Crappie spawn

[Rootman]

Anyone catching them up on the banks in brush?  Only have seen people catching them trolling.  Caught some that way last week, headed down in the morning, was just curious if spawn has started, thx 

[waterpossum]

The majority of fish have spawned out. The post spawn light fishing is really good.

[MrGiggles]

I don't know, I've been catching females that are still packed with orange eggs, and males that are pretty black. Some females with no eggs as well.

With water temps creeping into the 70s, I'd say the spawn has to be about over with.

They may have only been spawning at night, or deeper than normal because of the clear water. I have not seen many reports that showed a shallow bite, nor have I caught any shallow.

[Sam]

We're catching mostly males with black fins, and I think the rising, clear water has caused crappie nests to be real deep this year.  We've found no crappie up by the banks all season, and I think the spawn is about over now.  Where it's the clearest we're finding fish in about 18' of water, and where the water has the most color they're around 12' to 14'.  On Thursday my partner and I caught limits that averaged about 11 1/2" including a couple of 14" fish, and we only caught one short crappie.  We had an 18" walleye and four white bass also, so a real good trip.

[Rootman]

Thanks for the information, much appreciated!  Will continue trolling for them,  thanks again. 

[waterpossum]

  On 5/19/2019 at 5:43 AM, Sam said:

We're catching mostly males with black fins, and I think the rising, clear water has caused crappie nests to be real deep this year.  We've found no crappie up by the banks all season, and I think the spawn is about over now.  Where it's the clearest we're finding fish in about 18' of water, and where the water has the most color they're around 12' to 14'.  On Thursday my partner and I caught limits that averaged about 11 1/2" including a couple of 14" fish, and we only caught one short crappie.  We had an 18" walleye and four white bass also, so a real good trip.

Expand  

We had a good trip Wednesday eve, not as good as yours.  We were fishing water with a little color and the depth 12-14' also. The few females we caught looked to be assimilating their eggs.

[straw hat]

 "The few females we caught looked to be assimilating their eggs. "

I have been sort of expecting this. I have seen it a few times in past years when temps vary a lot and water roses rapidly. I remember back in April and very early May the temps would be in the 50s a couple of days and then the 70s for a couple days over and over. That can certainly cause then to reabsorb their eggs.

[Rootman]

Had a pretty good day, came home with 9 crappie and 1 21inch walleye.  Flicker shads and bagley’s in water 10 ft to 15 to 20ft.  Put in at roark, water temps were 62-65.  Hope others had success today.