Natural Lefty
08-15-2009, 01:27 PM
Well, it had been 2 weeks since my previous fishing expedition. I am now officially on vacation but our plans have been messed up. I was originally supposed to leave to Taiwan today, but there were no tickets available when I needed to return, plus it is typhoon season and typhoon Morakot has been a huge problem in Taiwan. There was around 2 meters of rain from the one storm around most of Taiwan, including my wife's hometown, Kaohsiung. Thus, there will be no fishing reports from Taiwan in the near future, but perhaps in December.
We hope to take a several day fishing trip in the near future (before August 26 when my wife goes to Taiwan), but for now, an afternoon at Lake Gregory will have to do. You can probably tell that I don't have a heck of a lot to report about the fishing. My wife is still supervising her daughter's home renovation project, so she could not come. She suggested I go to Lake Gregory "since it's free." Since I am also a major cheapskate, I decided to go with her suggestion, going against my better judgment. After finishing my other activities, I went to Lake Gregory, getting there between 4:30 and 5 p.m. I went to the place I usually go there, Catfish Cove, which usually has Crappie plus other panfish all summer. I only brought artificials with me to fish with. One reason for that is that I have had some bad allergies at Gregory, to which I believe the dirt in worm boxes contributes.
When I got to Catfish Cove, I noticed that the water was low, yet there was not much vegetation in the water -- poor conditions. The only fish I could see were schools of little 1 inch long baby Bullheads. I wonder if each school consists of all the siblings spawned by 1 pair of Bullhead parents. There was also a small dead Crappie on the shoreline. Casting on the south side of the cove with a 1/32 ounce Crappie jig that should work, brought nothing. I next went to my usual spot by the trees, but nothing bit there, either. I fished there until six p.m. without a bite. By that time, there were 8 people fishing the other side of the cove. I did see one kid catch a stocker trout, which he said he caught on a nightcrawler, but that was the only fish I saw caught. Apparently, spawning season is over, and this year, all the fish vacated the cove after spawning. They usually stay there all summer. Fortunately, the trees which usually give me the allergy had also stopped spawning as well.
After trying the south side of the cove again for awhile, I decided to head toward the baseball field area (actually, football field yesterday). I went to the south side of the baseball field cove where people often go to fish for trout. I tried my jig around that area, and finally around 6:50, just past the point, caught a Crappie. At first, it felt like I hit some weeds about 15 feet from shore, but then it began moving. Fortunately, it had hooked itself, and it was bigger than they usually are are Gregory, all of 7 inches, so I kept it. Last time I went to Gregory, my wife and I probably caught about 30 Crappie at Catfish Cove on jigs, but only kept about 10. Many of them were little 5 inches laden with eggs that we put back, so they are really stunted there. Once, I caught several 9 to 9 1/2 inch Crappie at Gregory, but those were "giants" for there, and that was in 1998.
So now, I thought, this is where "they" are. As it turned out, that was where it was. I have caught lone Crappie before, but never before at Lake Gregory. There were no more hits on the jig, so I went along the south side of the cove to where there were 2 downed trees in the water. This area was also more sheltered from the wind, which was surprisingly strong yesterday (and the weather felt surprisingly cool). This setup spelled fish habitat to me, and it was true. There were numerous flies swarming the area, and fish could be seen surfacing here and there. I swithced to a Black Gnat fly, and managed 3 or 4 strikes, probably from Bluegill, but could not hook any of them. Finally, as it was getting dark, I tried the baseball field cove again with a jig, to no avail. By then, it was around 8 p.m., so I decided to head home with my one measly Crappie. I know many people on this board go to Lake Gregory from time to time. I usually catch good numbers of fish there, but based on what I saw yesterday, I would say that this is not a good time to fish there.
By the way, I made Sashimi out of the Crappie after I got home. Crappie Sashimi, yum! It may not sound so good, but it tastes much better than it sounds. That amount of Sashimi would probably cost about 10 dollars at a Sushi Bar, and this was fresher and better quality than most Sushi, so that was some compensation for the mediocre fishing. I put lime juice, soy sauce, Korean Pepper Powder, and some strips of seaweed on the fish for good measure. I wanted to put Wasabi on it, but my wife must have hidden the Wasabi from me. :Confused:
Another good thing about the trip is that I had zero noticeable allergies this time. :Smile:
We hope to take a several day fishing trip in the near future (before August 26 when my wife goes to Taiwan), but for now, an afternoon at Lake Gregory will have to do. You can probably tell that I don't have a heck of a lot to report about the fishing. My wife is still supervising her daughter's home renovation project, so she could not come. She suggested I go to Lake Gregory "since it's free." Since I am also a major cheapskate, I decided to go with her suggestion, going against my better judgment. After finishing my other activities, I went to Lake Gregory, getting there between 4:30 and 5 p.m. I went to the place I usually go there, Catfish Cove, which usually has Crappie plus other panfish all summer. I only brought artificials with me to fish with. One reason for that is that I have had some bad allergies at Gregory, to which I believe the dirt in worm boxes contributes.
When I got to Catfish Cove, I noticed that the water was low, yet there was not much vegetation in the water -- poor conditions. The only fish I could see were schools of little 1 inch long baby Bullheads. I wonder if each school consists of all the siblings spawned by 1 pair of Bullhead parents. There was also a small dead Crappie on the shoreline. Casting on the south side of the cove with a 1/32 ounce Crappie jig that should work, brought nothing. I next went to my usual spot by the trees, but nothing bit there, either. I fished there until six p.m. without a bite. By that time, there were 8 people fishing the other side of the cove. I did see one kid catch a stocker trout, which he said he caught on a nightcrawler, but that was the only fish I saw caught. Apparently, spawning season is over, and this year, all the fish vacated the cove after spawning. They usually stay there all summer. Fortunately, the trees which usually give me the allergy had also stopped spawning as well.
After trying the south side of the cove again for awhile, I decided to head toward the baseball field area (actually, football field yesterday). I went to the south side of the baseball field cove where people often go to fish for trout. I tried my jig around that area, and finally around 6:50, just past the point, caught a Crappie. At first, it felt like I hit some weeds about 15 feet from shore, but then it began moving. Fortunately, it had hooked itself, and it was bigger than they usually are are Gregory, all of 7 inches, so I kept it. Last time I went to Gregory, my wife and I probably caught about 30 Crappie at Catfish Cove on jigs, but only kept about 10. Many of them were little 5 inches laden with eggs that we put back, so they are really stunted there. Once, I caught several 9 to 9 1/2 inch Crappie at Gregory, but those were "giants" for there, and that was in 1998.
So now, I thought, this is where "they" are. As it turned out, that was where it was. I have caught lone Crappie before, but never before at Lake Gregory. There were no more hits on the jig, so I went along the south side of the cove to where there were 2 downed trees in the water. This area was also more sheltered from the wind, which was surprisingly strong yesterday (and the weather felt surprisingly cool). This setup spelled fish habitat to me, and it was true. There were numerous flies swarming the area, and fish could be seen surfacing here and there. I swithced to a Black Gnat fly, and managed 3 or 4 strikes, probably from Bluegill, but could not hook any of them. Finally, as it was getting dark, I tried the baseball field cove again with a jig, to no avail. By then, it was around 8 p.m., so I decided to head home with my one measly Crappie. I know many people on this board go to Lake Gregory from time to time. I usually catch good numbers of fish there, but based on what I saw yesterday, I would say that this is not a good time to fish there.
By the way, I made Sashimi out of the Crappie after I got home. Crappie Sashimi, yum! It may not sound so good, but it tastes much better than it sounds. That amount of Sashimi would probably cost about 10 dollars at a Sushi Bar, and this was fresher and better quality than most Sushi, so that was some compensation for the mediocre fishing. I put lime juice, soy sauce, Korean Pepper Powder, and some strips of seaweed on the fish for good measure. I wanted to put Wasabi on it, but my wife must have hidden the Wasabi from me. :Confused:
Another good thing about the trip is that I had zero noticeable allergies this time. :Smile: