Two TARP Tuesday w/Cuonthelake

I had a routine dental appointment this morning so Candi and I got out later than we would normally this time of year, but what we lacked in numbers, we more than made up for in quality fish. We had 2.5 hrs of fishing time and 20-30 minutes running time in the boat going from one spot to another and scouting as we go. Never go fishing without reserving a few minutes to scout each time.

On our first spot, Candi hooked a nice crappie and nearly got it to the boat before it said “nah, this ain’t happening today.” A few choice words were spoken and some rod beating, but that is understandable. Grin. We didn’t get another bite in that area, but spot number two paid off in spades as all the fish that we caught came from this area.

Candi started us off with a tarp shellcracker 11.25” and moved her closer to the Master Angler III from TWRA. Two more different species and she will be there. Then she caught a 13” Black crappie and started rubbing it in. “You gonna catch one today”, she asked, and that was all that it took. She caught another one and I netted it for her and was just dead sticking my slab slayer and watching her take the fish off when a big crappie tried to take my lure, rod and reel away from me. It was big fish of the day, 14.25” Black crappie tarp. Take that miss Candi. Lolol.

Then I caught a 13.25” crappie and she caught a little bass and another shellcracker. I mopped up our morning with an 11” crappie. I released the tarp crappie after pics and measurements and it swam away fine. We kept the others in the box to release later, but coming from deep water was too much for them to overcome. We tried releasing them, but they couldn’t go back down. So they are on ice as I type in this report.

We took lots of pics. Nice cool morning. Water flow 21,000 cfs and 79 degree surface temp. Fish were over 15 feet deep in brush. We both fished with 1/16 and 3/32 oz jig heads and Bobby Garland Slab Slayers. Lights Out, Mo-Glo Green Hornet, Ghastly Minnow, and tried Blue Ice, and Sunset without success. Great two hours of fishing. I’m not bragging because she is one of the friends that I have taught to crappie fish, but she is still a better fisherman than most that I fish with. Don’t get offended, guys. You know who you are. Lolol.