Drainage Pond Crappies

         Today I fished Hollymead Lake out of kayaks with my friend Ethan, who was with me when we caught those grass carp back in September. We trolled and casted jigs and grubs of all sorts at various depths and speeds, but only managed to land one bass around 10", and a fat 9" crappie. We pulled our kayaks up on the bank and walked 30 yards up the dam of a drainage pond that feeds into the lake. We fished trout magnets 5-7 feet under floats, and I landed one fat 11.5" crappie, and missed one. We saw a big school of bluegill "sunning" near the surface, but they spooked as soon as the bait hit the water. Shortly after that, we found another school of bluegills but there were crappie mixed in. The fish were still skittish, but they were more willing to bite. I landed 2 more fish, a 10 and 11", Ethan also caught a fat 11" crappie. The bite shut down after that, so we went in search of more ponds. We tried a couple more ponds but couldn't catch anything except a 9" largemouth. I did see some 20-40lb grass carp sunning and feeding on duckweed, so I will be returning for those when it is warmer.
           We headed back to the first pond, and Ethan landed another fat 11" crappie. More fish were sunning now, including largemouth, and I even saw 2 that would easily top 5 pounds! I landed one more baby largemouth, and two nice bluegill, but that was it. Hopefully, we can return soon when the fish aren't "sunning" and fish some live minnows under slip corks, for bass and the big crappies, because in the early season, you have to downsize for big largemouth. Spring break is almost here, so I will be fishing a lot, and hopefully I will run into something worth writing about! Thanks for reading!