school me please

[arca54]

Hi folks need some help(info)
I fish a lake in Ky(Taylorsville) that gets fished alot and does not produce alot of large fish
my question is do crappie tend to school together by size or do they mix together? I seem to catch alot of fish the same size(small)
thanks for any info or thoughts

[Crappisaurusrex]

I think they school by size most of the time.

[Mo'nBack]

Usually when I start catching smaller fish at one place, I move to another spot. The fish SEEM to go in size groups around here. I will fish the smaller ones for a little while and might catch 1 or 2 worth keeping; but after releasing several of the smaller ones, the bite just about stops completely at that spot anyway. When I get into bigger fish, there's usually several good fish there. After a while they either quit or I catch most of them out of that spot and I move on. I always come back to places I've caught fish earlier, big or small, and try them again. Sometimes the big fish move into the places where the smaller ones were and sometimes the big spots are re-filled with nice ones. Hope this isn't too confusing and helps out some!

[CrappiePappy]

Hi folks need some help(info)
I fish a lake in Ky(Taylorsville) that gets fished alot and does not produce alot of large fish
my question is do crappie tend to school together by size or do they mix together? I seem to catch alot of fish the same size(small)
thanks for any info or thoughts

It's the lake, itself, that's at fault. Crappie just do not grow very big at Taylorsville. The majority of the spawns of the last 5 years, have been interrupted at some point by flooding. The "normal" size range of my catches from there, is 8-10" fish, on most occasions. Black & White Crappie both are in the lake ... and seem to hang together quite often. Even an 11 or 12in Taylorsville fish isn't that much of a "slab" (by size/weight), as compared to one of the same size from some other Ky waters.
They are, however, much better (in numbers & size) than they were, many years ago. They used to not get much bigger than your hand, and thin enough to almost see thru.
Best advice I can give you, on Taylorsville, is to find as many blowdowns as you can ... determine when and for how long they will have shaded water over them ... and do a "milk run" of them, from first light until all of them are out of the shade. Taylorsville Crappie like to suspend over the top of downed trees, that stick out into deep water (> 15ft), in the early hours of the day. They readily take a 1/16oz tube jig in most colors w/char tails, and the bite is usually a noticable "thump". And it's probably a better bet, during the week, than on weekends ... since the "players" haven't tore the lake up, so much.
Also, the Settlers Trace end of the lake is better than the "river" end, during the Summer ... and main lake bank blowdowns, and large creek arm blowdowns are usually better than the smaller creek arms. .... luck2ya ... cp

[Waylonh]

Hi folks need some help(info)
I fish a lake in Ky(Taylorsville) that gets fished alot and does not produce alot of large fish
my question is do crappie tend to school together by size or do they mix together? I seem to catch alot of fish the same size(small)
thanks for any info or thoughts

Trust me....you are wasting your time at Taylorsville. Fished it many times before the "Lake Lice" came out. I never caught anything that was close to a slab, and nobody else was either. Do a search, and you will pull up alot of my frustration. Its a Great recreational lake, terrible for fishing. I live in Shepherdsville, only 30 min for this lake. I would rather drive to Tennessee and spend the night; than go back to Taylorsville in the summer. Fish are too small, and TO MANY LAKE LICE!