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View Full Version : Lake Britton Crappie Late Report 7-23 w/pics



Sierra_Smitty
07-31-2007, 11:01 AM
I've been very busy with the resort and all so I left reporting up to my buddy.....he posts on another board but I thought I'd throw his report up here.

Peace,
Smitty



So i have been so busy working on my addition that i have not had a lot of time to fish. So Smitty calls me up and tells me that he wants to come up for a day and go fishing. (to get a break from the resort). I start thinking where we can go. Eagle Lake has been really slow and Antelope Lake is closed again do to another fire. I start calling around and hear that lake Britton is doing really good for crappie and smallies. I tell Smitty and he is happy as hell and wants to get on some crappie. I guess it is his favorite fresh water fish to catch. I have never been crappie fishing so i tell him to bring the tackle and we can get our crappie on.



Smitty gets up here on Sunday night and we decide to head out at 6 in the A.M. It is a 90 mile drive and im really hoping that we get on some fish cause Smitty has driven a long way to get some fish. I have never fished this lake so i call a local tackle shop to get the 411. The word is that crappie jigs yellow and purple are the ticket.


We get to the lake at about 0800 and get the boat in the water. The lake sits at about 3000 feet and it looks beautiful.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton2.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton3.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton11.jpg



We head out with no idea where to go. About 300 yards out my boat starts making this loud buzzing sound. I think to my self this cant be good. I look around and check everything out and it all looks good. We find a cove and Smitty starts to fish i read my owners book thing and cant find out what that damm buzzing means. I tell Smitty to start the boat and come to realize that there is no water coming out of the motor. (its not pissing) This is not good i think the worst and guess maybe the impeller
is broke and that means a over heated motor. I go to the back of the boat and see there is something stuck in the piss hole. I straighten out a hook and try to work it free. to my surprise i pull out this larva of some kind and it hits me a damm wasp has used the hole to make a nest. after cleaning out the piss hole we turn over the motor and the water starts to flow and no more buzzing.

Now we can fish. I start to fish for smallies and Smitty is trying for some crappie. Smitty gets his first crappie of the day and then two and three.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton10.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton5.jpg



I decide to stop fishing for smallies and hit the crappie.


My first fish.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton9.jpg

The crappie were on the bite and we started to really get into them. We decide that we were going to keep a couple to have fish tacos for dinner.

Just to let you all know the crappie in Lake Britton are very plentiful and they have put a 25 crappie limit on the fish per person so there is enough to go around.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton12.jpg
We decide to shoot to the other side of the lake to see what was there. We found some nice structure and a few shaded areas.

Smitty gets the first fish but its not a crappie.


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton15.jpg

It is some kind of a sucker fish it looks like.


There is a rocky ledge so i put on a x-rap orange rip bait and hope for a smallie. On my like 3 cast I hook up with something and its big. I yell for Smitty to get the net and he comes running. In my mind i know its a big smallie, but know its a ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton16.jpg

I had no idea what kind of fish this was, but my scale weight it as 4pounds 9oz. When i got home i did some research and found out that it is a Sacramento Squaw fish so that answered that mystery.


More pics of us fishing.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton21.jpg


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton25.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton30.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton24.jpg

We found this little cove with some weed patches and the fishing was on fire for a little while it was a fish every cast.

You can see the weed patch we just put the jigs on the edge of the weeds and the fish were on the chew.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton22.jpg


We were using a bobber with about 7 feet of line below it. We would just use a very slow retrieve and not even have to jig the bait.


Here is what we used

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton27.jpg


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton29.jpg

Here is what the jigs looked like after a couple of hours.


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton26.jpg


A few more pics

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton32.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton31.jpg

We fished tell about 3:30 and headed home we caught about 100 fish for the day.


Here is a pic of the live well full of crappie.
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton34.jpg


http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton35.jpg

We stopped for some ice and put it in the live well for the ride home.


On the way home.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton38.jpg



Here is Smitty cleaning all the fish. We kept 35 fish for our fish taco dinner.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton39.jpg


Here is a pic from my house while Smitty was cleaning fish.




http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton42.jpg

Here is the fruit of our labor, DINNER.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton45.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton47.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h88/occy69/lakebritton48.jpg



It was a great trip. Its kinda weird that i have been fishing all my life and in 32 years have never fished for crappie. Its cool to keep finding new spices to fish for.


Enjoy, Occy.

BakoBassin
07-31-2007, 11:16 AM
Those unidentified fish look like Mountain Whitefish to me, or Sqawfish. The big ones eat trout from what I understand.

johnsfishing
07-31-2007, 03:03 PM
great pics! congrats on the outing! 8)

johnsfishing

Wingnut
08-01-2007, 11:39 AM
That was a great report & some nice pics. Thanks for sharing. :thumb:

TroutOnly
08-02-2007, 09:28 PM
great pics and report smitty,,,T/O

one_leg
08-02-2007, 10:06 PM
Nice pics and the story was really cool too!

One_Leg

lovecoldair
08-04-2007, 06:45 PM
Great report and awesome picts

smokehound
08-04-2007, 08:24 PM
WOW that was a huge squawfish! Ive never seen one that large..

They are good eating too. Not gross bottomfeeders like carp, they are one of the few predatory minnows. Its good that you threw him back, as they are important in keeping fish populations healthy.


This place must have been a little slice of heaven, bro. Glad to see an excellent harvest.

steve092
08-26-2007, 07:47 AM
100 Crappie?!?!
Nice catch!
And beautiful lake.

nayr916
08-27-2007, 11:05 AM
There is good fail safe crappie fishing up at Stony Gourge near williams,ca we use size six hooks with slide bobbers and live minnows. just tie your boat to a tree out on the lake and go to town. the best part is that there is no charge to camp there but you have to bring your own fresh water. good luck all 8) [/url][/list]

Headhunter
09-13-2007, 06:47 PM
Smitty;

Nice to see ya on the boards again!

Hey, that lake is beautiful! Where is it?

GeordyBass
09-16-2007, 07:22 PM
nice report good job keepin it short and sweet.:lol: J/K

littletroutchaser
11-27-2007, 09:57 PM
i love that lake,i fished there a few times,there are tons of crappie,and smallies in there,i normally fish that little cove from the shore during the summer,and its WIDE on everything,large mouth,smallies,gills,crappi..and some squaw...i havent fished it in lke 4 years tho!

one_leg
11-27-2007, 10:11 PM
...i havent fished it in lke 4 years tho!

Wow, really, 4 years ago. That'd be right about the time this report was originally posted...LMAO

I'm just kidding LTC. I had to though. I wanna catch some crappie with Smitty too.

One_Leg

familyguy15
12-17-2007, 09:28 AM
NICE CATCH and lots of pics!!! The fish that your unsure of, is a squawfish. Im originally from Washington state and there a problem up there. They like to eat salmon eggs and fry. They have this deal up there where if you catch a squawfish over 12 inches, you can turn it in at special stations they have set up in most of the parks, and receive 2 dollars a fish. Not a bad deal. If you come across them, just toss them on the bank, thats what we do. Id rather catch a nice size salmon than one of those things. Again, good job NICE CATCH!!!

crappiemike
01-16-2008, 10:38 AM
what a beautifull lake where is the lake... :?:

Greg Madrigal
02-04-2008, 01:35 AM
Sweeeeeet report Smitty! I would have LOVED 2 have been there. I luv dem crappie! And what a nice lake!

GM<><

DocSpotty
02-04-2008, 03:38 PM
I'm jealous&#46;&#46;&#46;haven't caught or eaten crappie in years&#46;&#46;&#46;love the little devils&#46; You guys are a bit behind on political correctness with the squawfish&#46; I grew up catching zillions of them where my parents live on Flathead Lake, Montana&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;we have caught some up to 8 lbs&#46; The have been renamed to the Northern Pikeminnow officially&#46; This is along the same lines of the JewFish in Florida which gets to 800 lbs&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;they were renamed Goliath Grouper in the interest of PC&#46; Squawfish are indeed good to eat, especially smoked, but they are extremely bony&#46;

Interesting as they still offer the bounty in Washington because when salmon fry are heading downstream squawfish,&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;excuse me northern pikeminnows&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;change to a diet of 100% salmon fry within a few days&#46; Yet if you go to Colorado you will find the Colorado Pikeminnow is on the endangered fish list&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;go figure&#46;

Have caught them on mepps, rapalas, etc&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;&#46;they are quite aggressive&#46;

Brian &#58;shock&#58;

skunkedagin
02-17-2008, 03:34 PM
Great catch guys!! God bless ya fer actually posting what you used and how ya used it to catch them slabbers&#46; Have yet to strike the motherload on ole slabsides cuz I can't find anything that works for me, hence the name &#58;) Keep up the good work and thanks for the info and pics!!!!!!!!