Ice out Crappies?

[eriksat1]

This may be more for northern states. I was catching crappie through the ice in about 10 fow at the mouth of a bay with some weeds, now that the ice is finally off I can't find them anymore, even been looking with a aqua-vu camera. Do you think when the ice goes out it spooks them back out to deeper water? We are still at least a month away from the spawn. Or could they have moved in shallower than 10 ft and scattered? The weeds in shallow are not green yet and still look dead.

[Granite]

I,am originally from northern Wisconsin. Moved to Toledo Bend 3 yrs ago. The crappies didn,t move to deep water. They will look for warm water. Look for the north or northeast bays or pockets, or any protected pockets of warm water with cover. My go to rig in cold water or clear water was a small float,4# clear line and a chartruce 1/64 or 1/80 flu-flu jig with a waxie. Fish it very slow almost dead sticking it. I,ve had it sitting still for almost a minute before they take it. Try and find the Bluegills, they will move shallow 3 or 4 days before the crappie. Good luck, Granite

[Crestliner08]

This is tough this time of the year. But I agree with them being shallow and soaking up the rays on the North or Northwest shorelines. Find some rocks if possible. They seem to warm the water the fastest.

I like using a 1/32 oz. marabou jig suspended under a slip bobber. With a little chop on the water and fishing in the noted locations, you should find some. When it's calm, you can visually look for them. You'll see a school of fins! Use your polaroid glasses too.

[CTom]

What I see here in SE Minnesota is a bit different. As soon as the ice is out, I'll find crappies along rocky shorelines where the sun can warm things up, but you'd better have some deeper water nearby for them to sulk in if the weather or barometer changes much.

Daytime sun can really warm up water in the shallows, any green weeds will help too. When the sun sets, that heat will slip out of this water and the crappies will retreat somewhat to the deeper edge of the shallows.....as long as the weather stays consistent. Toss in a cold front and you'll have to look at even deeper local water if it is much deeper than the outside edge of the water you've been fishing.

I think I'd look for some structured water that is shallower and can warm with daily sun exposure, but still has a deeper pocket of water nearby for when they want to pout. North shorelines tend to be the usual, but myself I favor east shorelines that get fired up by afternoon sun. On some really warm days of late, these east shores are still good the following morning, I just have to look a bit deeper to find the crappies. At times as laittle as a couple degrees of water temp can make a huge difference and the deeper water cools slower than shallow.