Yep.... river crappie like creeks...sloughs....and oxbow water to spawn
I fish TN river and while I'm not anywhere close to a lot of the fishermen on here, I find spawn in the creeks around cover.
"G" LIKED above post
Yep.... river crappie like creeks...sloughs....and oxbow water to spawn
I have spent most my life fishing........the rest I wasted.
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The lakes I fish have both but as far as the river I'm not sure. Never really fished a river for crappie. That's why I'm asking. The river we are gonna try out doesn't flow into/thru lakes. Flows straight into a bigger river. But there's plenty of backwater creeks.
I know about fishing bridge pilings and sunken trees and such. Was just trying to figure out how they would spawn.
"The sufferings of the present are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us." - Romans 8:18
Big rivers or little. They are looking for a bottom with the right composition of sand,gravel,mud,something they can fan out right the way they want. They want a flat to slight incline on the bottom. Not too steep. They want protection from heavy wave action. And what you see on the surface is not what's always happening on the bottom. Sometimes there is a bar or rise in the bottom that breaks the wave action at the bottom. . And the right amount of sunlight to reach the eggs. They will also want some wood close by whether its just a branch on the bottom or an old stump or they will use weed beds. Where ever they find that regardless if it's on the main river or up a creek ,behind a bar or dike or other natural break,a cut back in the bank.They will use. The higher the population the more places they will use because of competition for spawning places. The fewer the fish the more only the very best spots will be used. The higher the population the more places they will use that otherwise that might not just because of competition.
About the same deal as in a lake. It's just takes a while to learn to read the water on a river. Now with all this super sonar guys can find them with that.
Before that...and still yet for me cause I just have old stuff, I just found them by covering water and many, hours,days and years of searching.
"G" LIKED above post
Lots of creeks in Owen County
I have spent most my life fishing........the rest I wasted.
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All I know about fishing crappie in rivers and current (in Kansas) is if your jig isn't hanging straight down vertically (they don't bite) your better off going somewhere else. They are dumping main lake.
Crappie will spawn anywhere water temp and bottom composition is right...
I have found out over the years if I'm fishing rivers whether in Oklahoma or Arkansas and there's any current, you will be more successful on the downstream side of structure. Crappie doesn't like current so they will school up on the downstream side and feed on baitfish that come by. The structure will break the current enough for them to hold there. If you are fortunate enough to find structure in an eddy that's a bonus. Crappie use rivers for travel corridor's. Probably one of the most overlooked places to fish especially during pre-spawn and again in the fall.