Count the stiff spines in the dorsal fin. If it’s 6, it’s a white crappie. 7 or 8 makes it a black crappie.

The white crappie also tend to have a banded body while the black crappie is speckled.

•    When you are bass fishing in the spring, fish uphill (either move your boat to shallow water or fish from shore) and cast into the deep waters using a 1/8 ounce weight.

•    In the fall you want to fish downhill, the reverse of above.

•    Using a Texas rigged worm can help prevent hang-ups.

•    Keep the worm suspended about 90% of the time.

•    Make sure your hooks are sharp. Many fishermen ignore this and lose potential catches.

•    If you are doodling (place a glass bead between the hook and the sinker so you can shake it and make noise), it’s critical to make  your presentation look natural by downsizing your hooks to 1/0 or lower, and trying to keep your bait straight so it looks natural.

•    Crystal clear waters can be tough to fish in. The secret to fishing weenie worms is to maintain slack on your fishing line and “shake” the bait instead of dragging it. This shaking of the rod and your light line gives your worm, grub or similar some serious action if done properly.

Having said that, if you have a basic idea as to what works when, it can save you a lot of trouble.

On cloudy days or in dark and choppy waters, try a dark color surface lure first. When visibility is poor, bass seem to see dark objects better than light ones. Go figure. The opposite of what you would expect?

When night fishing for bass, dark finish lures are almost always going to catch you more bass.

On bright days and in clear water, give your red and white, yellow, or frog finish surface lures a try.

Alaska is one place I would love to fish at someday. The scenery looks beautiful and you always hear about the good fishing in the area. But I have always heard it was expensive as you had to rent charter boats and get your equipment and head out to sea.

This sounds like a good way to visit Alaska and get some fishing in at the same time without going broke. The first thing you would most likely want to do is find out what kinds of fish are in this fishing spot and then pick up some fishing tips on catching the buggers.

If I get a chance to make it there; and if I do my grandson will be with me; I’ll let you know how it went. If anyone has fished this downtown hole, it would be nice if you could take time to comment about your experience.

His dad took the fishing pole from him and started to reel it in while the kid started crying. Fishermen were watching in disgust. Guess what? The fish got away.

When all was said and done, they told their boy to toss in the line again and he said he did not want to fish anymore.

What should be a great experience all around turned into a family disaster and possibly a kid who will not be eager to do any more fishing. What a shame. How important was it that the parents put catching a fish over watching the joy of their child as he tried to reel it in. Had he lost it, they should have let him know even the best fishermen lose a fish they hooked and, had he brought it in, how thrilled would he have been?

Cody caught his first fish at age 5. He hooked it and was excited as could be and the look on his face when he landed it was priceless. He was hooked on fishing.

This year he hooked a carp (turned out to be 23″) and was working like heck to bring it in so I could get it in the net. He wanted to know if I wanted to take over and I told him there was no way. It was his fish, not mine.

He was shaking when he reeled it in. The day before I had caught a 21″ carp and he now tells everyone he caught a bigger fish than me. And I prefer it that way. I would much rather see him catch fish than even catching them myself; and I love to catch fish.

Don’t forget the real reason you should be fishing. Bring the fun back to it and, if you have kids or grandkids, enjoy the experience and bonding. The kids will remember you for it when you are long gone.

If you live in or near Ohio, here is a good article that discusses some new releases of blue catfish that are being planned in the Ohio River area. http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/08/columbus_reservoir_bags_trophy.html

They will be releasing them first in the Hoover Resevoir when the waters begin to cool. If you fish there you may see me and my grandson.

There are more releases of catfish being planned but the blue cats will only be released in those reservoirs in the Ohio River watershed. They do stock channel catfish in our area and I’m sure other areas, so it’s a good idea to keep up with the fishing news to see when they are being released in an arena near you.

Place the container in the refrigerator until morning. You will be a happy fisherman the next morning when you see these worms. Don’t eat them though. They are for the fish.

As a rule a lighter line works best and you don’t want to jerk the pole to set the hook as a crappie’s mouth is thin and you will just rip out the hook. However, I use a baitcaster to fish with and a 12 lb line and it doesn’t stop me from pulling in the crappie. When I find them though, I have my grandson fish that area as his line is lighter and he seems to have a lighter touch than I do.

White crappie are very similar in appearance to the black crappie. White crappie have 5-10 vertical bars rather than randomly scattered spots like the black crappie. The dorsal fin of a white crappie starts further back on the body than that of a black crappie. White crappie are also slightly more elongate than black crappie.

Black crappie have deeper bodies than the white crappie. Their head, back, and sides are mottled with dusky or black blotches. These blotches do not form vertical bars as on white crappie. The most reliable characteristic  is that black crappie have seven or eight dorsal spines compared to the five or six of a white crappie. The dorsal fin is also set further forward on the body of a black crappie than it is on a white crappie.

Fishing for crappie means having a good idea where you might find them. Crappie, just like bass, are structure-oriented fish and look for cover such as drop-offs,  ridges, points and channel ledges during the summer, fall and winter months.

In particular stumps. A smaller stump may hold more crappie but a larger stump tens to have larger ones. I prefer fishing for crappie around these stumps and have never had much luck in the brush piles. That doesn’t mean you won’t, however.

The white crappies tend to prefer warmer water and aren’t particular as to whether the water is clear or moving. The black crappie are usually found more often in cooler, slower moving waters  such as large lakes and wide, slow rivers.

The white crappie seems to prefer small fish or minnows or shad while the black crappie have been shown to feed on mostly insects in the spring and minnows and such the rest of the year.

I was using a spinnerbait and got my 2nd cast about 2 feet past the turtle, which was about 100′ away.

I reeled in and it went over him, but placed my next cast in the same spot. I actually snagged him while I was reeling in. I was using my baitcaster rod with a 12 pound test line.

It took awhile to reel him in. He didn’t put up a fight but it was so heavy I could only bring it in a little at a time. He measured 30″ without his head fully extended. It was a soft shell snapping turtle. We were fishing off a dock so had to use a large net another fisherman had. He helped bring him onto the dock.

He looked ancient. My grandson was thrilled with the catch. I released him back into the water.

Here is a picture showing how the spinnerbait snagged him.

I have a large selection of them so I can fish different colors and see what’s working.

A spinnerbait is a good lure for fishing in and around almost any cover such as boat docks, grassy areas, lily pads, branches or stumps in the water, etc. . A spinnerbait is mostly fished on a standard cast-and-retrieve in shallow water or at an intermediate depth but can also be fished deep.

Fishing for bass is when this spinnerbait mostly comes into play, but you can certainly catch other fish as well. I pulled in 2 nice crappie on one trip and, just a couple days ago, actually snagged a turtle. I’ll put up pictures later but it was a 2 1/2′ softback turtle that looked prehistoric. My spinnerbait had a 4 hook prong on it and actually snagged it.