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Fishing Stories from Ned Kehde |
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Submitted by Ned Kehde - February 19, 2001 On November 22, Mike Suitt of Lawrence retried at the age of 54 from a 32-year stint with the Douglas Sheriff. Immediately upon his retirement, he planned to spend the late fall and winter hunting ducks, deer and pheasants. And when he wasn't hunting, he would be in chase of crappie. Despite a long spell of unseasonably cold weather, Suitt's days afield were reasonably fruitful. But Old Man Winter waylaid Suitt's pursuit of the crappie. Thus, from Nov. 23 to Feb 13, he only fished seven times: once at Clinton and six at Pomona. During a milder winter, however, Suitt would have fished at least 40 of those 81 days. Suitt is one the most avid outdoorsmen in these parts, and his abilities at catching the crappie, as well as the white bass, channel cats and walleye, that abide in Clinton Lake are storied. What's more, he has exhibited his angling prowess on the denizens that inhabit Pomona Lake countless times since the late-1960s. Eventually this winter's grasp relented a touch, allowing the ice to melt across most of Pomona by Feb. 6, and without delay Suitt was afloat and catching crappie. On Feb. 13 Suitt made his fifth trip in seven days to Pomona. As he drove across the borders of Douglas and Osage counties around 9:15 a.m., scattered drifts of snow and massive shards of ice littered the countryside, and a fine mist oozed from the steel-gray sky. Area thermometers fluctuated around the mid-30s, and the wind didn't stir When Suitt launched his Ranger walleye boat at 9:45 a.m., he instantly noted that the water clarity measured about five feet, which was unusual clear for Pomona, and the surface temperature hovered at 35 degrees. From the boat ramp, Suitt traveled northwest, following the submerged Dragoon Creek channel. As he slowly maneuvered the boat, he studied his sonar, looking for a school of crappie along the edge and in the basin of the meandering creek channel. About a mile and a half above the boat ramp, Suitt's sonar began to pinpoint some schools of crappie. Three schools were quite large, measuring more than five feet thick and about 20 feet in diameter. The bulk of these fish gamboled about in 16 to 21 feet of water, suspending over 22 to 30 feet of water. To mark the whereabouts of these three schools, Suitt tossed a buoy marker adjacent to each school. Then he put his electric-trolling motor into the water and slowly surveyed the crappie's hideaways. As soon as he became oriented, he picked up a lightweight spinning outfit that sported a 1/4-ounce jighead and a blue-and-white Bailey Magnet that was tied to six-pound-test monofilament. Suitt also measured out 20 feet of line and marked the line at the 20-foot segment with a permanent red marker. Then he made a 20-foot cast and allowed the jig to slowly swing into the school of crappie. According to Suitt, depth control is the ultimate concern to a fisherman when the crappie are suspended several feet off the bottom. And the red mark on the line quickly reveals the depth of water an angler is probing On Suitt's first cast, a crappie engulfed the jig. Thereupon, Suitt caught crappie at a hand-over-fist pace for three hours, hauling more than a 120 across the gunnels of his boat and temporarily fulfilling his hopes for a bountiful retirement afloat. |
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