The Fishing 'Honey Hole' By Luke Clayton

The honey hole

Those of us that enjoy fishing and hunting occasionally discover what we refer to as a “honey hole.” These outdoor utopias can be hotspots for hunting turkeys or isolated ponds loaded with fish or any of a number of “secret” outdoor paradises.

Through my many years as an outdoorsman, I’ve enjoyed my share of honey holes. I’ve had friends invite me to partake of their hot spots and I’ve invited others to share some great places that I’ve discovered. During the past few months, I’ve been honored to partake of the bounty of wild hogs on my friend Jeff Rice’s place near Lake Fork, some awesome spring turkey hunting up near Graford with another great friend Deryl Markgraf. Deryl invited me to hunt a little remote pasture surrounded by roost trees where turkeys were as numerous (almost) as a flock of migrating blackbirds.

Just this past week another great friend and neighbor, Kenneth Shepard called and informed me he had leased fishing rights on what he described “the best crappie fishing I have found anywhere.”

“Luke, on the last trip a couple days ago, I caught and released close to 200 crappie," Kenneth revealed. "They are in here thick and many of them are fully grown, fish in the 12-14 inch range. Can you go with me in the morning?"

Granted, I do keep a pretty busy schedule with my radio and writing, but I make it a point to leave some “wiggle room” in my day-to-day activities and duties. When I’m invited by a good friend to go to a secret crappie hotspot, I GO!
We backed Kenneth’s little Jon boat down an old ramp made from railroad ties.
“Luke, I built this ramp years ago when the owner gave me permission to fish," he recalled. "Now, since I’ve leased fishing rights, I can come and go as I please."

Kenneth pointed out that the bank adjacent the ramp was a bit steep and that he has plans to bring a tractor over and flatten out the slope which would facilitate the building of a short fishing dock.
Kenneth has set out several willow brush piles in strategic areas of the lake, most of them are relatively close to the bank where water depth ranges from 12 to 18 feet. I noted Kenneth’s little boat was well appointed with the necessary equipment to make it a crappie-catching machine. Rigged with trolling motor, rod holder and a very good graph -- and two very comfortable seats -- the little craft was not only easy to handle and transport, but tailored made for comfortable crappie catching!

The acid test for this fishing trip was a major cool front that blew through during the night. Luckily the wind had subsided as the little Jon boat glided across the surface of some very still water. Kenneth and I were both wondering what the effects of this late spring cold front might have on the fish, but with the nonstop catching that had been taking place here, our optimism was showing!

There’s a couple of methods to use when jig fishing for crappie. One is to simply drop the jig down vertically under the boat into the midst of the brush and wait for a bite, the other is to cast past the submerged brush, allow the jig time to fall to the proper depth and slowly crank it back in. We quickly learned that the main trick to catching crappie on this trip was to get the jig in the water! Technique was not really important; the fish were on an aggressive bight. We were enjoying what I considered to be some great fishing action, not waiting long between bites, but Kenneth said the action was at least twice that good on his previous trip. If the bite was any better than this, I’m not sure I could have withstood the sensory overload.

http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/s...-shepard-2.jpgKenneth Shepard with a fine crappie landed from the honey hole! (photo by Luke Clayton)
We both had plenty of fish in the freezer and released our catch, vowing to return in a couple of days and keep some of the bigger ones for a crappie fry. This unique fishery was actually a series of old deep gravel pits, all connected by water. It’s tough to estimate the exact size, but back at home I used an area-finding app on my computer and calculated about 40 acres, factoring in the stretches of shallow water that connected the larger ponds.

Before placing the submerged willows to concentrate the crappie, Kenneth was having trouble finding them.
“Back in the very early spring when I first gained access to this place, I couldn’t catch a crappie,” said Kenneth, “but bass fishing was so good that I abandoned my crappie jigs for plastic worms and enjoyed some very good bass catching.”

I could see bass blowing up on the surface on what appeared to be shad. It’s rare for shad to survive cold winters in ponds but with the depth of some of the deeper holes, it is entirely possible the series of lakes has a very good shad base. We caught several bass up to about 2 pounds on the tiny crappie jigs.

The icing on the cake with Kenneth’s honey hole fishing spot came when I inquired about catfish. I was informed the lake had a very healthy population of chunky channel catfish in addition to the crappie and bass. That news just about put me over the top! You know how fast the talk often goes between two like-minded fishermen out on the water.

When I mentioned bringing a bucket of soured grain on our next trip and baiting a couple of holes for catfish, I could see that my idea was well received by my host for the day. In a span of maybe ten minutes, we had our next outing all planned out. First bait the catfish holes; then go catch crappie for an hour or so, return to the baited holes and dunk some Catfish Bubblegum and see if the whiskerfish were hungry. Our planning even fast forwarded to the upcoming fish fry; catfish and crappie fillets, the best of both worlds.

Thank the Good Lord for good friends, especially those willing to share their outdoor "honey holes!"
Listen to “Outdoors with Luke Clayton and Friends” on radio stations from Nebraska to Texas on weekends or anytime online at www.catfishradio.com.