Ominous. . .

Now there’s a word you don’t often associate with crappie fishing. But if you were on Lake D’Arbonne at 8:51 Wednesday morning, you saw the world go black and white. The wind suddenly changed from dead South to coming straight out of the Northeast. Dark, wispy clouds began to blow back toward the northwest to join the approaching nasty cold/rain front. The change in wind brought sudden patches of tiny waves which dotted the previously calm surface like giant schools of shad.

And then it went black and white. No kidding. The photo above was taken off the bank, where I was gladly standing, close to shelter. Ominous: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening.

But there is also something good that is about to happen, too. Today and tomorrow are the last practice days for this weekend’s Crappie Masters Louisiana State Championship on the lake. Nobody’s fooling with Mother Nature, but she is fooling with the crappie fishermen. It’s a tough week. About to get tougher today. But the show will go on, if nothing dangerous or too “ominous” is in the air. And despite all this, you can bet your boots some folks are going to catch some big old slabs. Come check it out.

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There are all kinds of story lines around this week. Here’s one of them. Long before a fellow named Wally Marshall claimed the title of “Mr. Crappie” because of his tournament and everyday success catching crappie, there was a fellow in north Louisiana who was, and still is, legendary. He’s West Monroe’s Bobby Phillips, and he’s coming out of “retirement” to fish the Crappie Masters event this weekend with Honey Hole net man Drew Tyner. Maybe we should call Bobby “Sir Crappie” !!!  Here’s a post I’m sharing from his way-too-early Facebook page this morning. If you don’t laugh at this

Sir Crappie’s sleepie selfie from this morning…

one, you need to check your batteries…  And yes, Bobby, I can relate. Totally.

“Good morning from downtown Woodlawn. Hope y’all still got your hat and wigs… mine has been blown off everyday this week. It’s been a rough practice on the bone. So far high , muddy, and 30 mph winds but me and my partner “put um in the boat” Drew are having a ball.

My back hurts my kidneys are broke my face looks Like fried bacon. Other than the fact my right arm and my hands are paralyzed I’m a doing great. Been lucky so far. Only fell out of the boat once and that was in the parking lot. If things go as planned, we are going to catch a fish any day now. I can remember when I was 50 it was a lot easier. Yall come to the crappie masters weigh in Friday and Saturday at the Pointe.  We will be there if all goes as planned.

Fishie Fishie in the brook wont you bite my little hook. I’m not drunk just way to early to be coherent. From the Phillips Plantation in downtown Woodlawn (and headed to D’Arbonne)  Louisiana. Love and hugs

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I’m not being left out of the weather casualties. I was looking forward to my annual fishing trip with Crappie Masters’ President Mike Valentine, but frankly Tuesday the fish just weren’t worth fighting, not to mention the 18-30 mile an hour wind gusts. So I’ll just have to wait on my rematch, or as I like to imagine it, revenge.

In case you are landlocked today and need some good reading to pass the time, I’ll just let you look back and read about LAST YEAR’s epic fish battle, right down to the last drop of water…

https://lakedarbonnelife.com/2017/02/22/crappie-battle-royale/

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Weather and water watch

Here’s a quick summary of the next few days: The water’s going to be coming down from the sky. And the water level is going to be coming up in the lake.