I finally got a chance to hook up my good friend Tao Peng from the West side of the mountains to fish for Crappie at Fio Rito North, but other than Tao's 2 pound bass on his first cast, muddy water conditions and small crappie prompted us to give nearby Mattoon Lake a try. I was immensely impressed with Tao's 14 year old son Jimmy for the youngsters awesome demeanor and company in my 10 foot Jon Boat. The small bass were a nuisance but after some searching ,Jimmy and I found the big pre spawn perch holding deep in a couple of clean bottom slots next to dense coon tail weed beds near 16 feet of water. Tao fished from his Kayak and missed a big fish on one of my custom jigs, most likely a big bass. Jimmy and I fished my custom 1.75" Crappie Midget Nymphs with a chartruse tail tipped with worms for a nice mess of jumbo perch and fat sunfish. Tao and his boy are really stand up guys and I'm looking forward to fishing with them again in the future. Feel free to email me @ dobberdeluxe.com if you are interested in trying some of my panfish baits. The Jigster

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