Keystone Dam, 8/30/2013

[Allen Morgan]

Last week, when I was down here, I saw a lot of BIG Crappie get pulled out.  I wanted to see if I could catch some.  The Corps. Decided to shut all the gates, but didn’t announce it on the website.  I only found out last night, by checking the river level, and looking a couple days back.

 

Once I arrived, there were a few folks fishing for cats.  Fishing was reported to be slow.  One gent left as I arrived; he had “a few nice Crappie” caught on minnows.

 

I found a spot with clear casting, so I started throwing a tandem jig rig, with both jigs wearing Red/Chartreuse tubes.  I made a few casts, but had to force myself to slow my retrieve down until I started bumping the occasional rock.  Once I did that, I started getting a few hits from Crappie.  I managed to catch a few smaller ones, and a couple halfway decent Crappie.

 

I also managed to catch and land a small Longnose Gar.  I’m not really surprised; there were Gar surfacing EVERYWHERE.  The guides call this the “Gar Hole” for a reason.  That fish ended up breaking my line as I was trying to get it onto the sidewalk.  I tied on another jig, and decided to go with Black/Chartreuse for some contrast in the muddy water.

 

A few minutes after that, I got a hit near the bank, which doubled my light pole over and started peeling drag.  I got it up, thinking it was a small Flathead, but was surprised to see a silhouette similar to a Hybrid Striped Bass.  Ok!  Wouldn’t be the first time….

 

I finally had to crank the drag down a bit, and was able to get the fish to the bank.  I was greatly surprised to find a Smallmouth Buffalo on my line.

 

Shortly after that, I ended up loosing my tandem rig to a snarl of line on the bottom.  When I tied up another one, I went with Black/Chartreuse on both jigs.  I caught a few more small Crappie on this.

 

About 10:30, the bite really died down.  I called it a day and went to get some lunch with my other half.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Your other half of what??

Seriously, I really love your narratives. Wish we could fish together.

[Allen Morgan]

That would be a hoot!