Crappie Spawning Behavior

I wanted to be the first to post in this forum.

I pulled this from a recent Lake Wissota post to spawn some crappie talk.

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I have been told the males will start to go shallow in the high 50’s to scout out spawning beds and start to fan out the beds. In the 60 to 65 degree range, the ladies will make their way into the shallows to spawn.

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Sully

Great info… Thanks Jason..

I really hate to give up one of my best secrets for catching pre-spawn crappies, but this site has been pretty good to me, so heres a tip for all you guys that are waiting for those slabs to come into the spawning beds.

“Stop Waiting” and go catch them right now! Typically, we find them stacked up in the nearest deep water out from the spawning beds. Here on Lake Wisconsin, that usually means water between 12-16′ deep.
Many times, I use my electronics to locate schools of fish in this deeper water. Its common to find them suspended just a few feet off the bottom. Some of the schools will cover a vertical column of water from just off the bottom to five or six feet below the surface. And man is it fun when you hit a school like that.
The easiest way to find them is to lip hooked a medium size fathead minnow on a thin, gold wire hook. Clamp a good size split a foot or so above the minnow. Drop the rig down to the bottom right over the side of the boat and crank it back up from 1 to 4 turns. Put a second rod over the boat in the same position with a plain jig and minnow or your favorite jig/plastic combination.
Now use your electric motor to putz around in that nearby deep water until you locate those slabs.
Most of my best spots are in the bays where there is no current.
If the crappies are up on there beds when a cold snap hits, they will move right back out to these same 12-16′ depths and guess what? Yep, you can keep right on catching them by following them out there! The bite may not be fast and furious after a cold snap, but its better than sitting in your boat watching a bobber floating around in the shallows.
After you find them, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can drop anchor and keep on catching them. That may work from time to time in the right spots, but more often than not, the school will be meandering around these deeper holes. Try drifting with the wind or just keep using your electric motor to bring the boat back over them.

Good luck out there guys and gals, and enjoy it while you can!

Boog

ALL the finesse in the world couldn’t get those deep 12′-16′ fish for me to go yesterday. I was thinking dynamite….

One thing to keep in mind is that the surface temp is usually warmer than the temp in the bottom of the lake or water. Fish spawn on the bottom not on the surface which means the spawn could take place alittle bit later than you think. So when searching keep in mind that the fish could still be out in the open water at a time when you think they should be spawning. All that means is keep an open mind and if you don’t find them where you think/hope that might be then check out deeper from the spawning site and you may just find them like Joel said.

Thanks, Bill

And Bill that is why I use an aquarium thermometer weighted down with a line to get deeper temp status..

I look for the prespawning crappies in the same areas as Joel has mentioned but I like using a Swedish Pimple to find active fish. I can use the trolling motor to move around the drop offs just outside of the spawn sites, and stay vertical over the side of the boat. I am going to have to purchase some of the smaller Go Devils from B Fish N Tackle for the same technique

Ahh good idea, I even had my all my ice go-devils and spoons with me….

Great advice Boog. The most frustrating thing is trying to get those fish to bite. As they stack up on the first deep drop and they are not their to feed very often. I guess timing is everything this time of year. This weekend I could knock them on the head with a jig and they would not bite

Scott,

Your definitely right about them not being there to feed.
Some days are brutally tough.

I have two “go to” rigs for those really tough days. One is the basic minnow rig described above only down sized. Smaller hook, smaller minnow and small split shot.

The other is tiny jig/plastic comob of 1/64th or smaller tipped with a waxworm. You may have to add a split shot above the jig to keep the rig down there.

On the really tough days, we don’t knock them dead by any means. Not even close!
It’s more like a fish here and a fish there. Kind of like walleye fishing sometimes!

Boog

One has to remember to practice Selective Harvest. The old mentality of packing the freezer has to go. Let’s ensure a good future of fishing and enjoy our resources.

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

Selective harvest increasing populations is a very difficult arguement to make. It really matters more on spawning pressure than anything else. Leaving the biggest fish as spawners is great but older fish often have the same fertility issues other animals and humans have. Also larger fish have larger appetities and as soon as the wigglers enter the water column those post spawn adults are on a major feeding binge. Many times fish parents will guard the fry after they are free swimming. I have caught bass in a small local stream that were clearly guarding swarms of small fry, released them 20 ft away and they immediately went back to guarding. Mothers seldom eat their own spawn but the neighbor…different story Taking them after spawn removes what little protection the fry have. Leaving too many large adults in a small body of water creates over crowding and many won’t even get a chance to spawn. I have raised tropicals in a 100 aquarium hatchery for 30 years as well as fished large and small bodies of water for 30 years. I could argue this either way from now to dooms day. One marvelous aspect of fishing culture is that they have an incredible ability to bounce back…again providing certain criteria are met. When lets say crappie populations drop for what ever reason (except food base depletion) they have an incredible opportunity to rebound in 2-5 years based on lack of predation. I believe that carp populations have much much more to do with loss than human predation. Carp will raid nests and consume thousands of fry long before they ever get a chance. Fry and juvenile fish have plenty of food base in almost any water. Once they reach 1 1/2″ or so and require larger size and more volumn food the story changes. The single biggest thing you can do to increse populations is increase cover. Sink as many Christmas trees as possible. I like to leave a line attached so when the green has rotted away they can be removed in small ponds. In bigger water don’t worry. There are many kinds of crustaceons that feed on that decaying matter that feed the entire chain. Now another interesting twist. Years ago I fished Kentucky Lake with a local guide and six other members of our party. Every one of us (8) were using the exact same flourescent green jig and 5# mono. Four other members were in his boat and we were 10 feet away. Everyone was casting within a 20ft circle. The guide caught over 30 monster slabs and I caught 5-6 and noone else caught anything. The guys in his boat even had him tie their jigs on believing he must have some attractant on his hands. No use. Now you would have had 6 men who, if fishing by themselves, would have sworn there were no fish in that lake. I could have thought there were some but hard to catch. The guide nailed fish after fish after fish. It was becuase the bite was extremely light and you really had to focus.