THE BIG QUESTION???

I had an instructional trip today. Started at 7 AM. Could hardly get a bite anywhere for 3 hours. Fished shallow, fished deep brushpiles and only caught about 10 fish. About 10 AM hit two similar brushpiles and caught about 40 in two hours. Kept a dozen nice ones.

QUESTION: Did the fish start biting or did we just finally hit some schools of fish? I know the moon was full last night. Also early wind was dead calm but picked up some around 10 AM.

THESE FISH WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY.

ANYWAY ENJOYED THE DAY AND THE COMPANY.

You are smarter than me, but that little ripple of wind is always favorable for me.

Is this a trick question?

Had a great day with you Ernest. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. BTW.... Most still had eggs and only a few looked ready.

THESE FISH WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY!!!

LOL

I think the moon phase had something to do with it. The major feeding times were when you caught the fish.

That is DEFINITELY always the question!

Only answer I know is ...

Yes.

What he is asking you can bet is loaded. But the answer is simple, just think about it.

Way to go guys, I got you to thinking.

My answer (guess) is that the full moon/dead calm combo slowed the early bite. The little wind combined with the major period occurring probably turned the fish on. We were probably on fish early but they just didn't want to bite.

Just shows you that it's not what you are doing wrong at times it just means be more patient and keep trying.

ive come to also believe that the crappie that bite early in the morning and early afternoon are the crappie who didnt do well during the nightime feed run, which from doing many night fishing trips, I believe is thier primary feeding times.
Ive been fishing the PRIME TIMES fishing schedules, and following others since winter and have been made a believer in the peak periods. aside from the moon position, many other variables come into play, such as wind direction, water level fluctuations, mayfly hatch, crickets, junebugs, bird poop, lake turnover, thermocline, shad kills, and on and on. take Waco for example, when the farmers thrash the fields that surround the lake, crappie fishing gets really tough, because of the crickets and grasshoppers that take flight and land in the lake. Its really something to see, and if you like to catch catfish, put a grasshopper a foot under a cork and hold on. The water just boils with big cats coming to the surface to munch on the crickets and grasshoppers.

That same thing happened to me Ernest. On my morning trips that week, it was very hard to get a bite and we didn't catch many crappie. I had to rely on blue cats on jug lines I had baited to get the clients a good mess of fish. In the afternoons, I went back to the same spots that we didn't get a bite in the morning and they were full of biting crappie. This last full moon really affected the bite. It was much more than usual. I normally catch them all day long but not that week.

I have struggled with early bites after the full moon. I had a guide trip a couple of years ago where I just knew we would slaughter them give the conditions and time of year. I worked my tail off to get just 23 between the two clients and myself. I couldn't buy a bite on jigs. When I cut the fish open, 20 of 23 were stuffed with shad and the other three were deep water spawning males.

seems like the bite only turns on when i am not fishing

Its a mood thing. Sometimes they are in the mood and sometimes not. I'm experienced in that area so I know how to deal with it.