Future Crappie fishing at Stockton lake

[olfishead]

12 hours ago, Sam said:

We're catching more short crappie this year than we did last year, about 1 out of 10 with most fish measuring 11" to 13".  Catching far more white crappie than black crappie, about a 5 to 1 ratio there, and the black crappie are generally shorter than the white crappie.

Last year, 2019, should have produced a great hatch of crappie as the high water level kept many from being caught in late spring and most of the summer, and the young'uns had the heavy cover of land bushes to hide in. 

Hope you are right about 2019, and I agree the conditions should have been good. I suppose it makes some difference what part of the lake you fish, and that may determine what the age structure looks like from the individuals view.  I know MDC does crappie sampling around mid-lake on the big sac arm. It is a representative, cross section sample of what the whole lake population looks like, but it is not an exact science, ( but the best there is). Whites grow faster in length than blacks but not much difference in weight at the same age.

[Heretolearn]

I am beginning to worry about the spawn this year.  This past weekend I was trolling and turned in 60 feet of water ~200 yards from bank and caught a nice white female crappie full of eggs about 18 feet down.  She was at least 150-200 yards from the bank.  Most of the fish that I have caught have not spawned and are busting with eggs and in good flesh.  Do we have any experts that have an educated guess when the crappie will give up on spawning.  Several more senior friends tell me that they aren't going to spawn this year and that the spawn last year was very weak by the fish they caught.

Thanks!

[MOPanfisher]

I say that many fish dont spawn or don't completely spawn. That is fine, in general high water years spawns arw usually good, assuming that big drops.in water level don't happen aND big jumps don't happen at same time.  I always use Truman as an example, few lakes seem to go up and down as much as they do but seldom are there missed year classes.  I think the population will be fine, I know that during the trap netting it is common to catch low numbers of the newest year classes.  In the end all we can do is wait and see.  Seldom is it as bad as it seems it will be in terms of spawn and recruitment.

[olfishead]

On 5/10/2020 at 9:08 PM, Sam said:

We're catching more short crappie this year than we did last year, about 1 out of 10 with most fish measuring 11" to 13".  Catching far more white crappie than black crappie, about a 5 to 1 ratio there, and the black crappie are generally shorter than the white crappie.

Last year, 2019, should have produced a great hatch of crappie as the high water level kept many from being caught in late spring and most of the summer, and the young'uns had the heavy cover of land bushes to hide in.

Hope you are right about 2019, and I agree the conditions should have been good. I suppose it makes some difference what part of the lake you fish, and that may determine what the age structure looks like from the individuals view.  I know MDC does crappie sampling around mid-lake on the big sac arm. It is a representative, cross section sample of what the whole lake population looks like, but it is not an exact science, ( but the best there is). 

[olfishead]

6 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

I say that many fish dont spawn or don't completely spawn. That is fine, in general high water years spawns arw usually good, assuming that big drops.in water level don't happen aND big jumps don't happen at same time.  I always use Truman as an example, few lakes seem to go up and down as much as they do but seldom are there missed year classes.  I think the population will be fine, I know that during the trap netting it is common to catch low numbers of the newest year classes.  In the end all we can do is wait and see.  Seldom is it as bad as it seems it will be in terms of spawn and recruitment.

I might add that research shows that the spawn (recruitment) is best when water levels are stable or rising slowly. After crappie eggs hatch (3 to 4 days)the fry become pelagic (go to the open, middle of the lake) a few days after, so, the cover along the lake shore is not that beneficial except that it might keep more of the predator fish along the shoreline and not chasing little crappie in open water. Natures way of insuring some kind of hatch (survival of the species)each year is that not all individual fish will ripen to spawn in a short period. Often when weather conditions are erratic in temperatures the spawn may be spread out over two months. Having said that, the bulk of the crappie spawn in this area is usually mid to late April.

[MrGiggles]

Had 7 tonight, one just under 10" and one just over.

Also caught a bunch of dink 8" whites, never caught any of those in that quantity before. Just couldn't leave those firetiger flickers alone. Crapped all over my boat too.

This was on the little sac near Masters.

[Heretolearn]

Do you know when they do the census/crappie sampling and sample other gamefish?  Several on this site state that recruitment is better during a flood and it makes sense + I know at Pomme last fall and early this spring near the dam, there were crazy numbers of shad, so I think their recruitment was excellent last year.  I am curious how well the actual spawn went for the other species.  Also does it usually take 2-3 years before we have a good idea how the spawn really went for game fish?  I do know when I fished on the Sac River below Caplinger earlier this spring, I have never caught so many little walleye.  They must of done well on that part of the river last year or they just all stacked up in the creek where I stopped.  Same for the little white bass.  I was fishing 2 jigs and had multiple doubles.

[olfishead]

19 hours ago, Heretolearn said:

Do you know when they do the census/crappie sampling and sample other gamefish?  Several on this site state that recruitment is better during a flood and it makes sense + I know at Pomme last fall and early this spring near the dam, there were crazy numbers of shad, so I think their recruitment was excellent last year.  I am curious how well the actual spawn went for the other species.  Also does it usually take 2-3 years before we have a good idea how the spawn really went for game fish?  I do know when I fished on the Sac River below Caplinger earlier this spring, I have never caught so many little walleye.  They must of done well on that part of the river last year or they just all stacked up in the creek where I stopped.  Same for the little white bass.  I was fishing 2 jigs and had multiple doubles.

The crappie sampling by MDC usually occurs in mid-october by trapnetting give or take a week or two depending on weather and water temps. Bass in spring late April to mid-May. Walleye early spring depending on water temps.

Recruitment depends on many factors. High water conditions, especially just after the spawn does favor survival, largely due to more turbid water that makes it harder for sight feeding predators to feed on offspring, also spreading out fish over more water and influx of nutrients that produces more invertebrates (zoopankton early) for the offspring to feed on.

Depending upon the species, generally it takes a minimum of 2-3 years after the spawn to accurately assess that year's year class density.

Good news on the fish below caplinger! But who knows why they were there, probably due to good reproduction in that area. The best way to find out the strength of a year class is to read MDC's fishing prospectus each year.

[Heretolearn]

10 hours ago, olfishead said:

The crappie sampling by MDC usually occurs in mid-october by trapnetting give or take a week or two depending on weather and water temps. Bass in spring late April to mid-May. Walleye early spring depending on water temps.

Recruitment depends on many factors. High water conditions, especially just after the spawn does favor survival, largely due to more turbid water that makes it harder for sight feeding predators to feed on offspring, also spreading out fish over more water and influx of nutrients that produces more invertebrates (zoopankton early) for the offspring to feed on.

Depending upon the species, generally it takes a minimum of 2-3 years after the spawn to accurately assess that year's year class density.

Good news on the fish below caplinger! But who knows why they were there, probably due to good reproduction in that area. The best way to find out the strength of a year class is to read MDC's fishing prospectus each year.

Thanks for the response!  Where would l look for the MDC prospectus?

[olfishead]

MDC web page under fishing,  usually posted around February, I believe.