Thread: Ky Afield TV show

All I ever fished for at ky and Barkley have been cats and crappie. But after seeing those videos I think I will give them big ol' shell crackers a try this spring also...

When is the best time to catch redear? Is it as someone suggested about the first full moon in May? How much does the water temperature affect their bedding? Thanks for any information.

Originally Posted by Olgrey

When is the best time to catch redear? Is it as someone suggested about the first full moon in May? How much does the water temperature affect their bedding? Thanks for any information.

Olgrey ... all I've read about Shellcrackers indicates that the best times to catch them, with any consistancy, is during the Full Moon (spawning) period of May thru July. Spawning conditions/factors to be looked for : water temps above 70deg's ... water depths up to 8ft (depending on clarity) for spawning beds ... the presence of submerged weeds/grasses or wood ... sandy, gravel, or hard mud bottom. Their diet consists mainly of snails, shellfish (craws, grass shrimp), insects & their larvae (land & water types), fish eggs, and small fish. This is generally the reason for the use of worms, crickets, insect grubs, & shrimp/crawfish tail chunks, over the minnow imitation artificials that we like to use for Crappie.

It has been said that, if you're on a good Bluegill bed & catching them ... your boat "may" be sitting right on top of a Shellcracker bed ... as they generally spawn in slightly deeper water than a Bluegill. And you want to insure that your bait is right on the bottom, or no more than 6" from it.

... cp

I catch redear from March until early November, of course the month of May and first half of June is probably prime time. After that, the fall is really a great time to catch them too. September and October are excellent months to catch redear in 8-12ft of water, fishing directly on bottom.

I use redworms and occasionally nightcrawlers but it's my experience that they love wiggling redworms. I can almost always tell the difference between a bluegill and redear when I set the hook. A big redear has the ability to tug like a catfish, especially when they get close to the boat. They like muddy bottoms and I generally catch them on flats, certainly not steep dropoffs.

Would 1 of you guys being willing to post a short post for redear similar to our "archived" thread...??
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/archi...e-degrees.html

It doesn't have to be as in depth...just a short outline of where they "should" be during the rising water temps in spring and falling water temps in fall...

This would be a great addition to the archives....

Rickie

Fished for them for the first time last year during the full moon in May like Crappiepappy mentioned. I went with around 10 guys and we caught somewhere around 1200 fish in two days. I know guys who went a week or two after me and caught tons more. Obviously we were catching lots of gills but many shellcrackers also. We fished Malcolm Creek. I had such a good time I have already booked a 10 day trip around the full moon this year.

CrappiePappy and others -- Thanks for the information

Thanks for the info jigboy, sounds like you guys had a good trip...!Hands Clapping