Fishing Report – Crappie 12-15-12

Published December 16, 2012 | By larry

Saturday, Dec. 15,2012
Weather: 69 to 80 deg
Partly cloudy
Winds: light easterly
water temp.: upper 60’s +/-

Target Species: Crappie (Specks)
Method: Drifting with Live Minnows
Location: Area Lake, Deland, Fl.
Catch: (18) Specks (kept), (30+) Bream, Bass, Specks total

We fished another lake near Deland, Florida this morning and the conditions were pretty good except that we just had a front pass through yesterday. The bite was pretty slow actually and I attribute it to the unsettled weather. There were still a lot of clouds this morning but the sun became more and more visible as the morning wore on.

Of course I fished from my Tarpon 120 Kayak this morning. My wife Tammie and daughter Morgan fished with my Dad from his Griffcraft. They fished about 10 poles and I was able to handle 4, though I was really scrambling once when I had (3) fish on, all at the same time!

We fished live bait again today, live Missouri Minnows hooked thru the eyes and fished deep, in the 6-10′ range.

I decided to rig up a pre-assembled Crappie rig with (3) hooks on my 30 series Okuma Epixor spinning reel on a 6’6″ Uglystik rod. Early on that accounted for most of my fish but by late morning the cane poles were seeing more action.

We ended up bringing home (18) fish total. My sense is that we did as well or better than most of the other people that fished this morning. I spoke to one couple that was heading in that reported they had only caught 3 or 4 Specks total. We probably had (30) fish total counting the bream, (3) bass and the smaller specks that we turned back.

The wind conditions we really good, light and for the most part, perfect for drift fishing. Occasionally it would kick up for just a bit and I would have to paddle to adjust my speed down. I believe that the majority of my fish were caught while moving but very slowly and I only picked up one or two while stationary.

On the way home at 1:30 PM, I dang near ran over a big doe on hwy 11 at Cody’s Corner! It was a close one. The doe had just crossed a huge pasture to be able to get out to the Hwy. I expect she had been pushed out there by dog hunters given the time of day and where she was. Almost had to lock up the brakes.

I heard a report today that people have been doing really good on Specks at Dead Lake in Flagler County as of late. I should have a first hand report on that tomorrow.

Oh yeah, a friendly Game & Fish Officer was at the ramp checking catches and licenses so be warned!

If you have never tried the Crappie Row I would recommend you give it a try, it is pretty darn good. Be careful not to split the egg sack open if possible, then just fry them golden brown just like it was a fillet. They have a tendency to pop and even explode in the frying pan once in a while so a flat mesh cover is handy to keep the hot grease off you.