A fine mist seemed to suspend above the gray water of the large pond. The lines of distinction between the two were erased at a distance, and the only contrasting color was the blackened outline of a deadfall. Into this black and gray world, I launched a float tube and kicked into position to cast to the deep edges of the submerged timber. An intermediate sinking line hung from the 5-wt. rod as a gentle roll-cast propelled a size-8 Crappie Bully toward the target. Each cast was “counted down” to an increasingly greater depth before action was imparted. The fourth cast was interrupted by a line-lurch at the count of 8 that I answered with a rod-lifting hook-set. I smiled at the throbs of a fighting fish. Several rod-tip bounces revealed the fish’s attempts to bore into the depths before a silver flash indicated it was a crappie. The speckled beauty was admired and released as a Great Blue Heron squawked its annoyance and departed. Another 11 crappies were caught and released before my fly found submerged wood and had to be broken off. With that site now disturbed, I tried another similar area, but the only taker was a fat Green Sunfish. I suspected many of the pond‘s crappies were suspended over deep water, but my float-tube trolling efforts failed to discover them.
Countdowns and Crappies
