Another Crappie night!

[TrepMan]

Man what a CRAPPIE evening!!! LOL I bolted from the house at 4:30pm, been a tough week at work. I spent the first 2 hours TRYING for bass with NOTHING to show, so had picked up a couple dozen crappie minnows and started trolling a few coves with crappie jigs and grubtails. Picked up 6 fish in a bout an hour. Then decided I needed to use these minnows. First few places I tried (blow downs, shoreline, rocks) didn't produce anything, then used the the new Matrix color fishfinder and found a HUGE school of bait and fish off shore in a droppoff/hole. dropped minnows down, brought fish up! I lost count at 20!! Biggest was a big one at 1 lb even and 14 inches long!! Decided NOT to clean them so let them go. BUT MAN that was a great way to relax!!

 

[Donald Fruge]

Trep Trep Trep........releasing 20 nice size crappie is the equivelant of using ribeyes as catfish bait!



Glad you had a good time.





Wolf

 

[TrepMan]

Wolf - After that great evening all I wanted to do was go home, grab a beer and hit the Hot tub!!! I know as I released them from the livewell I tought 'MMMMM man they would make a great lunch tomorrow!!" But was not in the mood to clean them.



Trep

 

[Larry Harp]

Donald, tell me again what you guys call those Crappie down there in Cajun country.





Harpo

 

[Michael S]

Harpo



they are know as sac-a-lait.....pronounced (sack-a-lay) back home.......



Trep you could have kept them on ice for a day or two until you where ready to clean them....

 

[Donald Fruge]

Jim's got it harpo......Tell Andy he needs to nick name one of his buddies that....LOL



Hey harpo.....I was up in shreveport tuesday and had lunch at a BBQ joint, and the ribs tasted like dog food compaired to the ones you brought to lake fork. Now I am spoiled and will accept nothing but the best.



Wolf

 

[Ken Neeley]

I can't even reply to this after reading about the wanton waste of a meal fit for a King.



As penance, Trep has to drink Old Milwaukee for a month.

 

[TrepMan]

Jim - Good question/idea. So how do I keep them "fresh" till the next day? Just throw them in ziplocks in the freezer? Cooler with a bag of ice? Let me know and i'll definetly do it next time.



Thanks!

 

[Rusty Williams]

Hey Wolf... I could have told ya there isn't a good BBQ place in Shreveport. By the way, in North Louisiana we call crappie *White Perch*. Now down here close to Toledo Bend we have some GREAT BBQ joints......!

 

[fatrap]

YEAH what Neeley said.

fatrap

 

[JR F]

Down In Okeechobee we called them" Specks" Here In Indiana we call them hard to find....JR

 

[Donald Fruge]

rw....howdy



I was at the mercy of a co worker... but I trusted her to put me on some good ribs. I'll know better next time. I think the restraunt was called the Hickory Stick.



We call em white perch down here also. Matter of fact: my grandpaw had a crappie rig that had "White Perch King" written on the side of it. My little boy heard me call them Sac a lait one day and now he loves calling them that. I guess it kinda sounds like a bad word or something.



Trep....throw em in an ice chest and cover them with ice. They will keep until the next day and fillet easier when cold and stiff.



Wolf

 

[Ken Neeley]

Old Milwaukee for Trep for a month and NO FISHING!!!





Craig and I are gonna try for some sackoooolay's in a couple of hours.

 

[Michael S]

Wolfs got it Trep.....ice chest and lots of ice....they will keep like this for at least a couple of days. We do it all the time and have never had a problem with fish going bad on us.



I hear the name is french......The french that settled in South La thought that a crappies belly looked like a sack of milk.....so they called them sac-a-lait......I don't know if that is the truth but that is what I have heard.

 

[TrepMan]

OK thanks Wolf. And Ken, MAN you are a TOUGH audience!! Old Milwaukee is bad enough, but NOT FISHING!!! NOOO!!!!



OK now the next question, we get mad when folks keep some Bass but not Crappie? WHY? Is Crappie by nature a more prolific fish and reproduce at a much higher rate (I have no clue)??

 

[Michael S]

Trep



Crappie spawn at least 2 times a year....and they will over run a small lake or pond in a very short amount of time. They can do a lot of harm on smaller bodies of water they complete for the same type of food that bass eat, and it doesn't hurt that they are good to eat. And people see them as a pan fish not a true game fish like bass. Thats my .02

 

[TrepMan]

I agree by the way on cleaning fish COLD, I have to do the LIVE stuff in Canada and lately here at home as i'm only 5 mins from the ramp and the last few times i've kept fish (crappie, white bass and stripers) I seem to find the fish the last hour or so before I go home!

 

[Dan J.]

Way to go Michael!! The Pro Crappie has turned you into a Crappie Pro!

 

[Al Greco]

Trep, Looks like you got into a bunch of Crappie! With all the tough days of fishing it's always nice to get a boat load of ish to keep the fire burning. Now I'm jealous.

 

[Tom Jones]

Way to go Trep! Makes me want to go fishing!

You hire out as a guide?



Tom

 

[TrepMan]

Dan - maybe that's what's been my problem for 5 years, the darn boat says "Pro Crappie" on the side and i've been fishing for bass!!!! LOL



Al - Their nothing like the HUGE one's you posted earlier this wee, but was real nice to get a line stretched. I was using 6lb test and light to ultra-light rods so the actions was realy a fight. I still don't know how many I lost due to 2 poles getting hit at once, and this was in 6-7 feet of water.



Tom - Trepper's Fishing and Brew at your service!!!!

 

[Rich Stern]

Good going, Michael!

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Way to go Michael.. I wish I was with you..



Bill

 

[Mike L.]

Nice catch Michael!!!

 

[Larry Harp]

Wolf, you can only get the really good ribs in Oklahoma or Texas. Every other place such as Memphis or Cincinnatti that claims to have good ribs are just so so IMHO. They may have great sauce but the slow smoking of the ribs is just not done right. Baby Back ribs are nice but not the real thing and those big ol' Fred Flintstone beef ribs are strictly for the dogs. It's kind of like eating TexMex in New York City.



OK....Sac-a-lait. I'm going to remember that and never call 'em Crappie again in honor of our wind blown weekend at Fork. BTW...How's Bevo doing. Is he still keeping the ladies busy?



Harpo

 

[Steve Rizza]

Trep,

you shoulda' just threw them in the hot tub with you. A few sticks of butter,some lemon wedges..................



I take it you like the new unit ? I went to a cove that I fish fairly ofter last weekend.There are sunken X-Mas trees in about 15 feet of water. With my old unit I could barley make out the brush piles on the bottom. With the new ' Bird I could make out each individual tree !

I am blown away every time I go out comparing what I see now to what I was used to seeing.