Ochlocknee River - 5/21/2006
Posted: May 21st, 2006, 2:09 pm
I launched at the County Road 12 (Fairbanks Ferry Road) Bridge on the Ochlocknee River at daybreak today.
The Ochlocknee was very muddy and very high, according to some locals I ran into when I was taking out.
I worked my way upstream for about half a mile. On my second cast of the day, I got the beautiful crappie below. Sadly, that was the first and last crappie of the day. I got a couple of light bites throughout the early morning, but I'm guessing those were by smaller crappie or bream. I would have liked to have had about 10 of the size pictured!
I stopped and anchored at mid-morning and threw out a few lines with crickets at varying depths. I caught several small (less than 12") catfish with crickets on the bottom. I probably could have caught these small catfish all day!
All around me throughout the morning there were some large brownish-orange fish bubbling/rolling on the surface. I've seen carp rolling/spawning and these didn't quite look like the ones I'm used to. I couldn't get a close enough look at them, but most were in the 2 - 3' range. Any clues on what those were? I might need to find a source for some of that Strawberry Carp Bait I used to tear them up on as a kid and head back out there.
Not a ton of fish, but it's a beautiful river and was a beautiful day. I headed back to the launch shortly after noon and had a bite of lunch. As I was eating, a couple showed up to launch their two canoes. They were loaded down with a ton of gear and were heading out for "a week or so" of fishing and camping as they worked their way down the river.
I went ahead and immediately admitted my jealousy before they detected it!
The Ochlocknee was very muddy and very high, according to some locals I ran into when I was taking out.
I worked my way upstream for about half a mile. On my second cast of the day, I got the beautiful crappie below. Sadly, that was the first and last crappie of the day. I got a couple of light bites throughout the early morning, but I'm guessing those were by smaller crappie or bream. I would have liked to have had about 10 of the size pictured!
I stopped and anchored at mid-morning and threw out a few lines with crickets at varying depths. I caught several small (less than 12") catfish with crickets on the bottom. I probably could have caught these small catfish all day!
All around me throughout the morning there were some large brownish-orange fish bubbling/rolling on the surface. I've seen carp rolling/spawning and these didn't quite look like the ones I'm used to. I couldn't get a close enough look at them, but most were in the 2 - 3' range. Any clues on what those were? I might need to find a source for some of that Strawberry Carp Bait I used to tear them up on as a kid and head back out there.
Not a ton of fish, but it's a beautiful river and was a beautiful day. I headed back to the launch shortly after noon and had a bite of lunch. As I was eating, a couple showed up to launch their two canoes. They were loaded down with a ton of gear and were heading out for "a week or so" of fishing and camping as they worked their way down the river.
I went ahead and immediately admitted my jealousy before they detected it!