Barkley spring crappie fishing info

Hi all

I'm planning on going fishing in March or April for the spring crappie run staying at Eddy Creek Marina. I made the trip a couple years ago and did ok when everyone else weren't catching much of anything. I'm looking for more information on how to get more crappie. What is the best month March or April?. Where to fish that might be a hot spot, and what baits might be the best. I'm heading down with my grandson and he's not the most patient fisherman if we're not catching anything. Any help you give me would be greatly appreciated. I also remember eating at great place and I think the name was Patties but I'm not 100% sure. Info on that would be great also. I love to catch crappie so please help me out.

Thanks
Casedog

I believe Patti's 1880 Settlement in Grand Rivers Ky is the place you're talking about. Never ate there, myself, but my West Ky buds always talk about it being one of the best restaurants in the area.

As far as where & how & when to fish Barkley .... can't really say, nowadays, since it's been decades since I was down there. I used to go around the 21st of April and fish a minnow under a slip float in the buckbrush and around logs that had washed up into the pockets around the dam area. Most recent trips, even though they too were decades ago, were to the Barkley State Park Marina where we threw pink Roadrunners along the rip rap banks around the marina. That would have probably been in April, as well. But, those trips were back during the time when White Crappie comprised the majority of the population, and the buckbrush was the prime spawning spots.

Since the Black Crappie have basically taken over as the dominant Crappie specie ... and many of the buckbrush areas are gone ... it's a whole different place ... from what I've been told. Black Crappie will go shallow earlier & stay there longer than White Crappie. Black Crappie also prefer clearer water, weeds, and pea gravel banks ... while White Crappie prefer dingy water, wood, and spawn in deeper water than Black Crappie.

If it were me ... I'd go when the weather was the most stable, water temps were approaching the 60deg mark, and I'd be checking the fishing reports & water condition/level reports. I'd also talk to the locals, especially those cleaning fish ... and watch to see where the biggest concentration of boats were fishing (in a group in a particular area, or just a bunch of them fishing a specific type of bank).

That's all I got .... hopefully some of the other members that fish the area can chime in with more recent info.

I went about 3 years ago to do some crappie fishing but it wasn't as hot as I thought it would be. We saw many boats coming in that were spider rigging with no fish. We fished in about 10' of water by the roadways and just drift until we hit one, anchor our boat, catch a couple more and when quit biting just start drifting again until we hit a couple more.
We did work our butts off but only caught maybe 12 per day. To me, the crappie were huge because I'm from northern Kentucky and most of the crappie are 6 inches or so. Still a great time but some day I would love to hit a slab of crappie. I wouldn't keep all of them but just like to catch some to eat and catch and release the rest..

Thanks for the help.

Anyone with more suggestions on when and where to hit the slabs please let me know.

Thanks