OLD DOG, NEW TRICK

If I added up all the hours of my free time I spend hunting or fishing, I'd have several Ph. D's-worth of experience.  But despite all those hours I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything.  Not even close and I have plenty of room for improvement.  I've found when you talk about or join others hunting or fishing there's plenty to learn and I'm always eager to do so.  Such was the case recently when I jumped in the boat with Nick Neff, an avid angler from Springhill, for a crash-course in spider rigging crappie. 

Nick Neff and Eric Sher with some spider-rigged Hillsdale crappie

Nick admits he fishes only to have something to do between duck seasons.  There's obviously plenty of time in that "off-season." He's taken advantage of it and his livewell is rarely empty when he chooses to keep a few tasty slabs.  His buddy, Eric Sher, joined us one afternoon last weekend as we jumped in the boat at Hillsdale Reservoir with the temperature hovering around 103 degrees.

The fishing was just as hot.  It wasn't long and Nick, Eric and even I was catching bunches of crappie on 10-12-foot long rods.  A tail-hooked minnow was irresistible to more than 150 crappie that evening.  Most went back in the lake but we had at least 40 that exceeded the lake's 10-inch minimum length limit. 

I learned a lot about spider rigging in just five hours.  Nick was a great teacher and anxious to share his techniques and tactics which work really well.  He and Eric enjoyed catching fish and being on the water.  The only thing more impressive than their fish-catching ability was their enthusiasm for the outdoors.  They truly enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it, too.   It's all good in the end and I'm proof positive you can teach an old dog new tricks.