Adams gets second chance, puts 3.57 crappie in the livewell
Crappie fisherman Steve Adams got the monkey off his back. Or, to be more specific, he got the record crappie in his livewell.
Adams had been fishing with friend Shane Hodge just a day before when Adams hooked a huge crappie that got off. He and Hodge saw the big fish swimming off on their live sonar. Hodge flipped a jig back to the fish and it bit. Hodge landed it and the slab weighed 3.65 pounds, good enough for No. 2 spot in the state record book.
Back for more
Adams knew there were more like that and he went back on Monday, Feb. 28, to give it another try. He was rewarded by catching a 3.57 pound white crappie, which will move into fourth place in the state record book.
“I fished around where we had caught fish the day before and caught a couple of good ones, but nothing to bring to the scales,” Adams said. “It was kind of slow to tell the truth. I fished up and down the same stretch where we had seen so many big fish the day before, but there weren’t as many. But then, about 100 yards from where Shane caught his, I saw this big fish. I positioned the boat where I could drop the bait right down to him and stopped it just inches from him.”
Then he felt the thump. The fish bit. Adams said the fish definitely put on a fight and when he saw it come up and roll on the surface, he took his time with the fish and managed to get it into his dip net.
“I thought it might have been a three pounder, so I took my time,” Adams said. “But it definitely made me nervous, especially after what happened yesterday. I stood up and worked it to the net and after I got it in the boat, all the wind was out of me. I had to sit down and look at it for a minute.”
Adams caught the fish on a jig with a shiner. Actually, the first time he offered the bait to the fish, it hit the lure hard and knocked the shiner off, but did not get hooked. Adams put another shiner on and made a second offering.
“He nailed it,” Adams said. “Man, that was great.”
Moving toward the spawn
Adams said while the fish have been moving out into the open areas to feed with the water temps in the low 50’s, the water is warming up fast. He said the fish are already starting to ease up onto the shallower flats and get in the bushes to spawn. If it stays warm a few more days, he said the spawn will be on. He also said when he saw groups of fish on his sonar, there were mostly small to medium fish there. The big ones were all spotted swimming alone. That’s another sign the spawn is about to begin.
Only in its second year after being reopened, Bussey Brake will be the owner of three of the top four white crappie in the state record books maintained by the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association when the catches are certified.
