Crappie Fishing at Pymatuning: Day 1

Although the weather conditions initially
proved to be less than ideal, fishing for crappie (and virtually every
species of fish under the sun) turned out to be a success at Pymatuning State Park in
Pennsylvania.  With captains working the motor, navigating to the local
hot spots, the accompanying writers contemplated the best angle to photograph
the next great struggle against whatever Pymatuning offered up to us.  With three days ahead of us of nothing but
open air, shallow waters, fishing poles and a plethora of bait, this was sure
to be an adventure. 

Day 1:
Our first day was on Pymatuning
Lake, over 13,000 acres of flatland reservoir.  Our focus would be on black and white crappie
but there was a good opportunity to come across bluegill, yellow perch, walleye
and bass.  Now, for anyone that's never been
out on a lake or open water, wind and cloud cover do not provide the best
conditions for fishing.  Mix in a chilly 50-degree day in the middle of
May and it's downright cold.  With multiple layers to keep us warm, we set
out to make the most of our first day of 'Crappie Camp'.  We were very
curious if the crappie (or any of the aforementioned fish) would be biting.
 After ensuring we had everything we needed, we launched from a nearby
ramp and made our way to an area with good cover and submersed brush piles that
would prove great cover for crappie.  After staying in this area for about
20 minutes, we didn't have one bite.  Time to move on to the next spot.   

Pymatuning has numerous 'dead heads',
protruding limbs and tree trunks, which cause most captains to be extremely
cautious when navigating these waters.  Fortunately, these also prove to
be great spots for crappie to hide out and brave the current.  Due to the
recent, drastic weather changes that the area had experienced over the past few
days, they weren't giving our bait a second look even in these areas.
 After a full morning of fishing and nothing more to show than a 4-inch
yellow perch, we decided to head in.  As a last-ditch effort for the
morning, I was fortunate enough to reel in a 14" largemouth bass.  Fist-bumps and handshakes
ensued.  At least we had something to show for this brisk morning. 

The afternoon brought more of the same.  I set out with Jeff Knapp, outdoor writer, and we
decided to troll through a different part of the lake known to have a large
walleye population.  Yet again, the strong wind, current and temperature
didn't give us much to brag about.  After a few hours of absolutely no
success, it was decided to reel in and try a different part of the lake.
 Upon pulling in the line, I felt a nice tug from the other end and
snagged a 20" walleye.  How was it that every last-ditch effort that
I had was resulting in a nice fish?  No matter.  Much to the chagrin
of my counterparts, I decided to release the fish back into the lake.

I jumped onto another boat with Darl Black, writer and organizer of
the event, and we travelled to a different section of the lake and started back
on the trail for crappie.  The boat had
one of our new echoMAP
50s combo units installed and it looked fantastic.  It showed clear target separation and defined
brush piles and stumps as we moved over them. 
And although we could see the fish and where they were hiding, we
certainly couldn’t make them bite.  So,
instead of braving the weather, we called it and held out more hope for better
conditions on day two.  The fish weren’t
biting much on this day, so it could only get better.

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