The Crappie are Biting

Last Friday, Mar. 20^th, spring officially came around. Spring is a wonderful season of the year unless you have allergies. Why, folks are taking to the water, planting gardens, tending flowers and it’s just a good time to get out of the house. One reason I like spring is that the fish seem to bite better as the water temperatures rise.

Although some people fish year round, most people start their yearly fishing trips in the spring. The boat landing are packed full of empty trailers while the fishermen are out on the lakes in their boats trying to catch a nice mess of fish.

Over the past thirty years or more many fishermen have purchased nice and expensive Bass or Crappie boats that can fly across the water. These boats are equipped with large motors, fish finders, depth finders and even a device which tells you what color of artificial lure to use. They have live wells that keep the fish alive till they can be weighed and released at the end of the day. Today’s fishermen carry several large tackle boxes full of the newest artificial lures on the market; guaranteed to catch fish. Their rod and reels are name brand and filled with yards and yards of special fishing line.

When I was growing up we also enjoyed fishing on the Pee Dee River that is if work on the farm allowed. Ol’ Noah, in the Bible, why he didn’t have the only wooden boat back then although I have to admit his was a bit bigger than ours was. Why the average fisherman back in those days kept a least two old wooden boats chained to trees up and down the river. The reason being they didn’t run big motors like they do today and it took longer to get to your fishing spot. Most people would run a 9.9 H.P., or less on their boats, because if you had a bigger one on the wildlife required more regulations such as numbers on the boat.

Back then my fishing tackle consist of a little green metal tackle box which held several lead split shots, some wire hooks, nylon fishing stringer, two rolls of black nylon fishing line, several corks, pliers, a screwdriver and some homemade sheer pins for my 5 H.P. Scott Outboard motor. My fishing poles were made out of bamboo reeds cut from the river bank. For bait we would use shiners (minnows) we had caught in a local branch and placed them in a metal bucket. No matter how old I get there ain’t nothing I like more than placing a shiner on the end of my fishing line and watching a crappie pull my cork under the water.

One of my favorite places to fish for crappie on the Pee Dee River was a cove called Parson’s Lake. Why you could load your boat on the back of your truck and drive down a bumpy pig path of a road to get to the lake or you could take the long boat ride from the boat landing. The reason the lake was such a good spot to fish was because the bottom and edges of the lake had a lot of underwater stumps and brush. This was a perfect place for the fish to spawn and get out of the main current of the river.

Why I remember one time my friend Bubba and I had drove my old 53 Ford down to the lake. We unloaded our wooden boat, started the motor and found our first fishing hole about halfway up the lake. Won’t a soul on the lake. As things got quiet our corks started going under. Won’t long we had our stringer about full of some nice slabs of crappies.

We were using the last of our shiners when we saw an old wooden boat, with three men, pulling into the lake from the river side. Being River Rats ourselves, we knew most of the local fishermen that fished in Parson’s Lake but these men we had never seen there before. I don’t think those guys had ever been in the lake before because they seemed to hit every stump there was in the lake. They pulled their old boat under a big willow tree on the opposite side of the lake than we were. I could tell by the way they were talking and acting that the three had way too much to drink. As they pulled their boat under the willow tree, the man in front stood up and grabbed an overhanging limb of the willow tree. Now folks you know how I like to tell snake stories but this here is the gospel. When the guy pulled on the limb a rather large snake fell into their boat. Why you never heard such a racket in your life. The man that was standing in the boat jumped right over the front of the boat right into the water while the one in the middle was jumping straight up and down in the boat. Now this guy that was jumping up and down was a rather large fellow and the bottom of that old wooden boat was taking a pretty good beating. All of a sudden the jumping fellow stomped a big hole into the bottom of their boat, while trying to kill that snake. The only part of that guy’s body left above water was his arms and his head. Why he looked like a duck trying to fly as he waved his arms up and down. The look on their red faces was priceless as their boat sunk to the bottom of the lake. That cool water sobered them guys right up, I want you to know

Being the good Samaritans we were, we helped them guys get out of the water and carried them back to their truck at the boat landing. Never did see them guys again but somebody said they came back and got their boat motor. You know, I’d be willing to bet though them fellas never stopped their boat up under a willow tree again!!!