Arkie Prince

First Caffish 2010

2010-03-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

7.5 lb 4 lb and 2.75lb channel cats - bream - trotline - plus 53 Crappie from past couple days

crappie 30 total

2010-03-09T22:12:00.001-06:00

Crappie are moving around in shallow water but not holding in one place so I was lucky on Sunday afternoon to pick up 13 crappie around 2:30PM - 3:30PM then at 3:45PM while my neighbor started to fillet them - I got 3 more before he could finish. Then he joined me and we both got 4 more apiece but we held them until Tuesday to clean them (along with a couple more from yoyo's) - rambling - when they are biting you better catch them - cause they move out and are gone and may not return for days

Minnow net froze to minnow bucket

2010-03-03T04:17:00.003-06:00

Decided to check for crappie - put out 6 yoyo's on fishing pier on Sunday / Monday - March 1 - using minnows

Results slow but the full moon is working - on clear nights and early AM

Sunday - 3 crappie (5" - 7" - 9") - 1 bass (1.5 lbs - size neighbor likes - so I kept the bass) - let the crappie go

Monday/Tuesday - 1 crappie 10"
(just at dark saw a lot of shad jumping - something chasing them)

Tuesday/Wednesday - 2 crappie 9" & 11.5" - as of 4AM - when I re baited
(Had re baited at 10:30PM after something stripped all yoyo's)

Summary: 4 fish in pen and yoyo's baited under the still full moon - it's beautiful out there but COLD (having coldest winter in long time - so wasn't expecting to do much fishing this time of year any way

Birds eating bait fish

2010-02-09T01:48:00.001-06:00

Dang snow - so I now have over 1 hour video of birds catching bait fish in the snow. Don't worry I will not bore you with an hour video - I hate long video so this one is less than one minute

Birds fishing

2010-02-03T21:02:00.001-06:00

Dang birds are trying to eat all the bait fish in my brush pile. I chum / feed with dog food and range cubes to keep shad and shiners around my fishing pier

Real Fisherman

2010-02-01T19:34:00.001-06:00

A real fisherman never lets weather slow him / her down

Lake Conway Frozen

2010-01-15T21:37:00.001-06:00

High water xmas 2009

2009-12-25T15:13:00.001-06:00

xmas 2009: Some people were looking for snow - I was up most of the night watching the water rise - hoping it would not make it to my front door. Going to have to put on duck hunting boots and see if my boats are still floating in the boat house

Birds eating shad

2009-12-10T21:09:00.001-06:00

Birds - mainly American white pelicans are eating tons of shad that are around my place. No matter ! - cause with so many shad in the area - the fishing has been impossible - plus it's been too cold for an old softy like me

For past week any where from a couple dozen to about 100 white pelican's have been eating hundreds of shad a day - I have about an hour of video but I hate long video so I cut out 2 minutes (no video should be more than a couple minutes IMHO :)

Slower now

2009-12-08T09:38:00.003-06:00

Still had luck on 27th 28th 29th but 30th was rainly cold and no fish - then on Dec 1 (Tues - very slow but got 8-9 crappie and only 3 were keepers). Now past week the shad have taken over i.e. there are thousands and thousands of shad so the crappie are not hungry. Still catch a few yellow bass but nobody wants them

Expecting another cold spell maybe it'll run off the shad so the crappie will be hungry again but in past years the crappie have not 'returned' - I think they move to deeper water

Not expecting to catch but a few crappie a week in this time of year (combination of I'm not going out in the cold and crappie are not concentrated in front of my house anymore = bummer :(

Slow but some keepers

2009-11-26T19:49:00.003-06:00

Last few days, the crappie fishing has been slow - at least the 'keeper size' have been hard to 'come by'

Still catch some too many yellow bass and small bream while trying to find the keeper size crappie but even those have slowed down e.g. all fishing slowed down with the lake 1 ft low

Typical day - get about 12-15 fish but usually only 5-6 keeper crappie

Today my fish pen had 16 fish and about 4 were really nice and other dozen were 9-10" i.e. most were small keepers. My neighbors had that many or more but they had a few that were on the 'smaller size'

Bottom line: not much to brag about so not posting or making video - but on other hand slowly putting some crappie / fish fry's in the freezer of neighbors.

Dang Fat Crappie

2009-11-24T21:15:00.003-06:00

Baited a few yoyo's on fishing pier and at 8PM - checked them and found a 13" Crappie that had swallowed the hook - so I had to clean it - which sucks cause it takes as long to gather knife - bring bucket / fish in the house - clean it - vacuum pack it and clean up - I spent 45 minutes on one fish - I could have cleaned 40 fish in this amount of time in the day time i.e. dang fish shouldn't swallow the hook after dark cause they are pain in butt to clean one at a time.

BTW: this one was fat for a 13" crappie - cause it's exact weight was 1 lb 6.5oz - I've had 15" crappie that were only 1.5 lbs but this 13" was thick n heavy for it's length.

Addendum: Crappie fishing has been 'spotty' - for example today was decent day - got over 2 dozen crappie but most were 8-9" and I only kept ones 10" and larger - which means I only kept half a dozen crappie :(

Yesterday was about same story but they were only biting for about an hour (4 keepers) - while today they were biting for about 2 hours.

Cleaned 54 Crappie

2009-11-19T12:08:00.001-06:00

Neighbor cleaned 54 that we got - see write up on youtube

Got Limit (20) Crappie

2009-11-14T21:25:00.001-06:00

Haven't felt like posting on my blog - despite fact I've been catching some nice crappie (but keeping only 10" or longer)
Today - decided to keep 9" and larger and had no trouble getting my limit (20 crappie)

Crappie fishing

2009-11-13T22:17:00.003-06:00

Because of loss of dear friend been emotional e.g. I've been down in dumps and not really interested in fishing much. So I didn't even try fishing today until 4PM - and I picked up 4 really nice crappie in very short time. I also had one really big one that was 1.5 or 2 pounds that got off when I tried to lift it over the fishing pier rail (should have had net in my hand but didn't)

Anyway - the big ones may have been here all day but nobody was fishing

Previous day - only fished short time and only got small crappie

Crappie slow - catfish small

2009-11-11T14:09:00.002-06:00

For past several days, Crappie fishing has been crappy i.e. slow - with only a few keepers a day

So I started fishing a couple hours a day for catfish - which is also slow but got 3 catfish yesterday on rod n reel and 2 on yoyo's over night (along with a 12" crappie on yoyo) - most around a pound - but one was 2 lbs - another 1.5 lbs

I gave away these fish to a neighbor who is slowing filling his freezer

Need to get some work done around place today / tomorrow but a very close friend passed away last night and I'm depressed - in a I don't care mood so maybe I'll go fish and try to clear my head

Crappie and Channel Cat

2009-11-06T18:24:00.001-06:00

2.75 lb and 2 lb channel cats See previous blog post for more crappie results - example: 10 Crappie from previous day - all 10" or longer (throw about dozen smaller crappie back) - neighbor has more than a dozen i.e. couple dozen Crappie to clean.

I missed report one day in last week cause only got about 3 keepers.

Then this PM I only got 5 keepers (neighbor didn't fish today)

Dang skipped a day

2009-11-03T20:22:00.003-06:00

Forgot - neighbors were fishing again Sunday morning (I'm lazy) and they got another dozen or so - most larger than 10"

But they shut down in afternoon when I 'finally started fishing for real' - that's what I get for being late :(

I forgot to mention they were biting Sunday AM - mainly cause it wasn't me catching them.

Then Monday - when I got off my lazy butt they were not biting - but see prevous post - cause Tuesday they were biting again (some overnight on yoyo's)

More Crappie to clean

2009-11-03T20:10:00.002-06:00

Between neighbor / neighbors son / my pier yoyo's - had a couple dozen NICE size crappie that we cleaned today. After cleaning the 9" crappie over weekend - we not don't keep / clean 9" - we want bigger such as 10-11" minimum (which is what we cleaned today i.e. no more 9" - the fillets are not worth the 'work' - also we trying to pick out the 'thick' 10" i.e. 10" that are thick body make fillets worth the effort

Summary: Still catching crappie in shallow water - along bank in front of my house and despite fact the larger (keeper size) are hard to come by - we cleaned more than a couple dozen today

BTW: I still don't claim to be a 'serious crappie fisherman' - I'd rather catch catfish - and they are bigger easier to clean IMHO - but I do enjoy Crappie fishing when they come to my front door and I don't have to go looking (working) to get them

Forget Football

2009-10-31T20:53:00.002-05:00

This afternoon - I got tired of watching football games and waiting on Razorback game so I went fishing along the bank in front of my house - well I got at least 20 crappie but was only keeping 9" and larger - so I kept 13 (largest was 14")

Well I was tired so I took a break while a couple of neighbors started fishing and they started catching crappie - many of them 7-8" that they also threw back. Then finally I went back out to fish some more and guess what - the neighbors started catching fish and the spot where I had been fishing - went dead. Ended up they caught about 30 fish and kept 14 - largest 13" and smallest keeper was closer to 10" i.e. they got my fish to move to them and I didn't get a bite

Oh well it was a great day - first I had my turn and would have had a limit if I kept the 6-8" that I threw back - then neighbors did same thing but in different spots i.e. crappie left me and went to where my neighbors were fishing

We were using jigs and squirming grub - and a weighted cork

Most of my fish were 5 - 8 ft from the bank - while neighbors got most of theirs 15-20 ft from bank i.e. crappie moved to slightly deeper water when I came back to fish again.

I should have taken photos - was nice mess of fish i.e. 27 nice size - but I gave away the 13 I got to another neighbor and the other 14 are still in the fishing pen (one neighbor is coming back in AM with a friend and try to get enough for a family fish fry i.e. he wants 20-30 more nice size (good luck - I'm planning on sleeping late - besides the crappie today didn't really start biting until 3 PM

BTW: Been lazy

2009-10-29T21:31:00.001-05:00

For past week, cleaning fish almost ever day - mostly crappie - but too lazy to post cause just been 1-2 per day (one day had 3 keepers)

1lb 13oz Catfish - 10.5" Crappie - 9" Crappie

2009-10-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

Crappie biting a short time - just before dark (6:30PM) - off my fishing pier. Been like this for 5 days and I'm picking up 1 or 2 Crappie on Rod n Reel. Then I put out yoyo's with minnows for after dark and usually pick up 1 or 2 more Crappie (but last night I added a 1.75 lb channel catfish).

Slowly but surely I've put together several 'fish dinners' (mostly for my neighbors but also some for my aunt)

Storms tonight shut me down on rod n reel fishing - but I do have the yoyo's out - just in case another catfish or crappie swim by.

Oh - I forgot - I usually on keep 10" or bigger crappie but two 9" in last few days swallowed the hook.

BTW: Biggest I got was Monday night - in the rain = 14" - it swallowed the hook so I had to clean it in the rain - so today I moved my fish cleaning table inside the boat house.

Keeper a day

2009-10-22T16:21:00.002-05:00

Was catching a keeper a day for 3 days - then missed a day. Dang yellow bass still hanging around my pier.

Went looking for catfish - one hour yesterday - got one 1 lb. Day before I got a 1 lb blue and a 1 lb channel i.e. still feeding little catfish and now some of them are blue's

Bream - Yellow bass - Crappie

2009-10-19T22:16:00.002-05:00

Been bream fishing to catch trotline bait - hoping a big ole flathead will swim near my shallow trotline - catching plenty of bream.

Shad all around my place and was hoping the crappie fish would be 'hot' but the dang yellow bass are everywhere (eating my shad) - so I catch them off my pier instead of crappie

Did manage to get 2 keeper crappie in last two days (and a few smaller ones) - they were not huge i.e. only 9-10". One of my neighbors got 2 keepers and another neighbor had 1 keeper - so we combined them for the 'newest neighbor' so he could have his first fish fry since moving here.

Baited trotline again tonight - but it's still in an unlikely place i.e. I'm still putting trotline in front of my house - instead of taking it to better place and I'm too lazy to run it at night i.e. I bait once before dark and check next day. Others that put their line in deeper (better) place at catching a few big catfish - but so far the big ones haven't found my house :)

Same story next day

2009-10-17T14:09:00.002-05:00

forgot to post but got another 2 lb channel (2lb 4oz this time) on Thursday. Also have picked up a couple small (less than a pound) Thursday - Friday / trotline / magic bait. Water still high - spillway gates open - did not waste time rod n reel fishing e.g. lazy - cool weather - high water (no motivations :) :)