Thread: Thunderbird archives

Nice Saugeye. I'll bet you were surprised when you pulled it out of the water.

I went out yesterday after supper for a couple hours. The wind was terrible. I was in the Hog Creek ramp area and was only one of three bank fishing. Never saw the other two catch a thing. I managed to catch 8 but 7 of them were small males about 8 or 9 inches. I did catch one that was 12 1/2 inches. I saw several people fishing with minnows off the boat landing area. They were catching a few that looked 6-8 inches and they were putting in their basket. I usually don't like to see that but at T'Bird I don't mind. I put the one keeper in my basket but turned him back when I left. I'll fillet two or three decent ones but not one. More trouble than it's worth to me. These males were not colored up good yet and their tails were intact. I'll probably go out again after the weekend crowd is gone. I was casting float n fly style with a chart mushroom jighead and half a chart 5" senko type worm about 3 feet below the float. Had to cast way out to get any action. It was worth the trip.

Originally Posted by ronetone

well i have fished t-bird the last few days and noticed mostly the crappies being caught were the male black crappies with frayed tail in 4' to 7' off the banks and not sure if the the lake has a larger black crappie population over white crappie. fished the hog creek boating area and caught a few keepers but a lot of small dinks, gets kind of crowded with so many people fishing there. have been fishing at fisherman's point boating area were its not as crowded and catching alot of small black crappie dinks and a few saugeye and white bass too. the road to the clear bay were the south dam has been closed so haven't got the chance to fish there yet this year, not sure when they will open that back up. swung by the little axe boating area and fishing docks seems to be pretty good area but gets crowded but they are catching them so i figure maybe try to make it early sometime a get a spot to try and fish. anyone got any suggestions on area to try and fish from banks, i'm all open to listen and try don't know the lake that well but i'm learning it as i go

Are you sure it was a black crappie? Some folks mistake the dark colored white for Blacks. I have fished at Tbird for over 35 years and have never caught a Black crappie.

Originally Posted by BudsBoy

Are you sure it was a black crappie? Some folks mistake the dark colored white for Blacks. I have fished at Tbird for over 35 years and have never caught a Black crappie.

They are there. Here are a couple links talking about black crappie there.

Save Gas And Catch Crappie!

Lake Thunderbird’s Fishing Future | Little Axe Ledger

Originally Posted by BudsBoy

Are you sure it was a black crappie? Some folks mistake the dark colored white for Blacks. I have fished at Tbird for over 35 years and have never caught a Black crappie.

yeah i'm positive the the black crappie have the scattered black spots while the white have a distinct bars. another way to tell them apart is by the boney spikes the blacks have 7-8 on dorsal fin, while the whites have 5-6 on dorsal fin. tried a few hours today in the morning and they are definitely in the 10' + spoke to others fishing the banks and they weren't catching anything. so called it quits for the day since all the docks were filled with it being the weekend, kind of wish i had wading gear so i can reach them. spoke with park ranger said the road to dam will be opened back up on may 1

Well DrNip i read the article, but the two fish being held by Todd are both black crappie and the caption does not say that they came from Tbird.. Just saying, "I never caught any". So good luck to you and hope you catch lots of them what ever they are.

They both look like black crappie too me as well but the caption under the pic states "one black crappie and one white — from Lake Thunderbird". Either way I take it the "from Lake Thunderbird" as they were caught from Lake Thunderbird. Dunno, I've never caught one from their either but I have only fished there handful of times. Have read several other places talking about it so I can't see all these places telling it wrong. I was just trying to help.

Usually catch at least 1 to 3 black crappie every trip to thunderbird.