Thread: Thunderbird archives

I think you are right IkenI. I seem to be catching more decent 10"-12" crappie this year. More that size than dinky ones even. Went last night for a few hours and kept 8 in that size range although I caught more dink around 6" than I had been. Still catching them in 4'-6' of water off the banks some. All were males except for one female that still had eggs. I was thinking the spawn was about over but now I'm thinking we may have a few more days. Water temp was 71 where I fished.

In years past I have killed them shallow on the dam and by the water intake tower the 1st week of may. Technique used was casting a reeling back parallel with the bank using a bobber with two1/16 oz jigs. Depth was around 2-4'

The larger females I caught had all spawned. I tried shallow first but caught everything yesterday fishing a post spawn pattern. Water temp was 70-72 degrees. I did catch a few dink females with fat bellies.

Caught about a dozen last night after work off the banks in 6-8'. Water temp 75. Watched a Great Blue Heron catch 2 12" channel cats off a rock bank. I have never really tried for crappie on a deeper water summer pattern but I may try to follow these fish out during the post spawn and see if I can.

I hate when I go crappie fishing and catch trash fish.

Hello everyone, I thought I would finally chime in on some of my fishing results at Thunderbird so far this year. I got a late start to fishing and didn't really get out on the lake until around mid-March but I have already fished and caught more fish this year than all of last year combined. The water temps were around 53-55 degrees in March and we had pretty good success jigging around Twin Bridges a few times, where I caught my biggest of the year so far, right at 2 lbs. We were fishing in 12-14 feet-of-water (fow) jigging a foot or two off the bottom at the time. Between then and now I have geared up on some equipment for spider rigging and have been mostly pursuing that approach. I was anxiously awaiting the water temps to hit that magical 62-65 degree mark so I could fish shallow and tear them up during the spawn, or so I thought. I am mostly relegated to fishing on weekends and it seems I am constantly fighting the wind so boat control is always an issue. I've tried fishing shallow a few times only to come away empty handed and frustrated over continual snags and getting blown into the bank. I still have some technique learning to do I guess. Anyway, most of my fish have been caught in 20-25 fow during March-April and 8-12 fow now in May. For some reason I'm not catching any fish any shallower than 6 fow (well, except for a couple catfish); again, maybe I just have more learning to do. I fished yesterday afternoon and caught about 30 fish total, with 10 of them being pretty nice keepers (all female). I noticed when cleaning them that most still had eggs but the egg sacks were fairly depleted whereas a few weeks ago the egg sacks were seemingly ready to burst. I'm guessing they're getting pretty close to wrapping up the spawn for this year. BTW, I've caught most of my fish on the North and South sides of the main lake and also along the dam area, depending on which way the wind is blowing. I've also had a few good days along the East bank between the Peebly Rd boat ramp and Willow Branch cove. Anyway, thanks everyone for all your posts, I'm always curious to know how everyone else is doing on Thunderbird and always appreciative of any knowledge to help me catch more fish. Stop and say 'hey' if you see me out there, I'm usually in my Ranger fish & ski, wearing a long sleeve shirt and a wide brimmed straw hat.

It'll be some good eatin' tho if you kept it. Those catfish wreak havoc when I'm out there spider rigging - it gets really exciting (and frustrating) for a little while. Nice fish!

Well I did it. I took a trip to Tinybird yesterday let alone on Memorial Day weekend!!! I got a late start due to kiddos. I usually like to get out at day light but didn't make it until 9:30. Fished until 1:30. Bite shut off around 11:30. Most part of the day I was trying to get to know and dial in my finders. Finally have my bow Elite 7 dialed in like no other. My Helix 7 on the drivers seat decided to not show anything below 30' no matter what I did so I had to restore to defaults. Will have to work on it next time.

Party boaters and Seadoos were everywhere and I mean everywhere. Only place I could fish were Willow Branch, Post Oak and the cove in between on the East side of the lake. To date I haven't caught anything on the cove in between. Only success was in Willow Branch and I don't even know if you want to call it that. There was crappie galore but nothing over 9" or at least for me. There were 3 pontoon boats in there tied up to trees. They were catching a ton of micro crappie on minnows as I heard and saw everything they were saying and catching.

I was fishing plastics and had no success on visible timber only submerged structure. Wasn't keeping and didn't count. Biggest fish was 9" with many under this mark. I stepped out of my normal double dipping with two weedless jigs tipped with a plastic per rod and only used one rod with a 3/16 oz non weedless and a plastic. I liked it alot. I even put a blade on the line above the jighead. Best color they were biting is pictured below. I've never fished this color combo but had poured it for some friends. I like it. I will not abuse myself again with this lake.