As a busy home builder in Tyler, Texas, Austin Taylor finally had time to talk about the February 7 crappie tournament he’d fished and won with his 10-year-old daughter Lily Mae.
“We’d practiced for the one-day tournament the previous week and knew where we could catch fish on the lake,” Austin told Wired2fish. “Lily got a little allergy problem on the practice day. But she hung in there and we found the crappies we targeted that next weekend in the tournament.”
The father-daughter crappie fishing team wore matching tournament fishing jerseys the day of the event at 20,000-acre Wright Patman Lake near Texarkana, Texas. But it was cold that early February day, with the water temperatures reading 45 degrees. The fish were sluggish and suspended in deep water.
Tournament Triumph
But they located crappies using forward-facing sonar. With 1/16-ounce jigs that fourth-grader Lily hand-tied, and that they tipped with live minnows on tournament day, the father-daughter duo caught fish.
“We got a limit of five for the tournament, but at 10:30 a.m. we spotted a big crappie suspended near some timber in 15 feet of water,” said Austin, age 50. “They were really lethargic and I used a 14-foot-long Dobyns rod, 14-pound-test fluorocarbon line, no cork, and teased the crappie into eating.”
Even in cold water the crappie put up a good fight, and after a tussle Austin worked the fish close to their boat and Lily scooped it in a landing net. The hook fell out just as Lily put in their boat. Then, they put it into their livewell.
“Lily said right away she thought it was a lake record,” said Austin. “At the weigh-in our five fish won the tourney. The big crappie officially weighed 2.84 pounds and is now the top white crappie at Wright Patman Lake, breaking a 16-year record.”
A Special Night
But the tourney weigh-in took a lot of time, and Austin told Lily he didn’t know if they had time to drive home, change clothes, then rush to the daddy-daughter dance. He suggested that they just drive – with boat and crappie in tow – right to the dance.
“I told her we’d have to wear our tournament jerseys if we went,” Austin said. “She said, ‘Dad, it would be a sin not to wear our jerseys to the dance’.”
Austin says Lily initially was a little embarrassed when they walked into the dance. But it turned out great, and he said Lily was easy to spot at the venue wearing her jersey.
Topping off the great tourney win, lake record crappie and daddy-daughter dance, they donated Austin’s big live crappie to the Tyler, Texas Bass Pro Shops aquarium.
“We took the family there recently to see how the fish was making out in their store tank,” said Austin. “It’s doing great, and by far it’s the biggest crappie in the aquarium – almost bigger than some of the bass there.”
