The 2014 Diary for my Favorite Commercial Baits....Still Too Tough To Pass Over

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Assuming I still have a few minutes to fish an old reliable soft plastic or a new innovative jig......I have to have a place to document my results and catch it here first..........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Tooty......been a nice Spring here in Carolina!

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

Man Jeffrey Great report and tutorial , LOVE THE PICS BUDDY.............

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Dick.......got to have the area first and then put in the time to learn it......it will pay off for years to come! I eat a lot of fish and release even more but these waters continue to produce quality and numbers year after year...I have fished these rivers every year since 1998 and periodically before that......

[dick tabbert]

Quality fish Jeffrey as usual and as usual your getting them zeroed in. Great job.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

An old reliable in the Abney camp is the curly tailed jig in both chartreuse and pink.......since the calendar has struck April it has been amazing on the Albemarle as our tidal crappie have pushed shallow on local rivers and provided hours of fun and some of the best tablefare ever!.....Here's a few of my favorites from the first two weeks of April....

Just deadly on the Black Crappie....

One of my best trips this year was on the afternoon of the 1st of April.......

Some solid fish.....

Some biggun's on the 3rd of April....once again fishing late afternoon after work....

My grandsons do pretty good on the camera too.....

More late day success on the 4th......

Local member Joe has taking a liking to telescopic fishing.....

My old submarine buddy Doc and his son Matthew joined me on the afternoon of the 6th for some great action...

Had a little wind and rain and got back out on the ninth for some more slabbin' action.on the Albemarle....

TGIF.....again after work on the 11th......

Joe and I hit the Albemarle on the morning of the 13th under high skies........

Went back late in the day on the 13th and slammed some more quality fish.......best season since 2008 on the Tidal Crappie.....got a few more weeks before these fish will transition out of the shallows and out to deeper cover as well as suspending in deeper water when available......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I have some great home made baits that I love but a few classic soft plastics always have to hit the water this time of year.......On this day it was the classic curly tail jig in plain chartreuse and it was rocking.....fished on a telescopic pole at 18 to 24 inches under a quill float.........The action got hot and here's a few shots of a great trip....

An egg filled sow CPR'd on the curly tail......

This is how it was fished for the best results.....

Big girl hits the net on the way in.....

Wound up catching some really fine crappie and more than a dozen bass on the old reliable bait.....this time of year it's 1/32 ounce .....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

We both started with the Crappie Thunder jigs tipped with live minnows based on my advice and we caught some nice fish during this trip........these tidal crappie were attached to cypress in water as shallow as 1 to 2 feet and they sucked this bait in on the fall on most occasions as the aggressive nature of spawning fish is taking over in our region.......Here's why I purchase these soft plastics despite a wide variety of great baits.....

My daily double on a winning jig from the Strike King corporation.....

My friend Joe is new to Crappie fishing but his two personal best Black Crappie today came on the Crappie Thunder so he is convinced for the moment......

Here's the other and he might be at Walmart now looking for some baits.........We had a good time.....fourth time out this year......all in pretty tough conditions but the results have been very good despite the conditions but fishing is about overcoming what nature gives you on that day......that's part of the draw for me personally....solving the panfish puzzle on that day......this can be rewarding too and I love it!

[Allen Morgan]

I'm just wondering how full his tackle boxes are?!?!?!  Sir Jeff is probably like in that he can outfit several people to go fishing at a moment's notice....

[carl hendrix]

Jeffery  you have so many baits sent to you to try out;; you could open your own tackle shop-- LOL!!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I've received so many home made baits to try...... I have infrequently tied on a commercial favorite this season.....I purposely went with some Electric Chicken soft plastics in mind......Strike King has really caught my eye with the Crappie Thunder and the Shadpole.......Both caught fish today tipped with small live minnows.........Also fishied a chartreuse curly tail for a few speckles.......

The Crappie Thunder on the left has a busy skirt that flutters down to depth with a slow fall approach....many fish would have it before it settled as the quill would load up while laying flat on the surface.....That tadpole mimic has a tail that swings almost continuously and the curly tail grew on me years ago and I always have them available to match the desired color.......

Drizzle and 59 degrees at first light.......forecast had called for heavy rains overnight and all day today......it held off so I headed out and iced a nice limit of Black Crappie all collected around wood in the shallows........Water temperatures climbing through the 50s as we appear to be staring down our first week of spring.......getting fired up down here in Carolina........