K Dock Crappie

[Sam]

We didn't go out of K Dock all last year because of high water, so my partner and I tried it yesterday (Wednesday). We drove through Forsyth, and when we crossed the highway bridge just below River Run and the mouth of Swan, we noticed a big current was running.

Not figuring out what that meant, we launched at K Dock and couldn't get a bite on any of the usual crappie spawning and staging areas around there. Water temp was 56. So, like a couple of dummies we headed UPSTREAM around Snapp Holler where the water temp was 53 and we also coudn't get a bite in any of our usual good springtime spots. Well, we've been crappie fishing the James River arm of Tablerock lately and seeing water temps as high as 71. It finally dawned on us - THEY'RE LETTING COLD WATER OUT OF TANEYCOMO and that's shocked the fish.

So, we headed downstream. As we went, we could see the water temp get warmer a degree at a time until it hit 66-67 around Yokum. In that general area of the lake we found crappie wherever we went but had to work for them. They're not up shallow yet, but they're not real deep - we found them everywhere there was flooded timber in 15-20 feet of water, holding tight to the brush. They were all black crappie and when we cleaned them we found they were all males.

I think they're still in a pre-spawn pattern and the males are staging on banks that have brush near nesting areas. The females are probably still out in the deep channels, we didn't find any of them. I think crappie will come up to the banks in the next week or two from about Mincy on down - but that might not happen at all this year upstream if cold water keeps flowing into Bull Shoals.

[Martin]

Great, informative report Sam !

[Phil Lilley]

Generation on Taney should slow down in the next few weeks so the water temp on Upper Bull should warm up.

Thanks for the report!

[packersooner]

Great report Sam! You don't see many crappie reports on this forum compared to some other lake forums. Honestly, I have not been able to figure out Bull Shoals crappie any time of the year. Doesn't help that we usually walleye fish when we head down that way.

Jason