The old man on the bank.

Many boat fisherman like to snub their noses at the guy fishing from the bank for some reason. In reality a lot of those guys have caught more Crappie from a boat

than most of us ever will. They may just not feel like dragging the boat to the lake every day or maybe it was too windy or any number of reasons they chose to bank fish.

My point in this is that you should keep your eye on them. They can help you out in many ways.

I was on the lake the other day just minding my own business fishing stake beds and brush piles in 8-10′ of water just like your supposed to this time of year and not having

much luck at all. I cruise past this guy on the bank with a 5 gallon bucket and ask “hows it going today” I was thinking ” poor guy”. If I can’t catch them from a boat he must be having

a Hell of a time. Much to my surprise he says ” well I’ve had my limit for a while now I’m just fun fishing now.”. HMMMMM.

What was interesting about him was that he happened to be fishing in about 3′ of water on the back side of lay downs. Now this isn’t usually a pattern I’m going to look for when

the water temp is in the lower 50’s or upper 40s.  He was also displaying amazing patience as he only had about 2 places to stand. He would stand still and drop his jig in a hole and wait.

So, I learned 2 things, don’t assume you know what the pattern is just because it’s been that way the last 20 years and try to stay put a little while longer. He knew there were more fish

where he was fishing so he waited them out and he won. One of the main reasons the Crappie were so shallow is due to a higher water level this Fall. More cover is in the water than

what usually is available.

Also this guy didn’t have 37 different colors of jigs or 12 different rods he just had a small bag of jigs with some spare 1/16th ounce heads. Lighter is better when fishing shallow.

It was really neat to think about this and realize the simplicity and the beauty in it. He was camping with his wife and just walked down to the water with one fishing rod and hand full

of baits and produced a very good limit of Crappie and was able to cook dinner that night of fresh as can be Crappie.

So the point here is don’t assume that guy on the bank doesn’t know what he is doing and learn to slow down a little. I don’t care what anyone says but, a bait IN THE WATER

is 100% more productive than running across the lake.

So please get out there and enjoy the Fall bite and show some respect to the bank fishing folks. Don’t pull up and fish their spots. You have access to the whole lake they just have  couple

of places to fish. So take those kiddos fishing and take care of each other. Andy Lehman