Question about crappie

[redearhoosier]

I am a hardcore redear/gill fisherman but do like the occasional crappie trip. When do they typically go towards the shore to nest? Does this occur in late March/mid April? When the water reaches the high 50's they do their business, is that correct?

[JustinM]

You come on here talking **** to everyone and now you want advice? I've got some for you. Don't post. Better yet now is the best time to crappie fish. Pound the banks with 10" worms. You're bound to catch tons of crappie this time of year. The key will be 2' of water or less.

[redearhoosier]

Thanks for your productive post, it really helped. Oh, and thanks for thread jacking too...now if any Bluegill/Crappie fisherman would help a fellow gill fisherman out, I would appreciate the help and tips.

Justin,

My rants on here are aimed at greedy bass fisherman who have ruined entire bodies of water in the state of Indiana. Think about it, entire lakes ruined by the introduction of shad by you guessed it, bassfisherman. I've had Game Warden's and one biologist for the DNR tell me this on many occasions. I don't care if you believe it or not and frankly, I know you don't care anyway. You don't care because it suits your style of fishing to have these lakes stocked full of trash shad so the bass can fatten up and you'll get a wallhanger. That's exactly what you're hoping for and that's why you don't care if shad are present in large numbers.

I'm not sure why you would even respond to a post inquiring about crappie anyway, you're a bass fisherman and probably no next to nothing about any other type of fishing.

[AllBoutBass]

Redear, give it a rest. You make my head hurt. Bass fishing will always dominate the discussion boards, and you going on, and on, and on, and on about your '' shad '' nightmare is not only tiresom, its quite lame. I got a riddle for you...What do you call someone who dont have the knowledge or skill level to catch bass? A panfisherman. Think maybe thats your problem?

[redearhoosier]

Redear, give it a rest. You make my head hurt. Bass fishing will always dominate the discussion boards, and you going on, and on, and on, and on about your '' shad '' nightmare is not only tiresom, its quite lame. I got a riddle for you...What do you call someone who dont have the knowledge or skill level to catch bass? A panfisherman. Think maybe thats your problem?

You're hilarious, a real riot act, do you know I probably catch more bass panfishing than you do bass fishing? We generally catch at least 6-8 bass every time out, I just wonder if you can figure out how I do it.

[LJP]

You're hilarious, a real riot act, do you know I probably catch more bass panfishing than you do bass fishing? We generally catch at least 6-8 bass every time out, I just wonder if you can figure out how I do it.

With you attitude you'll be lucky to find out this forum if the sun is going to shine

[Panfish Man]

Redear, give it a rest. You make my head hurt. Bass fishing will always dominate the discussion boards, and you going on, and on, and on, and on about your '' shad '' nightmare is not only tiresom, its quite lame. I got a riddle for you...What do you call someone who dont have the knowledge or skill level to catch bass? A panfisherman. Think maybe thats your problem?

Different strokes, for different folks. That statement may be a little off. I can catch whatever I target a majority of the time. I would rather crappie fish that anything else, by choice. Go out in the middle of the summer and see how EASY it is to boat a crappie.

[Embrey]

Redear, give it a rest. You make my head hurt. Bass fishing will always dominate the discussion boards, and you going on, and on, and on, and on about your '' shad '' nightmare is not only tiresom, its quite lame. I got a riddle for you...What do you call someone who dont have the knowledge or skill level to catch bass? A panfisherman. Think maybe thats your problem?

apparently, he cant even catch those either!

[Fisherjoe]

you have a pm

[Moveon]

I am a hardcore redear/gill fisherman but do like the occasional crappie trip. When do they typically go toward the shore to nest? Does this occur in late March/mid April? When the water reaches the high 50's they do their business, is that correct?

Check out www.crappie.com and you will find the answer if you do a search for "crappie spawning"

There are a lot of variables to consider but water temperature is one of them. Water clarity, turbidity, color and bottom type all effect the water temperature and depth that the crappie spawn.

Somewhere between 62 and 65 Deg F is where the Crappie will be spawning. Just remember that water at the surface can be much warmer than water at the depth where light penetrates deep enough into the lake to help the crappie eggs hatch.

Prespawn temps from between 55 deg F and 62 deg F is also a good time to catch lots of big crappie. You may have to fish the breaks off the spawning areas to catch these bigger females which are laden with eggs.

Remember that the North Side of the lake gets longer exposure to the Southern Sun and warms up first. Especially since it's protected from the March cold North Winds. Find an area which has a marl type bottom that's dark and on the Northern Shoreline or in a protected shallow cove and you might have a good spawning site. Especially if it's near a river channel with a big ditch or creek channel coming up out of the old river channel and into the cove.

The males will come in first to build the nests and then the larger females will swim in and deposit their eggs.

Most Spawning depends on the amount of sunlight so the further South you go the early the crappie will spawn. So your latitude can determine the time of the year (every year can be a little different too). You can have crappie spawning in late Feb in Arkansas or TX and in July in the Northern US.

Hope this helps you somewhat.

The best way to find out when the spawn it going on is to talk to other fishermen and be out on the water's you fish as much as you can.

But Generally Speaking the Month of April is when the crappie spawn in this area of Southern IN and Western KY. They can be caught in March also. The last two weeks of March you can catch the prespawn crappie.

Not all the crappie will spawn at the same time or in the same area. Some deeper humps in larger lakes can have late spawning crappie when those deeper clear waters finally warm up into the 60 deg F range at the top of the humps.

By May most of the Larger Female Crappie are probably all spawned out. You may find some smaller females still spawning in the month of May. Again it depends on the weather patterns each year.

Some guides will recommend that you fish in Dec and Jan for crappie as they school up in huge schools during the winter months and stay in the same area during that time. Once you find them you can catch a limit. The bite is a lot harder to detect in deeper water though. You need to have a sensitive rod during that time of the year. Well any time of the years a good sensitive rod helps you catch more crappie.

Check out the Sam Heatons Super Sensitive Rods from B and M rod Company.

A good 7 to 12 ft Graphite rod with 6 lb test mono (Stren Magnathin) helps you catch a lot more fish.

I fished Patoka with a good friend this year well into late Nov and we caught limits of crappie off the main creek channel fishing brush piles on the edge of the creek channel. This spring I hope to fish with him again in some of the shallower bays. We use the Humminbird Side scanning Sonar units to locate and mark these big brush piles and then we return to these spots and fish tight line using minnows.

BTW. I fished for Largemouth Bass for over 40 years here in IN and KY. After a while I got tired of catching bass and throwing them back. I still catch lots of bass using live bait but return them always. But 40 years ago I would catch limits of LMB and eat them. I like to eat what I catch and I like to catch lots of fish and have lots of action all day long. Crappie fishing gives me fillets and fun. It's less tying that casting all day long.

I still fish for bass from time to time but with 4 lb test ultralight or fly rods. Now that's fun.

But I'm older and don't want to fish hard like I did when I was a younger man. Justin will find this out someday when he's in his golden years. Until then let him enjoy his bass fishing. There is plenty of water in these lake for all types of fishermen.

If you want to know more about crappie fishing (especially Northern Waters) get the In-Fisherman Crappie Fishing Books or the book called. "Crappie Wisdom"

Perhaps the Muskie that's stocked in Bluegrass's Pits will help control some of those gizzard shad. I wish we had thread-fin shad in there instead of the gizzard shad as both the bass and the crappie could feed on them.

In the future we may all have to unit in order to figure out a way to get rid of those exotic carp that fly out of the water when your boat gets near them. Those **** things are going to ruin sport fishing in the Ohio River Valley.

[honkytonk]

Redear I know you fish Hardy so as soon as the ice goes out the fish should start biting around the beaver huts.You can also catch them around the docks at the marinia any time.At Patoka I would start up in the creeks,out of Kings Bridge or The Walls would be good places to start. As for how this post got started,we all need to start being a little more courteous to one another on and off the water.I fish for all kinds of fish that swim and love to catch bass but as I fish on different lakes and talk to people who fish a lot less than I do they all say the same things about alot of the people in large bass boats not being courteous or breaking some speed posted law.I have friends that fish in bass tournaments that have said that it makes all bass anglers look bad.The opinion of how shad got into our lakes is well documented but I have never heard of anyone getting caught.I think as long as there is any water running from one body to another,or birds that fly ,fish are going to get into water where they are not wanted.This site is Fishin.com not Bassfishin.com if you don't want anyone but bass fisherman on here make it a bass club site that you pay to get on.Don't bash a guy because he tells everyone that he caught sauger at the falls or that he caught 300 bluegill and kept them of which both where within the law.We are going to disagree with each other once in a while but I think we all can agree that what we really want to do, really do, is catch more fish.Lets not act like our elected officials and try to find some kind of middle ground.

[JustinM]

I agree with what you have said. But you cant lump every bass fisherman together like he does. It would be like me saying you fish for more than one species so you are to blame for shad in lakes. Or because you fish for more than one species you're rude on the water. He has made both claims more times than I can count. Or I've talked to a guy at Newburgh ramp who uses minnow/shad traps to get bait. He then told me he fishes all over sw Indiana with these caught fish for crappie. Well you fish for crappie so you are to blame for the shad cause he did it! (yes that is a true story about the traps). Using broad terms to describe something will offend people. Which he does all the time. As for being helpful I do everything I can to help anyone that asks on and off the water. Including a ron of people on here.