Any idea how far crappie will travel to the shallows from deep water?

[TapOut64]

I'm trying to better understand crappie and their travel patterns in the spring. I fish a lake that has a long winding leg that gets shallower the further you go, probably 4 miles from the main lake. There are numerous choices of shallow water for the crappie much closer to the main lake, what would make the crappie choose to travel 4 miles instead? (water warming up quicker?) Would they travel the 4 miles? The main lake is 30'-35' in the channel. Here's a pic.



The main lake is east of 604, the leg I'm talking about is the middle large one that crosses 611. I guess a second question would be "what is the shallowest deep water the crappie would hold in during the winter on a lake that has 30'-35' deep water"? 15' of water can be found around half way down this leg. As always, thanks for any input.

[beenfishin?]

Although I am sorta new at this, I think I can help. I fish a waterway that ranges from15 to 30 feet deep. There are oxbows along it that I fish. My favorite one is about 3 feet deep from the mouth to about 300 yards where it gets back down to about 9 feet. Then there is another stretch of 3 foot water about 600 yards long where it then gets back to about 10 feet deep. I catch fish in both deeper areas and during the spawn I can catch them pretty much anywhere. I have caught some that were as much as 300 yards from anything deeper than 5 feet. Hope this helps.

[FishnLine]

That's a good question. I've also wondered just how far a crappie will travel between seasons.

[Rowdy]

There is a site by Ky wildlife officers With tagged fish, I try to find it , the study was several months with tagged raido transmitors.Some white some Black crappies
Rowdy

[beenfishin?]

Hi again. Just wanted to add to what I said. There are several other oxbows or old river runs. A few of them are only 4 or 5 feet deep the whole length of them. I catch fish around the mouth of them but not up in them very far. Therefore, I would think that once you reach an area where there is no longer more than 5 feet of water, you probably won't find any crappie.

[beenfishin?]

Hi again. Just wanted to add to what I said. There are several other oxbows or old river runs. A few of them are only 4 or 5 feet deep the whole length of them. I catch fish around the mouth of them but not up in them very far. Therefore, I would think that once you reach an area where there is no longer more than 5 feet of water, you probably won't find any crappie. As for the one that I was talking about in the other message, there are some crappie in it year round, but seems to be more in the spring and fall. Now, it is about a mile long so I would asume that they will "migrate" that far any way. I also read an article that said they will travel several miles to their prefered spawning area.

[Boscoe]

First place they are shallow is that arm by the launch it will be warmer than the main lake, and the pond behind the dam at the back of the arm with the long island, don't know if you can still get in there, the people who live back therr have cut trees to block acess before. Look for shallow coves with black bottoms on the upper part of the lake, also coves on the north side if a warm south wind has been blowing for a couple of days. If the main lake is say 50 those coves can be 5 or 6 degrees warmer. I have seen them laying in 12" of water early in the spring soaking up the sun.

[TapOut64]

First place they are shallow is that arm by the launch it will be warmer than the main lake, and the pond behind the dam at the back of the arm with the long island, don't know if you can still get in there, the people who live back there have cut trees to block acess before. Look for shallow coves with black bottoms on the upper part of the lake, also coves on the north side if a warm south wind has been blowing for a couple of days. If the main lake is say 50 those coves can be 5 or 6 degrees warmer. I have seen them laying in 12" of water early in the spring soaking up the sun.

Funny you should mention this, I saw it on the map and checked it out this past Saturday. I was able to get through to the pond but didn't do much more than take a quick peek.

[SpeckWick]

There was an article in a North American Fishing Club magazine a while back about that tagging study with white and black crappie. I don't get the magazine anymore for reasons some of you may understand, but I think I may have that issue here somewhere. If I find it, I'll post the info. I personally think the distance they travel depends on a lot of factors. If the lake has a good forage base, with a lot of deep water and shallow water close to one another like the lake I fish alot here in SW Ohio, I don't think they travel all that far. Just from the main channel, to secondary channels and into the shallow coves and creeks. My only proof for this is where the fish are in different parts of the lake at different times of the year. For example, in early spring, I may find the fish on the north end of the lake moving into the shallows in south facing coves, but move to the southern end of the lake and the fish are still catchable, but still out off the first drop or channel edge. Fish are present at both ends, just at different depths, so at least they all don't migrate to follow water temps from end to end. Obviously some lakes may not have an abundence of all these things and they migrate more according to baitfish movement and water temps.

[fish.on]

Just from years of fishing and observation I believe you have Crappie that run deep and Crappie that hang in the shallower water. I believe they spawn at different times. The deeper runners are late spawners and the shallower Crappie are early spawners. One spawns in about 15-18 foot of water and the others spawn closer to the bank. Your deeper running Crappie might spawn in an area close to the main river channel where it gets 12-18 foot deep right in the middle of the lake. JMOHO