Crappie classic

[5150fishn]

Here is my Xplicit report of today's Irvine lake Crappie Classic. Some of the usual suspects and I camped out inside the lake last night and fished the tourney today. As usual last night was a blast with great friends and awesome grub. Woke up this morning to surprisingly warm weather. Jumped on the boat with Seechrisfish and off we went. We decided to troll for trout first thing because the tourney weigh in for crappie wasn't until 5:00p.m. so we figured we had plenty of time. We headed down the west shore and pulled up next to Tapersteve who seemed to immediatly hook up on a trout. That guy has skillz. He was trolling leadcore and Chris and I were flatlining. The water was around 71-73 degrees today so deeper was the way to go but we weren't set up for that so we trolled once around the lake for no luck and then headed to the flats to start on the crappie slayage! We did see plenty of trout being caught today by others. Josh and Hometown were already in the flats making a go of it. So Chris and I started drifting the flats with Berkley pearl white grubs tipped with meal worms about 5 ft. under a bobber. It didn't take long to get a bite and my bobber went under. I quickly set the hook but it appears that the fish only had the meal worm and stripped me. No worries it's early still. Well that was just about it for me and Chris today. We both walked away with the skunk today. I definatley need to work on my crappie skills. I guess we should have gone to Marlon Meade's seminar a couple of days before the tourney!LOL
Our bro Josh had a good day and took third I believe for the biggest stringer today and walked away with some cash for his troubles. Saw Kewly today running around in the Stealth Patrol boat keeping tabs on everyone. I think it is pretty sweet! You won't even see them coming so don't break any rules and you have nothing to worry about! All in all a great day on the water regardless of the skunk. I still was fishing at my favorite lake with great friends and the Irvine lake staff and the Berkley staff really went out of there way to make this a great event. I just need to brush up on my crappie skillz.
5150fishn out!

[See Chris Fish]

Ah, yeah. Tough and long day of fishing. lol

Killed it last year, but the white strip this time.
Fishing, not catching. I know. I know.
Not as crowded as last year and water conditions weren't all that great for crappie. Tried alot of different presentations,
but alas, nada.
I even made a sacrifice to the "fish gods" by spilling my tackle box (did kill some time reorgainizing the box, though, not like I was catching anything in the mean time) and other mishaps.
We gave some advice to some Boy Scouts that were on the lake hunting trout for badges.
Gave Kewly some advice on his twisted ankle (hope that's getting better, bro, that look way painful).
Said nice things about all the beautiful lady mountain bikers that were having an event there. LMAO
Watched the fire department do drills at the end of the flat for upcoming fire season.
Saw the new Irvine Lake R/C track. Very cool!!

Did I mention it was a really long, tough day of fishing? We didn't catch squat. We didn't feel that bad when we overheard some "well known fish slayers" saying they were also not catching much. I mean these guys just launch their boat and fish come up and surrender kind of guys. If they're not catching, then maybe it's not just us. It's just a bad day.
Yeah, that's it. Pride restored. LOL

The Stealth patrol boat is, well sneaky. I don't cheat, so I aint' worried, but you used to see Patrol way off. Now he's next to you before you know it.
They will kick you off the lake if caught cheating, so don't cheat and all's good.
If you're not catching, ask the staff/patrol. They will give you advice on what to do to get on fish.

Nice gathering on friday night. Great food and company.
Heard some great news on the team front. Team Xplicit. Love it!!

Really nice prizes given away at the raffle.
Marlin had some funny timing at the prize give away. All the little, and I mean little, kids were winning the Berkely fishing knives (sealed) as raffle prizes.
All of the kids had the look on their face like they just got Excaliber. So funny!!
Yes, I won a knife also and had the same look, but I was allow to open my own. lol
Seeing the kids faces was a perfect way to put my bad day of fishing in perspective.
Till next time.

[Rooster]

Great report Dan, You and Chris have been money this year. Hope 2 cya out there soon