By Don Norton
Like many of you, I’ve been fishing all my life. Bluegills, crappie, catfish, and bass, as well as everything that swims in the ocean. And I’d like to think I’ve learned a thing or two.
The other night, my buddy Dave Bennington and I went out on a crappie fishing guide trip with Captain Dennis Crenshaw, owner of Lake Placid Freshwater Charter and Guide.
The only thing I love more than catching crappies is eating them, and I knew if anybody could put us on a mess of crappies or speckled perch (specs), it would be Captain Dennis Crenshaw.
We met him around 5:30 at his house and followed him to the boat ramp. He was already hooked up and ready to go when we arrived. I noticed he had a couple more pontoon boats parked across the street in an empty lot.
I had actually scheduled the trip a week earlier, but a severe cold front swept through, dropping temperatures into the low 30s. I knew it would mess up the fishing, and Dennis confirmed that he’d gone from catching as many as 80 crappies to just a handful after the front came through.
But the weather had warmed up over the last few days, and the nights were still cool in the low 50s, with hardly any wind, so it was a pleasant night on Lake June.
As we motored across the lake, Dennis told us about his career in law enforcement and how, after he retired, he started his guide service.
As the sun began to set, we had a half dozen rods rigged up, and we were ready to catch some fish. But nothing happened. I was a little surprised.
Although I hadn’t been night-fishing for crappies in the last couple of years, I used to go out quite a bit with Bob Scranton on Lake Lotela. Back then, I’d get anchored up and get my rods in the water, and almost like clockwork, I’d start catching crappies just as the sun started to set.
But here it was, almost dark, and no bites. Another thirty minutes passed with no action, and I began to wonder whether the effects of the cold front were still at work.
“Don’t you worry, Don, they’re gonna bite. Just give them time,” the captain said with a big smile on his face. He was right.
Five minutes later, he pulled up a whopper of a crappie and held it proudly, saying, “See!”
Over the next couple of hours, it seemed like one of us was either pullin’ one in or missin’ a bite.
About 7:30 or 8, Dennis asked if we were hungry. There’s just something about being out there on the water, in the dark, that seems to make you hungry. Dave and I both said we were, and the next thing we knew, he was handing us buns and condiments while he grilled hot dogs. There wasn’t anything fancy about the hot dogs, but they were so good they reminded me of a long-ago evening at the Browns stadium in Cleveland when I was a kid, and eating my first stadium hot dog. It was even better!
I took my first bite, and of course, at the same time, my rod went down. I didn’t know whether to hand Dennis my hot dog or the rod. He didn’t seem to be too sure either, but he finally grabbed the rod and brought up another fish.
Capt. Dennis had a certain way of setting the hook and reeling in the fish that Dave seemed to have a hard time getting used to. Dave spent his entire life fishing for everything that swims, and like most anglers, he’s used to setting the hook hard.
But as Dennis explained, Crappie have very weak mouths (in fact, they’re often referred to as “papermouths”), so you can’t set up as hard as you do on a bass, cause you’ll pull the hook out. By the end of the night, after teasing Dave about the fish he lost, Dennis said with a smile, “We’d have had another 15 crappies if you’d have listened to me.”
By 10 pm, the cooler that I thought would be plenty big enough was overflowing with crappies. We’d put one fish in, and two would jump out. It seemed like a good time to call it quits.
I think I can speak for my buddy Dave when I say we both had a really good time. It’s funny, I was a bass fishing guide for almost 30 years, and I’ve fished with artificial baits as well as live baits, my whole life, but it was the first time that someone else baited my hook! It was kind of nice.
So, if you’d like to catch a mess of crappies, you might want to call the King. He’s available for day or night trips. You’ll be glad you did.
— Lake Placid Freshwater Charter and Guide. 863-441-2784
