Texoma and 2 inch crappie?

Couple nights ago I threw my net in our slips. Every cast I would catch approximately 50 to 80 baby crappies approximately an inch and a half to two inches long. They're about the size of a medium sized minnow. That would mean there approximately 2 to 3 months old? That would be one of the latest spawns I think I've ever seen. Every single slip I would cast it had over 50 each cast. I couldn't find any shad. Lol

Looks like Texoma will be great in a couple of years. If Mother Nature will keep these lake levels up for a couple of years, we'll all benefit down the road.

Gman

That's good news. Hopefully those little fish can make it through the winter.

I think we all underestimate how much those big stripers eat. At Possum Kingdom, most of the legal size stripers went down the Brazos when the flood gates opened. But we must have had a tremendous striper spawn, as the numbers of 8-10 inch stripers are far larger than normal. In fact, it's like Texoma where every creek and slough is chock full of small stripers and sand bass. They are a little harder to catch on lures, as they sit in a cloud of bait. However, you cannot keep two poles baited with live shad.

Also, I have never seen so many shad. In the past, I would only rarely see a school of threadfins shallow. Now, I catch them with regularity with one cast. I am terrible with a cast net but getting better. Hard to miss though when you are in 4-6 feet of water and you have a thick cloud of shad bank to bank. Just drop the net and you have 6-10 dozen, far more than I can keep alive in my two five gallon bucket system.

I think the lakes will come back but it's going to take a couple years. I sure miss fishing Texoma. It was fun while it lasted.

could have been worse. You could have caught 50 little gar tangling in your net.

I threw the net a few times at the Eisenhower boat ramp Saturday morning and caught them there as well. Not as many, but about that same size.

With the high water this spring the spawn went up in high grass and brush so the minnows were able to survive better. With the high water this fall and the higher than normal temps the fish spawned later than usual. Our pond has some 1/2" to 1" crappie in it and we only stocked it this spring with some that we caught local. They're growing and next year should be a great time to use the pond for something other than just fun since they'll be growing over the winter. 99% of the time we do catch and release so the stock will be great this next spring. The cats we put in a couple of years ago are just about right for a frying pan (12-14") and the gills are a little small right now but they should be fun when we get the kids out in March or April.