Super Shallow Fish?

[AtticaFish]

Went out Sunday afternoon, air temps in upper 50's, cloudy & water temps in the mid 60's. No luck either shallow or deep after 2 hrs., was getting ready to leave when I noticed a fish so close to shore it's back was just barely sticking out of the water. Figured was a bass, but no..... good sized Crappie!! Stuck a minnow in it's face and nothing. Could of snagged the darn thing if I wanted to. Walked towards my car and saw another... and another... and another.... What the heck!!!

This was on an angled rip rap bank of fist size rocks, not in any cover. I have sight fished crappie before, but never like this in 6" of water. They didn't realy spook even, could walk right up on them. Tried every jig in my backpack and minnies under their nose, even tried to sneak up on them and cast from a distance... nothing.

Has anyone seen this before? Counted 14 crappie & 8 small bass in less than 100 yards of bank. Could this small lake (8' deep & only 30 acres) have just turned over? More important, how would you fish in this situation?????

[crappiefarmer]

Sounds like an oxygen issue to me. CF

[yankee doodler]

I've only witnessed that once before, but sure does sound like they were stressed.

[rnvinc]

Riprap may have been warmed by the sun and the fish holding close to the warmth in the riprap....

I think I've read that in a Steve McAdams article before...

["G"]

Riprap may have been warmed by the sun and the fish holding close to the warmth in the riprap....

I think I've read that in a Steve McAdams article before...

You may be right on on this.

[crappiefarmer]

Well, He said that water temp was in the 60's. I wouldn't think crappie would be using the rocks for warmth until a drop to the lower 40s. The turnover is what got me thinking low oxygen. I have seen fish kills after hurricanes in My neck of the woods. All the trees get defoliated and the green leaves end up in the water and begin to decay. This saps all the oxygen out of the water. I have seen fish do the same thing as was described here. You could take a dip net and get all the fish You wanted. They all died anyway. It could be the warming of the rocks though. I am not a biologist. Just a Sod Buster from N.C.. What do I know?:DCF

[chaunc]

Could be that they were feeding on the crawfish that were probably trying to burrow into the rocks. Ever see them in their stomach when you cut them open? I have.

[AtticaFish]

I was leaning towards a quick turn over messing things up, but now that you mention it, I have read about fish using rip rap to warm up. Also talk of decaying plants has me wondering if all the weeds in the lake got shocked by our cold snap. A small 40 acre above-ground res. a few miles away had a bad weed problem two years ago. They treated it with chemicals, all the weeds died at once... right along with the fish! Said it was low oxygen from the plant decay. Hopefully all the fish come out of it on this lake, it's my favorite little hole 3 minutes from home.

[AtticaFish]

Could be that they were feeding on the crawfish that were probably trying to burrow into the rocks. Ever see them in their stomach when you cut them open? I have.

I haven't noticed crawfish in them on this lake... I did try a micro 1" craw in front of one, must have tried 10 different baits in half an hour. :D Majority of time they are full of other panfish, either gills or crappie, gets hard to tell.

[headbanginhillbilly]

There is a guy on the missouri board named Mofishmngr and he's a marine biologist for the mo dept of conservation. You might send him a pm with your question.