Bobfish Tales

   No, this is not a blog about the poor. This is about a small lake in north Louisiana. Poverty Point Reservoir is a 2700 acre lake located north of Delhi, Louisiana. It was constructed in 2005 as a bass lake, but its fertile waters with large populations of shad, have made it one of the best crappie fishing lakes in the state. The number one black crappie and six of the top ten white crappie records have all come from Poverty Point. In 2016 the lake exploded with 3lb crappie. Three of the top ten all were caught within weeks of each other. There was at least 15 fish reported that year that broke that magical 3lb mark. Those kinda of numbers of trophy fish would rival some of the best Mississippi lakes. This has been well publicized throughout the state and the country. It has brought many fishers from all over the country to this small hidden gem. But something has changed since 2016. Those trophy size crappie have seemed to disappear overnight or at least the past two years.  Last

Perhaps my favorite fish to catch is crappie/sacalait. I grew up fishing with my dad using a cane pole. He graduated to a fly rod way before the modern day crappie pole was developed. He was ahead of the times for sure. Today there are a bunch of crappie poles to chose from, but here in the south, the long pole really hasn't caught on. Seems that the spin cast or spinning rod is the rod and reel of choice. But, you may be missing out on the best rod to use for catching more fish. So why a long pole over a short? First, a long pole can get you into cover that a 5ft spin cast won't. Second, most of the time if you get hung it's a lost bait, whereas with a long pole it is easy to punch out that lure. FYI: use a cork that you can slide up and down on your line. It makes punching your lure out easier . Third, a light weight, 10ft crappie pole is easier to flip into to that sweet spot with heavy cover. A prime example of this was on a day when the fishing was tough. Of the 18