Thread: Thunderbird archives

gentry - at thunderbird it is possible to catch a mess of good size crappie but it is tough. in my experience, the larger crappie are almost like an entirely different species. they dont hang around the smaller fish. the hard part is finding the groups of larger fish since they are so out numbered by the dinks. i have had days that i lucked out and found the big ones when i caught 30 fish with none being under 10" and with 4 or 5 two pound fish. it has been a couple years since i found a group like that. if you are really only after the large fish you just have to try an area and if u catch a couple small ones, then move to a new spot. it sure is alot of work and i have gotten lazy so i dont move as often anymore. if im having fun with the dinks i just stay with em. doenst hurt my feelings to catch dinks all day

Well gentry your asking the right question and I agree with rednecksooner with the answer. Occasionally, you can get into a mess of them when they are stacked on top of each other but those times are rare (which makes it really fun when it does happen). Usually, you have to move around and catch a few nice size ones here and there. I've done well at the pump station, the cage at the damn, and the coves where structure is prevalent.

Thanks for the responses guys. You guys probably don't know it but your responses helped a lot. You guys are talking about moving around a lot. It seems that when I pull up to brush pile, if the fish are there and active, it usually doesn't take more than a couple minutes to get bit. I can usually keep catching them for 15-30 min before they stop biting. I can pester them for a while and get a couple more. I take it that if I want to catch better fish, I don't need to jack with pestering them once they've stopped biting on that spot.? Has everyone else found that it's usually the biggest fish that bites first also?

i would agree that the bigger fish bite first. if i am only after big ones on thunderbird and i start fishing a spot and dont catch anything or only catch dinks i usually move in no more than 15 or 20 minutes. i learned this from Ken Huckabee (Todd Huckabee's dad) when i worked for him at his landscape business. He and Todd used to fish thunderbird alot. Ken still does sometimes. But Ken told me that on thunderbird Todd would move in 5 or less minutes if he doesnt get hit or is only catching small ones. i cant make myself do it that quick but it seemed to work for him

Oh Redneck that is some fantastic information! Thanks very much for that little nuggett. I've been thinking I should try that for a while. I'll change that up from now on if I'm feeling that ambitious. It takes some extra energy to do that lol. I'll give it a shot.

I like to move around alot too if I'm not catching. Nowhere around 5 minutes though. More along 15-20 minutes. Might trim it down to 10 minutes.

Since I'm primarily a minnow man, I give it about 30 mins minimum depending on the brush im fishing. I make sure i fish it good before i head to another hole. Another factor is my energy level of the day!! sometimes its just nice to tie up and enjoy the day relaxing

Hey fellas,

New here to the fourms. Been reading through this thread recently and have learned a lot about thunderbird. I have been out fishing the evenings a couple of times for the last few weeks and havent had much luck. I am unfortunately stuck with fishing from the shore. Any one have any good locations I should try? I usually fish just west of Denver Corner where all the tree stumps are or under the east bridge of the twin bridge. You guys have any advice on where to fish or how to fish? I usually use minnows with a slip bobber on a spinning reel and fish anywere from 2-6 fow. (I suck at jigging, and it seems I suck at fishing all together, but it's still fun.) I'd like to get in on some of all these nice crappie I have seen pictures of.

Thanks for any help.