Tried a new to me lake today. I had scouted Cassidy before, but wasn't sure my Alumaweld would fit the very small unimproved launch. It did. As a wannabe crappie fisherman I had seen reports here of others who have caught crappie here, usually as incidental catch. Good enough for me! First I did a brief survey of the lake with my sideimaging fishfinder to see if I could find any structure on the bottom in the deeper areas (all less than 25 ft). Nope! Figured they would be in deepest water near structure, so I started near the dock on the east side. Had obtained some Don's Dandy Crappie Jigs (Don is aka BMGW here at WL.com) so that's what I used. Marinated them in garlic overnight as instructed. Set one pole up with a slip bobber and two 1/32 oz. glow jigs in red/chartreuse and white about 4 and 7 feet below a slip bobber. Gave the bobber a twitch now and then to make the jigs dance a little. I set up the other pole with Don's beetle-spin thingie (sorry BMGW, couldn't remember what you called it) and cast towards the dock and shore retrieving slowly to let it drop and get deeper. Two hours and nada! Decided to try the deepest water I could find just north of the dock but still towards the eastern side. Threw out the double rig but switched the other pole to a white glow jig. Slowly jigged it up and down near the bottom. After about 15 minutes I felt the "tap" and lifted my pole and brought in an 8 inch crappie. Yay!!!!! Little too small to keep, but I was still stoked. Fished another 1 1/2 hours and managed another small crappie and a few perch that I let go. As this was really the first time I had targeted crappie since I was a kid fishing Potholes and Moses, I considered this trip a total success. Will keep at it and hope to get better, as crappie have always been my favorite fish to catch. Am going to have to work more crappie time into the kokanee, smallmouth, perch, walleye action. No pictures because Santa brought me really expensive boat electronics this year and I'm going to have to be a good boy for a while to get the camera I want.

Tight lines all.

Jay K

1/12/2011 10:26:00 AM

Nice report. Too bad we can't spider rig like they do down south.

blurock

1/12/2011 10:37:00 AM

Great report! Thanks!
I tried Cassidy for Crappie last spring with no luck. I'm the same way though, I grew up catching Crappie in the potholes and I've been trying to find some around here. I'll have to go give it another try!

JWS

1/12/2011 12:03:00 PM

I've thought about hitting cassidy but was thinking I might catch some grief about having a 50hp. on the back of my boat. I've seen the sign at the launch that says 8hp. Max. Not sure if I could get away with just running the trolling motor or not?

randy n' lizzie

1/12/2011 12:16:00 PM

Yeah, I've got 9.9 and 125 Mercs on the back of my boat, so all I could use was the bowmount electric. Not a problem at all on such a small lake.

JWS

1/12/2011 3:47:00 PM

Well then I'll have to give it a shot. When I still had my smaller boat this last summer I fished Cassidy quite a bit. Did pretty well in the areas you fished but had my best luck on the north east corner of the lake.

randy n' lizzie

1/12/2011 7:08:00 PM

Hey JWS,

Are you talking about your best luck with crappie in the NE corner of the lake? What were your setups? NE corner was kinda shallow close to shore, but it was also as close to a steep dropoff into deeper water that I could find. For some reason I was not marking many fishg on the fishfinder in most areas. I would expect spring water temps of about 60 to turn on the spawn here. BMGW, please give us some of your expertise here.

randy

BMGW

1/12/2011 7:19:00 PM

Heya Randy, good on you! Fishing Crappie this time of year regardless of the water is always tough sledding. Keep at it, the more you use them, the more you will like them. Hope you paid attention to where you caught those and come back at em again some time. One thing I have found with these if your fishing blind, that is to say w/o electronics, just go to the bottom and work it up slowly a few inches at a time and remember to always pull your knot back toward the hook so it hangs horizontal every drop. Have fun out there!

randy n' lizzie

1/13/2011 4:28:00 PM

Hey Don,

Thanx and forgot about pulling the knot back. It works! Really like your Don's Dandy Crappie Jigs. Like them so much I gave every other jig I had away (to my son, HAH!!!). Hope to see you on Leland this year. Plan on dragging my boat on the ferry to the peninsula. When does Leland start getting good for crappie?

randy

BMGW

1/13/2011 8:22:00 PM

March sees a definite pickup in activity until they spawn and then they are difficult to find because on this lake their spawning under the muskeg and only the otters get to catch em then...

Idstud

1/14/2011 5:56:00 AM

Great report. I like fishing cassidy. looking at the lake from the launch if you hug the left side theres a nice hole your trailer will drop in. I fish with a extra mini red head white body tube with a maggot. I start straight accross from the launch just north of the new dock they put in for the running trail and work my way north. When the lillys start coming in I fish the outer edge but next to them. As for JWS The last time I seen the sign there it was 10hp motor and the speed limit is 8mph. The big motors dont matter as long as you dont use them to power your boat and go nice and slow. tight lines

buzzbait

1/14/2011 8:57:00 AM

I think its a 10hp limit there.I have used my 9.9 in there before

HillbillyGeek

1/29/2011 10:07:00 AM

Cassidy is fine if you don't mind catching dinks. Lake Sawyer has slab crappie and lots of bass too.

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