Crappie depth in Winter?

[Cincinnati]

Hi everybody.

Simple question, do the fish really move to the 20 ft depths or more
when the water is super cold?

The small lake I fish has the deeper water, but here in SW-Ohio I'm not
really aware of anybody motoring out to the deep stuff to look for'em in
the dead of winter.

As soon as the ice melts, is that where I should start ... etc...?

Thanks

[Darryl Morris]

Of course, every lake is different. The crappie are going to go to what I call the comfort zone to survive. If the water temp, oxygen level, cover and food source is deep that is where they will be. On a warm winter day when the sun heats the surface water, they might move up or they might just lay out there in the deep water napping so to speak waiting for a better day. Yesterday, my most productive depth were 18'-24' deep. The bite was very slow and lite, so we had to fish very slow and pay close attention to catch any. On the other hand, there were one or two rebels in the livewell that raced after the bait on the way down and made you think you had a monster slab. Water temp in the morning was 45 and by 3 in the afternoon it was 50. We are getting a rain right now and I hope it's a relatively warm one. Sorry to ramble. Yes, they will seek deeper haunts but don't just rely solely on that. Look for the comfort zone for that day.

[brushman]

You know how they are. But heres mine I think its food source they are usually where the foods at. So look for bait fish. I have actually caught fish in 5 foot of water thru 8 inches of ice. Not one fish but limits and the next day find them back out in 12-14ft in river channel. they are gonna eat.

[buzzmanmo]

Look for shad. Crappie will be near. Here on stockton lake we get crappie from 12 to 60 ft.

[Darryl Morris]

Yesterday, as I mentioned, the deeper depths were fished that morning and early afternoon and the bite was lite. By that afternoon, fish were being caught 8' deep and feeding aggressively. The food source was there and it was there because the surface water had warmed up over 5 degrees. I definitely agree food source is a big factor that is driven by water temp. And, water temp also drives the food in the summer not because it is warmer but because they are looking for cooler water that has more oxygen. Plus, this time of year food is not the only thing that drives them shallow. Warmer water in the shallower depths is triggering their instinct to spawn.

[Cincinnati]

thanks guys!

[Blue Duck]

The ones I caught this winter through the ice were all on the bottom with the perch. I expected to suspend but they were hanging on the bottom...

[fished-out]

They'll be on the bottom until the oxygen runs low, then suspend. They do it because the warmest water in the lake is on the bottom, i.e., 32 degree water (next to the ice) is lighter than water up to 39 degrees (39 degree water is heavier than 32 degree water and will sink to the bottom). Once the oxygen runs low, they have no choice but to move up in the water column.

[TN Hillbilly]

Actually the colder liquid water gets the denser it is. So 32 degree water is denser than 39 degree water. I agree that water at the surface is colder in winter because it's exposed to cold air, but this creates a circulation with warm water rising then being cooled at the surface, then drifting back down deeper. Only when water freezes and undergoes a state change from liquid to solid does it become less dense and starts to float. It's one of the extremely few compounds that expands when it goes from liquid to solid. Lucky for us it does, otherwise our lakes would freeze completely solid.

[gatoloco]

I was fishing at Lake Fork in Texas and the water temp was 42 on surface and at 40' it was 47 and fish all over the bottom. We caught several nice fish and some full of eggs.

At the slip on Hubbard we were fishing 25 ft of water and the fish were suspended 16 to 24 feet and were thick in the brush. I think it is all about location and cover in area. I also noticed that we are having a shad kill and they are feeding heavily on all of the dead shad.