Opening Cast – July 2023

Opening Cast

PUBLISHER

Dan Dannenmueller

EDITOR

Richard Simms

SR. WRITER

Tim Huffman

ART/ CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Matt Mullikin

GUEST WRITERS

Brent Frazee
Keith Lusher
Mike Gnatkowski
Larry Whiteley
Terry Madewell
Keith Sutton
Brad Wiegmann
Lindsey Lucas

ADVERTISING SALES

Phone: 334-285-1623
Email: info@crappienow.com

Copyright © 2023 CrappieNow Online Magazine. A KMS, Inc. Company. All rights reserved.  Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Cover Photo Credit

Capt. Scott Lillie shows off the CrappieNOW “Lure of the Month,” a Walleye Nation Boogie Shad 5, used to catch this slab from the Tennessee River. Photo from Terry Madewell

In this month’s “Lure of the Month,” you will read about Capt. Scott Lillie, a fishing guide on the Tennessee River. Full disclosure – I’m baring my soul to the world so no one thinks I’m trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Capt. Lillie is one of my guide partners and I actually book fishing dates for him. I have a vested interest in keeping him booked.

That said, other anglers need to know what I have learned from Capt. Lillie.

“Don’t ignore the bycatch!”

Capt. Lillie guides for summertime crappie trolling crankbaits. Terry Madewell wrote up those details in this month’s “Lure of the Month.”

But crappie are not the only thing he catches. On Capt. Lillie’s most recent guide trip prior to this writing – fishing Chickamauga Lake on the Tennessee River – his clients boated nine different species of fish. White and black crappie, largemouth bass, spotted bass, walleye, white bass, yellow bass, blue catfish and freshwater drum. Oddly enough, none of the usual channel catfish on that trip or it would have been ten species.

He routinely uses a counter to record every fish caught and on a 6-hour trip, it is not at all unusual for him to click off 40 or 50 fish. That is roughly a fish on the line every seven or eight minutes. There is absolutely no time to get bored on a trip like that.

I am NOT writing this to try and sell you on booking a trip with Capt. Lillie. I am writing this to encourage you to take the time to learn how to troll crankbaits in your own home water.

Crappie can be your primary target if you want. But once you climb the learning curve, it can be the best way possible to have TONS of fun on the water just catching fish – especially if you want to keep the kids entertained and enthusiastic about fishing.

They could care less what species is on the end of the line. They only care about bent rods and reeling them in. Give it try and you won’t regret it.

 

 

Richard Simms, Editor

“The outdoors is not a place, it’s a state of mind.”

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