DECISIONS, DECISIONS

I love catching fish...period.  Sure, I have my favorites but for a relaxing day on the water I really don't care too much what is pulling back from beneath the water's surface.  Consistent action is tough to beat and when you have to make a choice as to which species to chase it makes matters more difficult.

A friend of mine, Jim Bybee, invited me to El Dorado Reservoir last night.  Bybee is a jig-fishing machine and there aren't many more adept with a jig pole.  But in addition to crappie, Bybee and his friends had been catching some nice white bass, too.  Thus, the dilemma of what to pursue. 

Jim's son, Cody, a fishing chip off the old block himself, loves to catch white bass so that's where we started.  Jigging spoons  in 18-25 feet of water were the ticket and we caught quite a few, plus a bunch of 4-6-inch white perch which we all hated to see.  Cody had evening plans so we had to run him back to the ramp after an hour or so. 

Pulling back out into the lake Jim asked if I wanted to try some crappie.  I like catching white bass but I had some new fish breading I was anxious to try and crappie are perfect for most any eating experiment. 

We found some really nice crappie in 21-24 feet of water.  Just as we got a pattern going the northerly winds increased in intensity as the front approached and storms started to build.  Fishing a 1/8-ounce jig in water that deep in high winds is difficult at best.  But we stayed with it and before long had a nice mess of 20-25 crappie.  Nearly all of them were between 12 and 14 1/2 inches.

We called it an evening as the sun started to set. We wondered aloud "what if" had the wind stayed calm. That just gives us more incentive to plan another trip in the future. But the white bass might have to wait their turn after seeing some of those slabs flopping on the surface! They'll look the same way in some hot grease....tasty!