SCHLABBIN! One For The Books

 This past weekend  was one for the books without a doubt. I hit the water with my good friend Travis. We haven't fished together since last summer so it was great to catch up, and slaughter the fish. I have never in my years of fishing had such a great evening or outing as good as this past weekend.

 We set out at about 4 PM this past weekend in search of fish. The bite itself started out extremely slow. I believe the heat and clear skies did us in from the start. I had told Travis last week that the fishing had been hot,out on my little slice of heaven known as Candlewick lake. After the first 2 hours of fishing I was starting to think that I was going to be eating my words. By 7pm I think we only boated 6 fish tops. Most where small bass and bluegill. Defiantly not the results I have been getting, or thought that we would be getting. About 7:15 we moved spots for the 4th time of the day, and then the magic happened.

 In despair I moved to the south end of the lake aka the dam. The dam has produced some nice fish all year long, and if this didn't produce I knew we where going bust for the day. The sun was finally starting to set, the wind calmed, and the temps where stating to fall. Things where defiantly looking up. We rigged up with some bright and colorful twister tails with a 1/16th oz. jig head. The small jig heads where key in the catching of fish. The lighter weight, the longer it took to sink to the bottom as the fish where attacking on the downfall of the twister. First couple of casts and we where in the fish. It started off with a nice Crappie bite.

  And then the Largemouth started to attack. The later it became, the bigger the fish became.

  The best part of this whole outing started as it became dark, and it continued throughout the night. The infamous Walleyes of Candlewick started to show there googly eyes. I have for 2 1/2 years been trying to pattern these Walleyes and have just come up empty handed. The most I have ever caught in one outing on this lake was 2 or 3. This weekend we caught 8 or 9 in just a few hours. Most of the ones we caught where in the 14 1/4- 15 1/4" range. The legal limit on Candlewick is 16". That 16" was ok as the 3 big Walleyes of the night where 16 1/14", 18", and a monster 20".

The 20"

The 20"

 At some point during the night I looked at Travis and questioned him, " How do we leave this?" The fishing was hot and time continued on. We stayed on the water until midnight and the fish where still biting when we headed in.  I also made a comment along the lines of, " were not fishing, were not catching, we are schlabbin!" Slabs where exactly what we where catching. The biggest bass of the night was 17 1/2", Biggest Crappie was 11 3/4", biggest Walleye was 20", and the biggest Bluegill was 9 1/2". These where all good healthy fish that where full of fight. Travis had even caught a Largemouth that was in the process of swallowing a small catfish. There where tons of Largemouth caught in the 14-16" range. Tons of Crappie in the 9 1/2- 10 1/2 range, and alot of Bluegills in the 9" range. As far as numbers go, between the 2 of us we had to have caught over 40+ fish a piece, 80+ combined. By the end of the night my thumbs looked like I had taken a piece of 40 grit sandpaper and sanded them down from lipping so many fish. In all my years of fishing I don't think I have caught this number of quality fish in one outing. There are a few close ones, but this one will defiantly stick out in my head for a long while. The best part of this whole trip to me was the fact that the elusive may not be so elusive anymore. I am going to be fishing the evening hours a lot more to see if there for sure is a pattern here with the Walleyes. Get out Schlabbin!