I have but three things to say today?Ķ Crappie, crappie, crappie! Well, okay, I have more to say than that?Ķ But stay tuned because I've got a crappie report to knock your socks off! (And pictures, too!) We're a few days into a super nice weather trend. We're seeing eighty degree days and cool nights with a water temp hovering in the low 60's. There's a lot of activity on the lake with 196 teams fishing the FLW tournament this week. That's almost 400 anglers ??? add camera boats, crews and spectators and that's a lot of folks on the water.

So let's start right out with our crappie report. Tony from Indian Beach Resort stopped in with a good report of early morning crappie being caught on their docks. So I asked him, "You folks taking any pictures over there?" He responded with a hearty "You bet." He left to fetch his digital camera and when he returned, I was very pleased to hook up and grab his pictures. Sure enough, guests David & Michelle were catching plenty of good sized crappie. The report was simple ??? mini jigs fished in the hours before daylight were working great. Since last weekend I've checked in with the folks at IBR and they've begun to catch crappie throughout the day. The bite has developed into a morning/evening thing. I've been hoping for an early bite this year?Ķ Looks like we're on to something - I'm stoked! Bring in or send your pictures and reports as we fine tune our reports going into the coming weeks.

Okay, with all the excitement brewing over the crappie swinging into action, let's not overlook the fall bass bite. Bassin' hasn't been easy for most folks tossing artificial lures. The top action has been jerk & rib baits, lipless cranks, drop shot rigs, Speed Worms, and spinner baits. Some of the serious guys are throwing the new Bait Smith swim baits looking for BIG fish. Now, on the flip side of this, the live minnow folks are catching fish with relative ease. Lots of 2 and 3 pound bass are being caught on minnows of every size.

This is also the time of year when live minnows work great for catfish, too. Cats are also being caught on all the typical baits ??? from livers to anchovies to mackerel and just about everything in between. We're seeing a lot of shad schooling around shoreline areas where deeper water is close by. Fish on the edge of the schooled baitfish or on the bottom below the school for best results. I love the fall catfish bite?Ķ

The Pope Valley Turkey Shoot (it's actually a trap shoot where you shoot to win frozen turkeys) was a ton of fun. It was wonderful to see hundreds or perhaps a couple thousand people all enjoying a good time shooting trap, eating smoked turkey legs or tri-tip sandwiches, and participating in activities for all ages. The raffle was simply AMAZING. This is a must attend event for next year!

Coming up there's a Turkey Shoot being held at the Lake County Rod & Gun Club at Highland Springs on November 11th. Ukiah has a couple of shoots coming up on November 18th and December 16th up on Vichy Springs Road in Ukiah.

This week's Gun of the Week is a Springfield XD-45 4" Compact with the Dark Earth frame. This is truly a great gun chambered in 45 ACP. These guns come with two mags ??? insert the short one and you've got a nice compact grip. Insert the long one and you've got a full size grip. It's kind of like having two guns in one! It also comes with a holster, double mag pouch and mag loader. If you haven't experienced the XD yet, come by and let me take you through this feature packed pistol. $599.95 is our Gun of the Week special price. You must mention this offer to get this price. This special is good until next Thursday, November 1st.