What are you wearin today?

[CrappieJohn]

How many of you have heard your mother or sister or wife taliking with a freind maybe about a wedding or some day plans and ask each other, "so, what are you going to wear"?. If you are like me you think to yourself ( trust me, it is wise to think this to yourself for real, too!), "good God woman its only an hour long procedure to marry off that fool, so whats is wrong with jeans and a 'I hate weddings' T-shirt?". It seems that women can put more thought into dressing than into practicality. After years of making my thoughts verbal and more years of learning how to keep my thoughts to myself, I just shake my head and walk away any more.

This same sort of senario is posed upon each of us, though, when we hit the water...."What are you going to start with today?". This is a very valid question and , unlike the one your wife asks her companions, one you cannot walk away from if you want to start the day off with some modicum of success. So.....what is the tag end of your line going to wear?

When I hit the drink I look at a number of things. Is the weather in a stable pattern? What were the fish hot on the last time? What is different about today than the last time? Is the water warmer? Did a color or profile pattern emerge thatlast trip out that might be a place to begin? I think of a ton of things. And then I do the obvious....I go to what was the best producer the last time out, regardless of the changes in weather and water. Why? I have to start somewhere and, sort of like the clothes issue, I don't like to think about it that much. I'd rather just fish....and let them tell me what to use.

If the weather has been relatively stable, profile and size issues are going to be stable too. Changes in the color and retrieve are going to be your biggest challenge. I awlays go back to the presentation I was doing well on the last trip out. Once you find the fish and determine what they are like "bite-wise", lots of variable can be employed.

Like those decisions that women belabor themselves with regarding dress, anglers too are going to be faced with some decision making challenges and maybe the biggest is going to deal with color, after it has been established what the fish want profile and action -wise. Any one ever seen thier wife change clothes when company comes because some else is wearing a color that is close to what wifie originally had on? The rational is that with two women in the same room (more like city block) with ALMOST the same color of clothing is just too much color for that small of an area. The same will apply to fishing. Especially crappies being fished in a tight area. If too much of a certain color of plastic is working a school of them, they will get wary of that color quickly. So I do what I have learned from the girls....I change colors.....often. And I usually stay in the fish.

I don't like to hammer on one spot with one color for a long time. I will fish it with one color, change color and then leave the spot after a bit. But I will come back to the spot later and do the whole color change thing again. Sometimes I can do this using just two colors all day. Sometimes I have to change up the colors four or five times.

I fish heavily stained water and my favorite of all baits , regarless of profile or action, will have purple body and chartreuse tail. And my favorite is based on what's working for me at the time. If it worked three days ago, I will start with that as long as it has purple and chartreuse in it. But I will not stay stuck on this color pattern if I do not get into fish within 10 minutes. Those who have fished with me know of the plastics arsenal I drag along with me and know too that I will be digging through the color chambers in the box on a search until I find one that works. If I am forced to change profiles, I will start with purple/chartreuse regardless and then go through the gamut of colors again. I might,no...will, always end up with that which I stared with on the line.

So how many color patterns do you need? Go check out the wife's/ girlfriend's wardrobe closet and then the chest of drawers or sweater storeage area. Got the picture here? I always preach about going to the lake prepared. Not only in profiles and actions, but also in the color department. Why so many colors? I have seenwhere crapies are hitting great guns on an overcast moring on my beloved purple/chartreuse only to have the haze burn off and they quit. Switch to a blue/chartreuse and ,bingo!, right back in fish. I have seen this progression go through as many as eight color variables in three hours, once starting with black/chartreuse and ending with a pink body and an orange tail!

That cloest at home keeps the little lady of your life happy, so I say let her have it. Fill that sucka up honey! Those overflowing tackle boxes are my closet and her closet is my defense for what I have. My toys keep me happy and in the fish. Now Ma has asked why I have so much tackle of the same colors. I explain that it is much like her closet. She doesn't have just one pair of jeans in this color....she has nine. And she has six different brands of jeans, so go do the math. And sweaters? well , lets just say there are some very bald sheep out there. But one in one color? Yea, right.

Part of the plastics challenge is color. In my opinion, no panfisherman can have too much of it. Profile choices and action choices .....color choices all equate to a lot of tackle to carry, but I am prepared. Inspite of that, time has taught me what to start with. So what should you start your fishing day with? Go to your "go to" bait and begin. Make yor adjustments based on what the fish dicatate for the day beginning with that bait. It is ok to fashion your tackle after the women, but if you don't have a definite starting point, you'll end up like the little lady standing in the closet for two hours wondering what to wear. That's a lot of good fishing time, my friends.

[crappie todd]

Interesting name, Crappie Tom.... But anyways. I was outfished by my son for a while yesterday. Jeff grew up in the front of my boat for the 1st 19 years, Then became his boat and now he takes me fishing and today that story is 25 years old. Anyways I originally taught Jeff how to fish crappies. We were jig fisherman that rarely enterd a bait shop for minnows. With some exceptions to that rule, and the body of water we would fish. But for the old gezzer in me that was stubborn yesterday, Jeff was tossing back crappies well into his 20th fish before I decided my presentation wasn't working.

I have changed methods over the years. The one I was using yesterday wasn't necessarly a spring time one. It did work fine on Bee bee lake last week but on this lake the presentaion was not going to tell me what I most importantly needed to know... The indication a crappie was swimming off with my presentation. Heck, I was even using the same jig color and all Jeff had on. The student was outfishing the teacher. I was not going to catch a crappie until I matched Jeff's rig. When I finally did, the 1st cast was a laugher because on about every cast there after produced a crappie. The difference was.. the typ of float I was using. Jeff grew up using the plastic casting bubbles. I taught Jeff that. But at times I like using a pencil float that lays horizontal to the surface.

Hard to believe it but it WAS the difference. Mabey the slight splash it made was what the difference was. Soon I was catching crappies at the same rate as Jeff. What can yah say? I dressed my rig wrong. Jeff commented; Dad, what if you were alone out here hunting crappies. Imagine you would have thought they were not in this bay yet. Frankly I would have never caught a fish. I had to really think he was absolutly right.

For the sake of letting people know how good a crappie fisherman Jeff became. Jeff has for three years straight won the crappie contest on the lake we have our cabin on Near Aitkin. but when Jeff took second in the Crappie USA tournammnet two years ago, I knew he was really ready to be Named, Crappie Jeff.

CT

[united jigsticker]

To sum it up in a few words, if it wasn't for Crappie Todd, there wouldn't be Crappie Jeff, for more reasons then even the obvious.

First, I had to be born.

Then I had to learn to hold the rod.

Then I had to learn to bait a jig.

Then I had to learn to tie a jig (this coincided with learning how to cast so as to not snag a tree, or, even more important, my Dad, and also, learning to adjust the drag to "play" a fish so as to not break it off on a surge.)

Then, I had to learn to read a Vexilar.

Then I had to learn to interpret what I saw on the vexilar.

Then I had to learn fundamentals of boat control.

Then advanced boat control.

Then backing a trailer.

Boy. And with all that, there was so much coaching, and other preperations. Imagine the work and effort, which can only be fully appreciated by myself, that Crappie Todd put into his son so that I could one day angle a fish on my own.

It is him I thank that I am successful at "dressing" my line for the appropriate presentation to my clients, the Crappie. For without him, I would have never learned to "make a sale" to "bring home the bacon" so to speak while on the water.

I wouldn't be who or what I am today without the teachings of Crappie Todd.

And if, by chance, I can now teach Crappie Todd a thing or two, then by all means, I am honored, just as much as I am proud to be his son, and have him as my father.

I know the Crappies feel differently. And that's a sign of a good teacher, and a great Dad.

Jeff

[CrappieJohn]

CT....Great story! My hat is off to you and your son! Congrats on his tourney successes!

[deeky]

My wife is definitely not a fan of the sequins. What about the crappies? Glitter? Flash? I'm also tying fly patterns, so adding/subtracting flash is easy. I like the looks of it, what's your experience with the crappies?

Thanks,

Deeky

[CALVINIST]

Thanks Tom. It's a good idea not to get locked into one particular color or profile when the fishing slows down...solid advice.

[CrappieJohn]

Deeky....For a long time I had it in my head thatglitter and glitz got their attention ( and it may in very clear water on a well lit day) but where I fish I don't think a 4th of July sparkler would show up much. So I have abondoned the ideology that you need to have glitter. I look at how the contrast is more than anything when it comes to showing up. The old adage that says "bright colors on bright days and dark colors on dark days" is probably the best general guide there is. But even that is very general. I say that because I have caught crappies on tackle that should not have been used at all on a given day. It isn't something that a person can just describe....you have to gather some personal experience when you consider color or the degree of contrast.