Week of October 23rd, 2011

On this trip I had two days with Rhandy and a half day with Dale.  Rhandy and I started out on 10/24 at Lake Cypress Springs, just northeast of Lake Fork.  That is a big crappie lake and Rhandy has been bragging on it for quite awhile.  This was my first chance to visit.  Unfortunately, the morning fishing was hampered by a thick, zero visibility fog.  After some slow wandering around on the lake, we finally got to Rhandy's usual spot under the bridge.  We one'd and two'd them off pilings for a couple of hours, ending up with 10 by the time the fog lifted.  Afterwards, we hit a couple of brush piles and did much better.  We ended up with a limit of nice crappie and Rhandy fileted them at a dock belonging to one of his buddies.  I had some for dinner tonight and they were delicious!

The next day we were back at Lake Fork for a day of bass fishing.  We started later then usual, about 10:30 am, with a plan of fishing into the evening.  The wind was up a bit so we spent most of the day hooked onto stumps to save the trolling motor.  Bites were few and far between til we found a spot out near Dale Creek hump.  I think Rhandy caught about 10 of our 15 fish out there, with all but one being small ones.  I told him I was holding out for quality, and proved it when I landed a 6 pound 12 ounce fish.  All of our fish came on Carolina rigs with flukes, though we did try some rattletraps and crankbaits.

Dale and I had a tough day on Wednesday.  After 4 hours of fishing hard, we only had two fish to show for it.  As the wind was quickly picking up and 3 foot rollers were out on the main lake, we decided to call it half a day and call it quits.  I think it was a good decision and we'll resume the quest another day!