Thanks for the input Stink, one thing about me is I am always trying to learn.
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Thanks for the input Stink, one thing about me is I am always trying to learn.
Redge usaully to my experience the biggest most aggressive fish will hit first,they call this pecking order I believe. We were fishing brushpiles that were marked by bouys and some that were not marked. We cuaght fish on every pile we fished, we just caught 2-3 keepers at each pile. When the water temps get up in the mid to upper 80's to low 90's the fish will school up better on the piles. Right now they are post spawn just hanging out eating but still in shallow water somewhat! Here is my rule, when its calm with no wind or current I fish wood, when there is wind and current I fish rip rap. That usaully works! EB
Went out yesterday evening and fished the north end around fountain head marina, we were fising brush in 4-8fow. We ended keeping 7 fish, we found lots of brush in 8-12 fow but the fish are shallower than that right now. The vis was muddy about 2-3 inch vis. You definately have to get on the right stuff to catch them up there! EB
Thanks EB! Gonna go and try it this weekend. Ranger is always making me jealous fishing through the week with that good weather!
Me too, but most of us are weekend warriors! EB
See ya on the Lke tomorrow.....lol.....Ranger
Well l listened to the weatherman..said early this morning rain would be likely south of I-40 late this afternoon but cloudy skies would prevail with lite winds...he got the lite winds right...not the rain...after fishing in the rain for 4 hours I decided to call it quits and besides Todd Huckabee called me on the water and said my 2 HUCKABEE RODS were in and could pick em up at 12:30pm..had 19 nice crappie and the biggest weighing 1.68lbs...all came from rap and spiders in 2' to 5' DOW, did catch 3 from woodpiles...lime/chart and pumkin/chart were the only colors I used and they were hitting them so no need to change today.. WT was 76 degrees and didn't change while I was there...a few males were still wearing their coats and the females were all spawned out......Ranger
Was going to Tenkiller and taking EB but he decided to fish with brother Darren on Thunderbird. Never pass up a trip with family....Ranger
Hey Ranger, is the spawn already over? I had'nt even read it had started good. Did I miss it again?
Panfish
Panfish I would say its awfully close to being over yes...Fished today and caught several in the Crowder area on spider blocks and wood in 6' to 12' DOW...went up into Rock Creek where I had caught them last week late and not a single bite. Headed for Blocker and caught em pretty good in 12' to 14' DOW fishing 8' to 10' deep. Colors today were pumkin/chart and lime/chart beavers and wooly bees..did catch a few off of wood but most came from the rap. Ended up with 29 good fish and lost about 10 that pulled off lifting them into the boat.. Wt was 74 when I started and got up to 76 before I left at 2pm........Ranger
If you lived 2 hours from Eufaula and could only get away maybe twice during the spring due to family commitments- how would you decide when to go? I've been checking this thread for a month and a half and didn't read anything saying the spawn had started. I really do appreciate the reports and I fully understand paying your dues by spending time on the lake but like I said earlier, my trips are very limited. I appreciate any advice you might be willing to share.
Thanks, Panfish
Panfish, I try to time my visits when the wind is FORECASTED to be below 15 mph. If I can only go when the wind is high, then that dictates where I'll fish. High winds usually means Graves Creek or Gaines. I then decide how I'll fish those areas. How I fish the Big E all depends on where I think I can get to on that day.
As for the Spawn, I believe it was one of those trickle spawn years, much like what happens when you have a "trickle" rut. From what I saw (and it wasn't much), I think a few fish spawned starting in early March and I'm betting that a few spawners will be caught as late as June. Due to weird weather, I don't think the spawn was as pronounced this year as in years past.
The good news is you can still catch them shallow right through fall. As Ranger has done reported, he's catching some along the rip rap already and that fishing will only get better as the temps heat up. Plus they're start hanging around standing timber as well. The Summer and Fall may be a lot better than the spawn!! So don't get discouraged!
Thanks OkieDon! I hesitated to even send my previous thread thinking it might sound like I was whining. I just did'nt have any "rules of thumb" for picking a time. Thanks for the analysis-- it makes a lot of sense to me. I very much appreciate the knowledge you shared. Panfish
Well, here's the only report I can give on todays catch. After some advice I received to head somewhere's in the Bugtussell area in which I now realize that is a very broad area to try and figure out exactly where to fish. I headed to the Coal creek bridge to fish. I decided to spider rig to try and see how I would fair doing so. My daughter and I caught somewhere's in the neighborhood of 20. The bad things is all but the 6 we kept were only about 3-7" long. All were caught on minnows. I had 4 rods out with minnows and 2 with jigs and not one bite on a jig.
Here's another kicker I noticed all 6 fish we kept were full of eggs. They all had a good yellow tint to them, but not bloody at all. Figured they may be going to absorb them later.
Jiggin glad it's not just me scratching my head.
Jamie call me and I will help you put some fish in the box....its gonna cost you alil but not as much if I was guiding you...lmbo......Ranger
Trust me Mark, I am sure it couldn't have cost any more than what I have been spending lately. Something has changed in my fishing in that I am unable to locate my fish. I have never had as much trouble finding the bite as I have this year. I think for the most part I am trying to go by what is new to me in my technique and I am having a very difficult time with the learning curve. I think I am just trying to keep up with you big boys and I am actually falling behind and not staying true to my way of fishing. I mentioned using minnows today and I am not a minnow fisherman hence the name. Although if it hadn't been for minnows today we would have waste a lot of time and money in gas for that drive today.
Jamie check your PM"S...call me and I will put you on some fish.......Ranger
Fished Saturday and Sunday and kept around 20 each day. The bite was pretty slow it seems like the numbers have been down this year. We are averaging between 20-40 keepers a trip! Maybe it will force me to guide different areas of the lake this summer. EB
Fished today from about 10:00-4:00. 3 of us caught between 50 and 55. Kept none under 10" and most were in the 1#-1 1/4# range. Pretty good day on the water.
i fished yesterday till bout 1pm around the crowder area. managed 22 good keepers, bite was scattered yet when they hit, they really hit!!! the color of choice for yesterday was black-n-pink fished in 8-9 fow.
now last week, i took my woman on a trip with guide barry morrow and we ended our day with 76 keepers, most of which came off a brown-n-orange jig!! i tried that color yesterday, but they just werent having it!!
Attachment 92141
Went back to my own way of fishing had 20 keepers in about 3 hrs dipping trees in Longtown. Wind ends up being to much, plus work a 12 hr midnight shift then going fishing and back to work tonight is a lesson learned not to do again. Beaver Tails pumpkin/chartruese and black/chartruese. All caught from 8-12' deep.
Dang Jiggin, your toooooo old to be doing that. I walked in at 12:40 AM from wheat harvest:yikes.
Agree with you cricket...we used to always fish the last graveyard when we worked 8hr nights but when the 12's started it only took 1 time to figure out those are different animals...but I was alot younger back then too....Ranger
Is the bite any better than it was a few weeks ago. We are headed that way and last time we fished it was very slow going.
Right now with the wind as it is the fishg are scattered since you can only fish ehere the wind will allow you to. Just keep your bait in the water and cover alot of it..good luck..Ranger
Where are all the reports,,did all the fish die ???
Ranger i sent you a PM
Thanks,Clint
Fished the south end yesterday afternoon from about 1500 - 1830. Kept 21 nice fish, brush 8' - 12', pumpkin/char and blk/pink beavertails. Caught several dinks as well.
Caught a dozen this morning, mostly dinks, off my buddy's dock using minnows. Going back shortly before dark and catch a few more. Grandson is down and enjoying his fishing. Haven't tried jigs lately, been too busy building a picket fence at Carlton Landing and too tired after work to fish. Real light bite on the minnows and it's hard to tell when to set the hook. Thank God for high visibility line.
We 25 keepers pulling jigs in Tuesday in 5-7 fow. We covered about 4-5 miles of bank. Had some nice fish! Rb
What are the feature you look for in selecting the bank to pull jigs or maybe crankbait along? Thanks
Had 18 quality black crappie and 1 white yesterday evening pulling jigs in 10' of water sponged the rap north of the town of Eufaula. The highlight of the trip was my wife hooking and landing with alil assistance a 4lb 13oz Smallmouth on a 10' Ozark jiggin pole using pearl/truse yum beavertail. When I get home I will post a few pictures for those that hadn't seen it yet...Ranger
Here's those pictures from 6/11/12 on the rap at Eufaula..Miss Judy with her catch..enjoy...Ranger
Had 34 today pulling jigs in 4-8 fow. Just covering water lots of nice fish. EB
How do you rig a line to pull jigs? And how fast do you troll?
We are just letting out 12-14ft of line trolling .7-1.2mph with beaver tails. They run around 4-5 ft deep. We are fishing in 4-8fow. They are knocking the fire out of it when they hit! We had 32 keepers today. EB
What size/weight jig do you use?
I'm using two 3/16th crappie pro jig heads! We had 35 today! We caught fish on every bank we fished today! On Gibson tomorrow for a day then back to Eufaula for the weekend! EB
Man, I'd love to get in on some of that kind of fishing action. This has been a very disappointing start to this years season.
Had 20 keepers today with some really nice fish. We were fishing main lake points in 6-8 fow. We spider rigged, pulled jigs and Huckabee style today! My client also hooked a 3lbs + smallmouth on the south end of the lake. EB
EB, thanks for the great trip! The fishing was not fast Saturday but some were real quality fish, biggest I think was 1 3/4 lbs. I have fished Eufaula probably about 15 times in the last 2 years, have only had moderate success on a few of those trips. I wanted to shorten the learning curve (I have only been crappie fishing for 2 years) so I Had EB teach me how to pull jigs, spider rig and fish the rip rap. We did a lot of running so he could show me the different techniques and different areas. For me there is a huge difference between reading about a technique and doing it with someone who does it every day, you just don't pick up the nuances and the confidence when you just read about it. I would definitely recommend hiring EB to speed the learning process along. Thanks again EB.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eufaula boy