Two TARP Tuesday w/Cuonthelake 6/16/2020

I had a routine dental appointment this morning so Candi and I got out later than we would normally this time of year, but what we lacked in numbers, we more than made up for in quality fish. We had 2.5 hrs of fishing time and 20-30 minutes running time in the boat going from one spot to another and scouting as we go. Never go fishing without reserving a few minutes to scout each time.

On our first spot, Candi hooked a nice crappie and nearly got it to the boat before it said “nah, this ain’t happening today.” A few choice words were spoken and some rod beating, but that is understandable. Grin. We didn’t get another bite in that area, but spot number two paid off in spades as all the fish that we caught came from this area.

Candi started us off with a tarp shellcracker 11.25” and moved her closer to the Master Angler III from TWRA. Two more different species and she will be there. Then she caught a 13” Black crappie and started rubbing it in. “You gonna catch one today”, she asked, and that was all that it took. She caught another one and I netted it for her and was just dead sticking my slab slayer and watching her take the fish off when a big crappie tried to take my lure, rod and reel away from me. It was big fish of the day, 14.25” Black crappie tarp. Take that miss Candi. Lolol.

Then I caught a 13.25” crappie and she caught a little bass and another shellcracker. I mopped up our morning with an 11” crappie. I released the tarp crappie after pics and measurements and it swam away fine. We kept the others in the box to release later, but coming from deep water was too much for them to overcome. We tried releasing them, but they couldn’t go back down. So they are on ice as I type in this report.

We took lots of pics. Nice cool morning. Water flow 21,000 cfs and 79 degree surface temp. Fish were over 15 feet deep in brush. We both fished with 1/16 and 3/32 oz jig heads and Bobby Garland Slab Slayers. Lights Out, Mo-Glo Green Hornet, Ghastly Minnow, and tried Blue Ice, and Sunset without success. Great two hours of fishing. I’m not bragging because she is one of the friends that I have taught to crappie fish, but she is still a better fisherman than most that I fish with. Don’t get offended, guys. You know who you are. Lolol.

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I absolutely love pulling those fish from deep water, not as much though as dock shooting! Thanks again for guiding DK, you always put us on great fish! I might have to resort to bass fishing to get my TARPS to make the master angler 3 list.
Good Times, wonderful memories!

Another great report drumking! You are an inspiration to us all and you posts are followed religiously. You and Candi make up quite the team. Keep it up for a long time!!

Thanks for the report. Nice catch and photos.

Again, very well done. I certainly agree that you should always invest adequate time to scouting and seeing new patterns as they develop.
Thanks to both of you for sharing your day with the rest of us.

I'm curious as to why you kept fish to release later. Was it if you didn't get enough to fool with cleaning? Seems their best chance of survival is to release as soon as caught and pictures or measured.
I'm not criticizing. You are way better fisherman that me. Just curious as to holding before release.

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Originally Posted by SeaRay

I'm curious as to why you kept fish to release later. Was it if you didn't get enough to fool with cleaning? Seems their best chance of survival is to release as soon as caught and pictures or measured.
I'm not criticizing. You are way better fisherman that me. Just curious as to holding before release.

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This is just my opinion, but I think that if you are over a school of fish ,catch one and release it, it goes back to the school and releases an alarm scent that the other fish pay attention to. Sometimes it turns off the bite. Other times it doesn’t. But I should have fizzed them before releasing them. It is better to release them immediately, but we were not going to stay very long and they were good and strong, but just couldn’t go back down. All stuff that I report many times is my opinion and there are always exceptions to the rules. Grin. Thanks for the inquiry.

Here is an observation that I haven’t talked about before, but have known for over 40 years of crappie fishing. Today, we are just over a week past the full moon phase with the moon at 25% going down and the new moon will be on the 21st or this coming Sunday. When we are between full and new moon phases, the crappie do not feed as much as they do the 3 days before and after a good moon phase. I have cleaned and checked stomach contents over many years to let anyone tell me that the fish feed everyday.

The 3 crappie that I took home and cleaned a few minutes ago did not have a single thing in their stomachs. They were big strong and healthy fish, yet they haven’t been feeding long enough for whatever their last meal was had already metabolized and given them strength. When you clean a crappie during a good moon phase, their stomachs will be bulging with Shad, crawfish, or whatever the main forage is in any given lake.

Then you wonder why the fish weren’t biting as good today as they were last week. Grin. I even had a student a few years ago that used to say when we fished on a slow day, “those fish will bite if we can just find the right color that they want.” His thinking was wrong and nothing I could do would convince him otherwise. We never found that “magic” color no matter how many times we changed lures. REMEMBER: Don’t fall in love with a favorite lure or color because it is sure to break your heart just like your first girlfriend did, lolol. And everything that I just said is my opinion only. Everyone has an opinion and an ego. I just have to tell ego to shut up sometimes.

Awesome report, pictures, and valuable intel!

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on a good trip! Nice uns!

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Originally Posted by drumking

This is just my opinion, but I think that if you are over a school of fish ,catch one and release it, it goes back to the school and releases an alarm scent that the other fish pay attention to. Sometimes it turns off the bite. Other times it doesn’t. But I should have fizzed them before releasing them. It is better to release them immediately, but we were not going to stay very long and they were good and strong, but just couldn’t go back down. All stuff that I report many times is my opinion and there are always exceptions to the rules. Grin. Thanks for the inquiry.

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I have a friend that does fishing videos and holds the same theory, especially with LM Bass. He swears they will rat you out.
He mainly jigs for perch but catches LM mixed in the schools . At the end of this video he catches a 9# LM.
He deadly on crappie too.
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by drumking

Here is an observation that I haven’t talked about before, but have known for over 40 years of crappie fishing. Today, we are just over a week past the full moon phase with the moon at 25% going down and the new moon will be on the 21st or this coming Sunday. When we are between full and new moon phases, the crappie do not feed as much as they do the 3 days before and after a good moon phase. I have cleaned and checked stomach contents over many years to let anyone tell me that the fish feed everyday.

The 3 crappie that I took home and cleaned a few minutes ago did not have a single thing in their stomachs. They were big strong and healthy fish, yet they haven’t been feeding long enough for whatever their last meal was had already metabolized and given them strength. When you clean a crappie during a good moon phase, their stomachs will be bulging with Shad, crawfish, or whatever the main forage is in any given lake.

Then you wonder why the fish weren’t biting as good today as they were last week. Grin. I even had a student a few years ago that used to say when we fished on a slow day, “those fish will bite if we can just find the right color that they want.” His thinking was wrong and nothing I could do would convince him otherwise. We never found that “magic” color no matter how many times we changed lures. REMEMBER: Don’t fall in love with a favorite lure or color because it is sure to break your heart just like your first girlfriend did, lolol. And everything that I just said is my opinion only. Everyone has an opinion and an ego. I just have to tell ego to shut up sometimes.

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OK, so i caught a few nice specks last night and they rode home for a stomach check.....sure enough, good healthy fish with empty bellies. All six were investigated thoroughly. I will hopefully put a report up later but By George sir I think you have taught me something yet again.

Enjoyed the report and pictures as usual!! Thanks for sharing the info too:)

NICE! Good info on the moon phases too, DK. I will begin testing these theories :cheers2

Great report and pics. Crappie.com fisher men and fisher women are the best. Thanks for sharing.

The girl never gets rusty. Good job

I really need to file that moon phase information away in a file in my small brain. I know the phase has an effect on the fish, I just hardly remember it when I'm heading out fish. :dono :scratchhead