1st Fish of 2025!
I spent most of January duck hunting, and it was an amazing season. Mack grew by leaps and bounds and became a really great duck dog. I was so engrossed in the season that I never touched a fishing rod. I finally put all my duck stuff away this month, and had a day off yesterday, so I pulled out my crappie rods and headed to Silver Lake to see if I could catch a few crappie to get my fishing year started right.
There will be plenty of time to go fishing for bass, walleye, salmon, rockfish, sturgeon, steelhead, and on and on... but I like to start my year off with some good old crappie fishing. It's fun, the fish are usually biting, they are great to eat, and there is usually good company among the other anglers out fishing the banks.
I got to Silver Lake about 10 a.m., and to my surprise, it was packed. I could not believe there would be that many people fishing for crappie on a Tuesday in February. I assessed that the fishing must be good, and word travels fast with anglers.
I rigged up a double 1/32 oz mini jig setup, with a small bobber and found a spot at the very end of one of the canals. It did not take long for my bobber to shoot underwater and I pulled out my first fish of 2025 - a 6" crappie!
I continued catching a few small crappie and perch, but the action was pretty slow. I moved up the bank and found a new spot, but the action did not pick up.
1st Perch of 2025!
I could not help noticing that a guy sitting in a chair about 50 yards down the bank was absolutely crushing the fish. I mean every cast he was catching something. Crappie, perch, bluegill—it did not matter, he was killing it!
I tried to casually glance down to see what he was using, but it was too far away and it looked similar to what I had. I scrounged around in my box and made a few changes to my presentation, but I could not come up with anything that was as effective as whatever he was using.
Lo and behold, as I was fishing, the gentleman picked up his chair and his tackle, walked up the bank towards me, and sat down right next to me—what luck! I said hello and introduced myself, and we struck up a conversation. I started out by saying, "I gotta ask, what are you using because you are killing it." Turns out, his name is Dan, he is a bit older than me, and he absolutely loves fishing for crappie. He hand ties the jigs he was using and configures them into a double rig. The jigs are beautiful, and they absolutely work.
He asked if I wanted to try some, and I said, "Absolutely!" He handed me one of his pre-tied jig rigs, and I swear, I caught a fish every cast for the next 30 minutes—I have never seen anything like it. These jigs are the real deal—very different from any jig I had ever fished, but the crappie, perch, and bluegill just love them!
Nice sack of perch and bluegill - all caught on Dan's Jig!
Dan and I got along great, and ended up fishing together for the rest of the day. We moved spots a few times and everywhere we went, Dan's jigs were just as effective. We caught hundreds of crappie, but they were all too small to keep. I did manage to get a nice sack of perch and bluegill. More importantly, I made a great new friend and really enjoyed spending my afternoon with Dan.
I am going to order a couple dozen jigs from Dan for my next crappie trip and hopefully I will be able to meet him at the lake!
Thanks for reading,
Bill