Thread: Horseshoe Lake

I went to Horseshoe Lake in Tchula two weeks ago and did pretty good on crappie. The majority of the fish I caught were between 12-14 inches with a few 15 inches. I went again yesterday and I caught a lot but they were all small, hand sized fish with the exception of three that were about 12 inches. I’m trying to figure out what happened in the span of two weeks that caused the bigger fish to seem like they have disappeared. The water level was lower yesterday than it was two weeks ago and I also saw a lot of gar surfacing yesterday for air. So I’m not sure if the oxygen level in the lake has dropped and forced the bigger fish to go lock jaw or if some other factor caused it. I would think that since we have still been getting rain over the past two weeks and since peak summer heat is not here yet that the oxygen levels should be fine. I trolled around my usual hotspots and even tried new areas yesterday. These oxbow lakes can be tricky!

Bigger fish in post spawn slump possibly?