Back to Basics

​   On a recent trip to Parsons, Kansas for a 3 day fishing trip targeting two and a half pound,  plus sized Crappie, I was eager to get settled in and down to business. I had heard from several people that S.E Kansas hides some real trophy sized Slabs and couldn't wait to try and get my hands on one. On our first day we talked to several people that were on the bank and all of them had some really good sized fish,...but only a few, nobody had caught more than five, but the fish they had were absolute giants. 
    Sometimes as fisherman we like to think all the latest toys we buy is the key between fish pictures and sunset pictures. In a world of side scan and 360 sonar, trolling motors linked to satellites whizzing around the planet, and six digit price tags on fishing boats, it's almost unthinkable that waiting on a slip bobber with a minnow is the best way to go.  Who do these fish think they are ?...making me sit here and wait on a bobber to go down like some fisherman from 1940. All the magazines say I should be able to cast this new lure, or that new jig, or maybe that new jig on a slip bobber,..and if none of that works, surely trolling cranks behind those fancy new planer boards will trigger a strike,..right ? ...Nope !

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​    Trust me ,..we tried it all, and the only thing giving up the fish was minnows on corks, just randomly cast over the open water that was just out from the spawning banks.  We managed to get a few fish in the boat, some in the fifteen inch range, but nothing close to the quality of fish known to be in that body of water. 
   After finally admitting defeat, on our way back to the ramp we stopped  to talk to a local Angler that was hanging out on a dock, sitting on top of his beer cooler and listening to some tunes on an old radio. He told us the key to that Lake is patience. Sometimes you just take what ya got, go the the lake and just fish. Using poles that looked like catfish rods, and what looked like 6500 series Ambassadors reels, he pulled in his stringer to show us 2 of his better fish, both of which would be wall hangers by any Lakes standards. After lifting our jaws off the deck and putting our eyeballs back in our heads, we both kinda came to the same conclusion....sometimes the old way really is the best way, sit there soaking minnows and wait on that cork to go down.