Thread: Thunderbird archives

I rack it up to the crappy spawn the last two springs and then you might as well add this one to it too.

nice saugeye. which part of the lake were you fishing and how did you catch them? thunderbird has always been known for having a lot of small crappie. I remember probably 5-8 years ago reading an article about how the crappie there just have bad genes and can not get very big. there are or were some big crappie but they never ran around with the small ones. act almost like they are a totally different species. That is why they introduced the saugeye into the lake to try and thin out the small crappie. doesn't seem to have worked too well tho

Nice Saugeye, Mingo. May is a good Saugeye month on T-bird they tell me.

Originally Posted by Mingo

Went out Sunday and Monday evening. Had to weed through lots of little fish to get just a few keepers 10"-12". Also caught lots of under sized Saugeye and one nice one last night that was just under 5lbs. Water temp was 67-69. Fishing main lake points in 4-8 FOW. Girls still have eggs. Caught one 6" long full of eggs. I'm no crappie master but have fished the lake for a while. Are the crappie getting smaller on average? Seems like it was about to get good and here comes more rain. I guess I shouldn't complain but that's what fisherman do, right?

Attachment 201921

How do you tell the difference between a Walleye, Sauger and Saugeye?

Originally Posted by Frank300

How do you tell the difference between a Walleye, Sauger and Saugeye?

Walleye have no black splotches on their sides and no spots on their dorsal fin. Sauger have both. Saugeye have...a little of both. Also, Thunderbird only has saugeye.

Wound my way around today until I made it to the lake to check on my boat etc. Lake is up 5' since Tuesday and still slowly rising, until it rains again tonight. Fished a little around the marina with no luck of which I wasn't expecting any but I can't go without trying!

Redneck, Caught the Saugeye on a point west of the pump station on the north side, but we catch them all over the lake on points. We've been catching saugeye under 18" regularly. I don't know of any spots that are better than others. I was fishing a blue/white curly tail on an 1/8 jighead when I caught it. Was jerking a lot of little crappie when he hit. Quite a surprise!

Frank, walleye also have a white tip on the bottom lobe of their tail fin. I've never seen a sauger although we are supposed to have some in eastern Oklahoma rivers.

Going to check and see how bad the lake looks today. Watched some guys fishing near Indian Point boat ramp Wednesday. They weren't catching any.

Before the rains hit, I was catching quite a few saugeye myself. I NEVER catch them, but in the 2 days before the rains came, i must of caught 6-7...5 of those in 1 day. Caught my first ever legal one too...that was exciting.

For what it's worth, my wife and I went to check out the lake today and I have never seen it as full as it was today. It was absolutely incredible. The surface was probably 3 feet below the road at the Twin Bridges. There was a guy fishing right next to a picnic table at the East Sentinel (the area on the north side, just past the twin bridges). The water was up to the iron gate at the end of Alameda. There is a metal sign (normally as tall as a stop sign) posted in that little shoreline area across from the marina that was only about 2-3" above the surface of the water. The Hog Creek boat ramp was taped off because the water was covering part of the walk ramp. In fact, you wouldn't even be able to reach the ramp to that dock without walking through standing water. The cove next to the pump station off Alameda was flooded back into the trees. I'm not sure what the official numbers are, but I'm guessing it's up at least 6-7' from what it normally is.