As editors who provide around-the-clock tournament coverage at the Bassmaster Elites, Opens and other events, finding time to unwind and get back to the roots of why we love our jobs means sometimes you just gotta go fishing. And that’s exactly what B.A.S.S. Times Editor Bryan Brasher and I did following the final weigh-in at Toledo Bend.
Being a crappie fanatic and a dock-shooting master, Brasher tapped into his seemingly endless community of fellow crappie anglers, and managed to find us a place to go fishing Monday morning for a few hours before we had to return to the B.A.S.S. Headquarters in Birmingham, Ala.
Unsure of what we were in for, we met “Ted” in his driveway just a few short minutes from Cypress Bend Resort. I was half expecting him to take us out on his boat, share his waypoints and put us on the fish. After spending a few minutes getting to know one another, Ted told us that we’d be fishing from his dock for as long as we like.
Wait, what? Dock?
How much fun could it be to fish from a dock, right? I mean we’re hard-core anglers, and we fish from boats. Within minutes of setting foot on Ted’s immaculate boat dock, I suddenly realized that we weren’t being led astray, rather our guide showed us where to shoot our jigs, what angle to take and where the strategically placed brush piles were located.
The short of it is this: We caught 75 crappies in about 3 hours, with fish pushing the 15-inch mark. It was an absolute hoot! We caught doubles, fish on back-to-back casts; you name it. We found crappie heaven on the nation’s top bass fishing lake — unwinding felt good.
Admittedly, I’m not a dedicated crappie stick like Brasher, in fact I was given a formal, top-shelf education on shooting docks, and I’m happy to say that by the end of our time on Ted’s dock, I had become fairly proficient. I still knocked the pink paint off of the 1/32-ounce hair jig I was using, but it was a great lesson.
The best part was far from the pile of crappies we caught, but getting to know Ted and hearing his stories about fishing adventures across the nation were pure gold. His passion for the outdoors was more than evident, and his graciousness to share one of the lake’s best crappie holes was more than appreciated.
To make the story even better, he allowed us to keep our limits, but we decided one limit was enough for the two of us to enjoy at a later date. But, Ted pulled out a pair of electric fillet knives and he and Bryan made short work of nearly 30 eater crappies. I took photos, happily!
Our time was fantastic, and having a few hours to enjoy the same lake, which we had just spent a week covering other anglers was just right. I’m not sure that fishing from a boat could have possibly been more fun than how it went down. It. Was. Awesome.
Thanks Ted for a fantastic morning. You’re a gentleman and a crappie scholar!
We also managed to capture most of our morning on a GoPro Session. The video is embedded below.
