Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Brandon Royer (married to my niece) took his boys, Peyton (yes, named after Peyton Manning) and Cooper crappie fishing at their home lake. To say the least, they grow them big out that way! Check out the size of the one by Brandon's hand!



Now tell me that little kids don't like to fish!



Here is the full report:

Captain:           Brandon S. Royer
Clients:            Peyton S. Royer and Cooper J. Royer
Date:               4/25/08
Time:               5:30 PM to 10:00 PM EST
Conditions:       Sunny, 10 to 12 MPH  SE wind, Air Temp Approx 75 degrees
Lake:               Hidden Valley Lake (Lawrenceburg, IN)
Water Temp:    66.7 degrees
Water Clarity:   Green Stained, 2' visibility
Boat:                18' Nitro 185S
Equipment:       2 Green Shrek fishing poles, 1 open faced micro lite mitchell reel on 5' ugly stick
Live Bait:          Crickets
Artificial Bait:    1/8 oz weighted hook with crappie keeper tube jigs. Used two colors, chartreuse and blue/white
Catch:              1 2lb Largemouth, 15 bluegill, 8 Crappie

Launched the boat about 5:30 EST.  The wind blew all day but it slowly tapered off as it got closer to dusk. We mostly stayed out of the wind the best we could. Peyton and Cooper used spring bobbers and fished about 2' deep using live crickets. They were casting towards shore and the water depth they were fishing was anywhere from 3' to 12' deep.Both boys caught 6 to 8 blue gill a piece.  They caught about 15 blue gill and we kept 9.  Peyton typically fished a little deeper and was more patient for the fish to strike.  Cooper used a hybrid, continuous, jig, reel a little, jig, technique that seemed to get him a few more strikes than Peyton.  The pace was pretty fast so the captain did the best he could to keep bait on the line for his clients.  Captain finally picked up a rod and reel at dusk and managed to catch 8 crappie on a 1/8oz tube jig.  All the crappie where caught on the blue and white tube color.  The largest crappie was probably right at or just under 1lb. 

The captain is still looking for those 2lb crappie he hears stories about on Hidden Valley Lake.

Excellent catch guys!

Ernie