Trees are turning into a kaleidoscope of color against the sharp blue sky, Monarch butterflies flutter by migrating south to their wintering grounds and nature as a whole seems to be more active. But, the best reason I like fall is that crappie fishing can be fast and furious.

So when Charter Captain Jerry Neely of Bessemer City told me he was catching 50 to 100 fish every time out, I just had to see it to believe it. I know fishermen tend to stretch the truth, so when I met Jerry on High Rock Lake last Wednesday I wasn’t expecting a big day but boy was I wrong!

My good friend Dan Kibler from Winston Salem and I arrived at 8 AM at High Rock Lake where we were greeted by Jerry and clouds of moisture lifting off the lake. The fog burned off by the time we made it to our first fishing hole. We started fishing trees and brush piles in 6-15 ft of water using a 32 oz. jig. We would catch six or seven crappies from one tree, move to the next tree and catch six or seven more. After three hours on the water I can honestly say we caught 70 crappies between six and 10 inches. We kept 25 of the bigger fish while throwing the rest back.

All the fish were nice size but no big daddies. Since we had enough for a family fish fry, we decided to hit a different part of the lake looking for a few of the larger ones. This is where Jerry taught me a new term, “Crack fishing”.

By now the sun was high in the sky and the crappies moved to bush piles under docks and piers to hide from the brighter daylight. We would have to get low in the boat to get under some of the docks, but we caught fish.

But when the fish were too far underneath the pier Jerry would resort to crack fishing. Trying to get the bait to where the fish were hiding, he would drop the jig between the boards of the pier. Sure enough, Jerry lifted a nice size crappie between the boards. Luckily, the space between the wood was large enough to accommodate to 10 inch black crappie. Dan also caught a crappie using this method but I kept getting snagged. They had the right touch, while I was mainly retying new jigs on my line. It was fun and challenging.

We ended the day with about 100 crappies and we learned a fun new way to catch crappies on sunny day. Plus, did I mention 25 crappies found their way into the skillet that evening and boy were they tasty.