I hold to the belief that during the spawn, the males build a nest in shallow water and will defend it after the ladies have laid their eggs and have returned to the deeper waters to feed and develop more eggs to lay later in the spawn. The females may lay their mature eggs over a period of time that could span 4-6 weeks depending on the weather and water temperatures rather than laying all their eggs at one time. Therefore, the best time to catch the ladies (i.e. SLABS) is when they are in the deeper water near the shallow spawning grounds. How do others feel about female crappie behavior?
Crappie/Eyes
Discussion on crappie behavoir during the spawn?
Let's say if the males are shallow , you want ti fish the 4 to 6 foot depths for the big girls.....they don't stray to far from the bedding area in pre spawn. no more than 20 yards away from the spawn beds
Alto of times crappie use the same cover to spawn/eat/and hang out. Especially pre-spawn when the shallows are quickest to heat up. Wood will hold heat just not as well as rocks an metal docks. So the bait will hold tight to wood cover shallow. An at times the big females will be there as well...
Then at lakes like buckeye they have no choice right now but to live we re they spawn. Last spring I got big females march-June dipping docks. After the spawn the big females were there gorging on there fry.
Then at lakes like buckeye they have no choice right now but to live we re they spawn. Last spring I got big females march-June dipping docks. After the spawn the big females were there gorging on there fry.
It seems to me that water level changes in the spring can really screw up the spawn. I'm talking like a 2' - 3' difference up or down in a short period at prime spawn time. I think it hurts the population number of spawn that hatch or could have.
After a couple years like this in a row a lake goes from one hell of a crappie lake to lousy.
I always hate to see those big flooding rains come or the lake gates opened up in prime spring time.
After a couple years like this in a row a lake goes from one hell of a crappie lake to lousy.
I always hate to see those big flooding rains come or the lake gates opened up in prime spring time.
Dragline - I feel your pain, this year was rougher than any of the past years I've been Crappie fishing. Being a bank fisherman has only multiplied the pain, it's very limited and the spots that were producing last year wasn't as kind this year. I found water clarity was a huge issue this year, finding the perfect water conditions were almost next to impossible during the spawn. And when you finally start getting bites and action is non stop, it's always these little dinkers for every 10 fish there was 1 keeper, I can't even began to tell you how many Crappie I've thrown back. My only hope is next year will produce good sized ones but who knows...
Another thing to note and totally made me furious this year was poachers, so many of them...this isn't your normal go over the limit guys which I've seen in the past which irritated me but there was nothing I could do, this is your guys who thinks it's okay to keep 4 inch Crappie!! I almost lost my cool at Hoover this year, still heated thinking about them guys.
Snyd - I've yet to find the lake to completely focus on, this year my fishing buddy is planning on getting a boat so it's going to be a lot of searching to do but I don't want to waste what little spawn time we have on a lake that doesn't have big Crappie. This past year, Alum Creek has been my favorite place to get big sized Crappie but I'm always wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere. In your opinion, which lake in Central Ohio is the most fertile?
Another thing to note and totally made me furious this year was poachers, so many of them...this isn't your normal go over the limit guys which I've seen in the past which irritated me but there was nothing I could do, this is your guys who thinks it's okay to keep 4 inch Crappie!! I almost lost my cool at Hoover this year, still heated thinking about them guys.
Snyd - I've yet to find the lake to completely focus on, this year my fishing buddy is planning on getting a boat so it's going to be a lot of searching to do but I don't want to waste what little spawn time we have on a lake that doesn't have big Crappie. This past year, Alum Creek has been my favorite place to get big sized Crappie but I'm always wondering if the grass is greener elsewhere. In your opinion, which lake in Central Ohio is the most fertile?
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