A Man On A Mission

Remember last Thursday? The Line Slap - Line Snap? Well I was on a mission to get that sucker today. I got to Lake Amador at 0830 after the coffee stop and was gunning for that (what ever it was) that snapped my line. I rigged my fly rod with the floating line (I wanted that sucker, no not a Carp, on my fly rod), put on my wading boots (without waders just in case I needed to get into the water), and vest. I didn't have a decision to make, the Tungston Bead Head Thinmint was all I planned to use.

Plan A was to walk to the other side of the spillway and fish from one side to the other. When I got to where I was going to start, I walked up a little hill to get a better look to see if any fish were swimming near by. I did see one, so I started my casting, first on the outside of the buoys (If I hooked a good sized one, he would make a run toward the lake and I didn't want to have to try and turn him so he wouldn't tangle in the buoy cable) and then on the inside.

A half dozen casts later, I hooked the Crappie (You guys know I don't have a clue between Crappie and Blue Gill) below. I've worked hard in other lakes and all I've caught are those little ones and here I catch a big (this one was probably close to a pound) by accident.    

Crappie?

After I took the photo and put it back for another day, I walked around the point to the lake side. I didn't get any interest, but a guy in a float tube called "Aren't you Mark? Shoreman Mark?". After answering "Yes" we talked about current conditions and a few friends we have in common (he mentioned he reads the blog all the time) then he moved on and I fish a little further along the shore. Kind of scary when people start recognizing you because they read your blog.

OK, back to the spillway and near where I caught the first Crappie, I hooked up again. I took this picture of the other side so you wouldn't think I took two pictures of the same fish. Kind of hard to tell them apart. Could have been the same fish, but I would think he wasn't dumb enough to take the same lure twice. Any of you crappie experts out there got any thoughts on that?
 

Same one?

With the two crappie interruptions out of the way, I was still on a mission. I didn't have to wait long because it wasn't more than about twenty feet and again, it was a Line Slap and a Line Snap. This time it broke the line at the double surgeon knot. I had on a new 5X leader and new 5X tippet.

I fished for another hour or so working up and down the spillway area, but it just wasn't going to happen today. That's OK, there will be a next time.

Till the next adventure.

Mark