Costa Rica in March. If I do ever get such a tally compiled, I'll blog about my findings.