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Weird spring?
Things seem so different this year than they did last year. I had just started long lining around this time last year. We were catching good numbers of good 13-15” fish last year. That continued into early June. Today we kept 14 on a quick trip after work. All were caught pulling jigs in 4-5 FOW over grass. All fish in the 10-11” range. I don’t know where the bigger fish are. I was catching mostly 13-15” fish in the same area last year. I haven’t caught a fish over 11 1/2” in 3 trips this week. Today is the only day we’ve even kept any. With one year of experience I don’t know what’s going on but I don’t understand why the bigger fish aren’t where they were last year. I caught good fish in this area last year until the grass got y’all enough that I couldn’t fish it, then just moved out deeper and kept catching them until the water got hot in early June. I fish a lot but don’t keep a lot for the freezer. I kept at most 150 crappie last year. Not more than 1/2 of them from this area. I may be the only one who fishes this particular area who multi pole fishes. I’ve never seen anyone crappie fishing there with more than one pole. They are all beating the banks.
One interesting thing... where I fish on Guntersville every time I catch crappie I catch pretty much the same amount of yellow bass. Sometimes twice as many yellow bass as crappie. Until about 10 days ago that was still happening. In 3 trips longlining this week not only have the crappie been smaller and fewer caught there have been almost no yellow bass caught either. In 3 trips we’ve caught 2 yellow bass. I don’t like catching them but I noticed very quickly when I started crappie fishing that if I caught yellow bass, crappie were close by too and vise versa.
I don’t want anyone to think I’m complaining, I’m just trying to learn something from what’s going on. Anyway, I’m tired and I’m rambling but it’s weird, at least compared to last year.
Proud to have a mess for supper tomorrow night.
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Move out to the closest shade/deeper water and you will prolly find the big girls emptied out and resting up from their journey!
weather has been very different this year for sure so don’t give up on em being done! Everybody talking about it being over but still catching females in 7-9 fow full of eggs ! I know surface temp is around 70° but I’d like to know what it is in 4-5 fow on the bottom!
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I’ve noticed the same thing on a couple of my bank spots about the yellow bass. Last spring I tried them a little early and caught yellow bass like crazy and even after the crappie moved in. This year I started about the same time and might have caught 10 bass so far. Also haven’t caught as many good size crappie.
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Crappie Wall Hanger II
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Mitch I'm sure the water hasn't warmed up nearly as much, that deep. I know surface temp changes pretty fast but it just seemed real fast, this time, to me. LOL
The bigger fish may have moved out deeper, but I still don't know why they would have moved out so much sooner than they did last year.
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Rule number 1 bait fish, rule number 2 bait fish, and rule number 3 bait fish. Every thing follows the bait fish find them and the Crappie and the yellow bellies will be close. Don’t try to over think this refer to rule number 1 and if that don’t work try rule number 2 and if that don’t work try rule number 3. Every year things change, it is not always the same but the one thing that does not change is they follow the bait fish.
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Earl Dibbles Jr.
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What's rule number 4? LOL
It's hard to see bait fish on SI when you're fishing in a jungle.
If the bait fish aren't where they were all spring and early summer last year, then I have to ask the question of why aren't they in there?
Phillip, you know me well enough now that you should know that with me every answer just brings up another question.
I like to over analyze everything, then fuss at myself when I find the simple answer.
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Every year is different, for sure.
I like facts and conclusions, however Crappie don’t seem to like facts and conclusions! LOL
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Don’t rely on si or di too much, use sonar more to see the bait fish balls.Originally Posted by FurFlyin
What's rule number 4? LOL
It's hard to see bait fish on SI when you're fishing in a jungle.
If the bait fish aren't where they were all spring and early summer last year, then I have to ask the question of why aren't they in there?
Phillip, you know me well enough now that you should know that with me every answer just brings up another question.
I like to over analyze everything, then fuss at myself when I find the simple answer.
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I think the big girls hit the bank right away when the conditions are right. Seems to me we are now on our third wave of spawning fish. This cold front may push the next wave off for another week or so. Just my guess on this one. Nice looking mess of fish Brad, those'll eat well.
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