Short Report

[Phil Lilley]

Put in at Gages, Long Creek about 1 pm. Looking for crappie. Hit most of my spots - on the bank, off the bank, around brush- only 2 c's, 1 keeper. Sow with eggs ready to spawn. Water 63 degrees.

[Sam]

Put in at Gages, Long Creek about 1 pm. Looking for crappie. Hit most of my spots - on the bank, off the bank, around brush- only 2 c's, 1 keeper. Sow with eggs ready to spawn. Water 63 degrees.

Phil - Wow, two major fishing trips in one day, K Dock and Long Creek. You've got a lot more energy than I do, my single trips are usually followed by a long nap.

We found a bunch of Tablerock crappie below Cape Fair - as per the report I just made in the "White Bass Everywhere" thread here. Water temp was 65-67 up there, and I think the crappie spawn is over because they're on the sticks.

[denjac]

What is up with those crappie? They sure are being weird this year.

[Sam]

What is up with those crappie? They sure are being weird this year.

That's what I've been trying to figure out. I've been fishing all my regular crappie holes 2 or 3 times a week and I've been catching crappie since January. Thing is - I still haven't found them up on the nests where you throw to the bank and the action is hot and heavy.

I gave all the fish to the fellow who fished with me yesterday out of Cape Fair, and he took them home and cleaned them. He told me today that all the big crappie were full of eggs and they hadn't spawned yet. He wouldn't know the difference between a crappie full of eggs or half-full, and they sure didn't look real fat to me when we caught them. Also, they were on stick-ups in 15-25 feet of water and I've always found that's a post-spawn situation, not pre-spawn. The big female crappie from Bull Shoals that I cleaned earlier in the week were all half-full of immature eggs.

My theory? I think for some reason it's only a partial, intermittent crappie spawn this year. It's not happening all at once, and many sows are only dumping half their eggs. Since there was an enormous high-water spawn last year and the lakes are full of 3" crappie from that, maybe nature has a way of limiting reproduction in the following year????? I sure don't know.