Doug Wynn

Hello from the Excel 230 Elite. I’ve gotten my road trips out of the way so now my trips will be almost daily and to the lake locally.

My buddy Justin and I went to Sardis Lake, MS late last week. The weather and wind made our fishing challenging to say the least. Thursday we fished with fellow ACC Crappie Stix pro staffer Tim Howell. The low 40s temperatures, 20+ mph winds, and spitting rain made it a miserable day.

Tim showed us several spots where the crappie wouldn’t cooperate. We caught some but far from the numbers he had been putting in his boat the days before.

Justin showed up Thursday in Crocs and no socks. Tim was stuffing toe warmers into his shoes and I was wishing I had brought boots and heavier rain gear. The next two days Justin was barefoot, the way he likes to run the trolling motor. Tim thought he was crazy and I thought he’s much tougher than me. Each to his own.

Saturday was a perfect weather day and the crappie cooperated in mild winds. A double limit of 20 crappie weighing 34 pounds was bagged vertical jigging with Livescope. The crappie absolutely would not react to a jig cast and swam in front of them.

I just came off the lake in surprising Northwest winds. This spring the winds have been relentless and brutal. I checked out some cover in a cove in 8-15 feet of water. The stake beds and brush piles were full of some kind of tiny fish. They would follow my baits but never felt. I did spot one big mark on my Garmin that looked interesting. A jig swam in front of it prompted it to rush my bait after it had got several feet away. That big mark ended up being a fat pre-spawn white crappie almost 15 inches long and about two pounds.

I trolled jigs for a while in 6-12 feet of water and caught several more keepers, one over 14inches. Today was the lucky day for the crappie as all were released. Guide trips start tomorrow and it is a rare day that the keepers are released.

Lake level was 354.6 midday and baring a considerable amount of rain this weekend, the scheduled rise won’t start until April 1st. Surface temp was approaching 58 degrees.

Be careful out there. Weather forecasts have missed the wind speeds most days.

Another thing that anglers must be aware of, unless something has been signed by Ky and TN in the last few days, the reciprocal agreement that has allowed fishermen with Ky or TN to fish all areas between the Hwy 68/Eggner’s Ferry bridge and the Hwy 79 bridge at Paris Landing (except Blood River) is no longer in effect. That means if Ky anglers want to fish the east side of the lake south of the TN line, you must have a TN license.

I’ve done several searches on line and have not found word that a new agreement has been signed.

Be careful out there. Be sure you have all your gear loaded into the boat BEFORE backing onto the ramp. Help those who might need help on the water.

We lost a great guy and good fisherman recently when Danny (Pete) Henson drowned while fishing Jonathan Creek.

I met Pete when I was a teenager. He started his 27 year teaching career my senior year at North Marshall. He then taught math and physics at Marshall County HS.

His obituary mentioned he passed with 17 keeper crappie in his livewell. I think that would be something most fishermen could hope for. Going out doing what we love.

Welcome to our slice of Heaven.