How do crappie normally react during a cold front like today? The fishing barge is 45 minutes away so I'd like to hear what past cold fronts were like in terms of crappie activity. Thanks guys.

my guess is... it will slow them down today but will be hungry tommorrow .w/r/j

at wrc when the crappie get cold they surface, grab a diaper floating on top and wrap themselves up and sit on bottom until the warmer weather.

tomorrow should be awesome

Being a meteorologist at the weather service in Fort Worth (and one for 13 yrs now), i'd have to agree. Thinkin' of hittin' the LL Barge 3-4 am wednesday morning as the winds back to the SW and lighten up some, before cranking up again by wednesday afternoon. Just hate the 45 min drive since when I worked in Jackson, MS before coming back here, my neighborhood was right on Ross Barnett Resevoir, which was one of the best crappie lakes in MS.

--Big Cat
AgAlum 93'

EJM,

Has it been more windy this winter than normal? Just curious. Thanks!

I bet his answer will be wrong

Sorry EJM, couldn't resist

I can't tell the future but can tell what was. Yesterday the fish bit good. Today they barely bit at all.

This seems to happen a lot when fronts pass thru.

I also agree with Jerry, the weather forecasters spend a long time in school learning how to be wrong.

EJM,is gonna be black and blue from all the poking he's gonna get from you guys! but if if has 13 yrs.under his belt,I'd say he has heard it all before!Hang in there bud!

i have proof ...only caught 3 throwbacks , just got back a little while ago w/r/j anyone else???

normally keepin 10 - 15 keepers and a bunch of small ones

Ok fellas, being a meteorologist and an Aggie, it's not like your the first one's to poke fun at my occupation and school for that matter (sure Agfisher02' can relate), but hey, it pays good and it ain't the only profession to get paid to "guess"-timate on things, right?

Just remember one thing, if it wasn't for us, nobody would be watchin' your butts in the middle of the night or warning ya of tornadoes heading your way when your asleep or out on the lake. See at the weather service, we not only issue forecasts for weather, fire weather, aviation at the area airports, and the what not, but we are your sole WARNING service for N TX, not the T.V guys/gals *who are always calling us for updates, so they can look good on the air*.

Anyhow, in answer to the man's question about windier than normal conditions: YES! Reason being, is the jet streams has been more flat across the Pacific and Rockies this year more than recent previous years, which results in stronger pressure falls (or as we call it, cyclogenesis at the surface) off the lee of the rockies and over the High Plains (worked my first forecaster gig with the NWS in Goodland, KS...far NW part near the KS/CO border for 4 years, so yeah, I'm pretty familiar with it. So with this in mind and when we see cold, surface high pressure move SE over the gulf, you get the strong pressure gradients both pre-frontal and post-frontal. Confused yet? I thought so, smart-alecks! *j/k* he..he..he

Hope y'all enjoyed that tangent I went on, but don't mind the funnin', as it's been happening for years!

--Eric (BigCat)
AgAlum 93'

Oh yeah, one more thing. You can thank the late, great Harold Taft *Channel 5 weather from the 60s into the 80s* for getting me interested in weather when I was growing up in HEB. He was a class act and the ONLY WEATHERMAN who seems to know what the heck he was talking about, not that bow-tie-wearing other guy (yes, the one that's been around for years and used to do his broadcast after "bowling for dollars" in the 70s with Verne Lundquist. I won't name names mind you.

*As the Big Cat gets off his weather soap box*

--Eric
AgAlum 93


I was saddened the day Harold died, but remember going to the public library as a high schooler reading his book "Texas Weather", which was a classic of it's time. I work with one fella who's been working for the NWS here for 25 yrs named Al Moller, so not worries gents, i'm under great tutoledge. Now back to fishin' talk!

I'll second that Harold Taft commentary. He always seemed to be right more than wrong. I remember one time when the others were predicting something (ice I think the age is catching up) he came out with almost the opposite forecast and was right. He didn't gloat or make a big deal out of it. My folks would change the channel to catch Harold Taft's weather.

Sbump,

Yeah, Harold was the man. There's a few of the networks I don't mind talkin' with (Ron Jackson is always calling and pretty cool guy to talk with).
The other's well, i'll just say, i'd pass the phone off to someone else.

--BigCat

Thanks for your feedback EJM. It's pure chaos forcasting weather sometimes

Write a white paper sometime for us entitled "Chaos, the butterfly effect, and it's impact on crappie fishing"

By the way gents the most accurate weather site I've found so far is www.noaa.gov albiet the forcasts I've been getting lately are not what I wanted....lol.

As a nowadays non-current private pilot, regular commercial air traveler, and homeowner with a family, thanks for your work, passion for weather, and service to the country. I remember as a young boy in Arkansas hunkered down with the family in the cellar listening to the voices from the NWS when it was serious stuff.

It's raining where I'm at now in West Virginia. May try to drag a few numbuli back home to Texas if possible.