As I had no work Friday afternoon, I decided to start my weekend at Lake Cassidy. As with my last trip there - big mistake.

People claim there are crappie in Lake Cassidy. Which I can confirm, as in 4+ hours I caught 1. Which at 8 inches, the biggest crappie I've ever caught, had to be thrown back as it did not meet the minimum. Now in 10 or so hours I would estimate, without checking my last post, I've caught 1 crappie instead of 0.

The trouble with Cassidy is that in the end, there is no structure. The entire lake is flat and muddy and too shallow and too murky for any bottom plant life. So there is no way to know where any fish are, as there is no reason for them to be in any one spot rather than any other. If I go to Ballinger, or Phantom, or Lake Washington, I know I can vary the underwater structure, and hence what fish I might catch, by changing depth. In Cassidy, you're either at the edge of the lily pads, or you're in a great sea of identical nothing.

I got to Cassidy maybe 3:30. Had a nice conversation with a guy at the launch who said he was 87. He was in great shape for 87. I hope I am so lucky. That was the highlight of the trip. I threw the senko for a while at the edge of the pads on the west side, got nothing. Not even a bite. I've read there are perch in Cassidy so why not - drug a worm on the bottom, got nothing. Threw the crappie jig, shallow, got nothing. Threw the crappie jig deeper, got nothing. Went to the east side by the reeds, tried worm under bobber, after 4 bobber down in the same spot I prevented a skunk - the smallest perch I've ever seen. A while later, a bass of perhaps 4 inches. So I'm back to worm on the bottom, the sun is going down in maybe 20 minutes - suddenly I have a bite. Bullhead. Then in quick succession, perch, perch, pumpkinseed, pumpkinseed. Then I see something rising, so I go back to crappie jig, dont catch whatever is rising, cast around and get the 1 crappie. By now it's 15 minutes past sundown, and I get no more bites and I leave.

The lesson I learned? Two actually. First lesson, never waste my time going to Cassidy ever again. It's a 30-45 minute drive depending on traffic and regardless of how pretty the lake is, and how it looks like it has varied habitat and would be great for fishing, I'm not going to catch anything. Second lesson - if I do foolishly go back for some reason, I will get there 45 minutes before sundown, inflate my raft, fish from 20 minutes before till 20 minutes after, and then leave. Cassidy is a terrible lake that is not worth wasting time on. I would like to give it -1 stars. Unfortunately that is not an option. At this point, I dont even believe the reports that people post for this lake of bags full of crappie. I've heard enough fish stories in person now to understand that 90% of it is nonsense.

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