Wappapello report and ?????

[longshot]

We fished Wapp. on Sunday afternoon and yesterday.

We fished the lower lake in three different places on Sunday. We fished from 8'-2' of water. There were fish in all depths, but bigger fish in the 7-8' range. We had 5 keepers. The females were bulging with eggs.

Monday we put in at chiona landing and fished the upper lake. We got on a LOT of fish right off the channel in a creek and the flat right next to it. A buddy and I had 48 keepers. They ranged from 1.25# down to the 9" limit. We had a pretty good ratio of keepers to culls. It was about 1/4 keepers. They were in water from 14'-6'. We fished two jigs suspended under a float. The fish were suspended in the 6' range even in the 14' of water. The bite was hot when the wind was blowing....but when it got still it was HARD to catch them. They wanted ONLY the slight action that the wind provided to the jigs. Most hits were when the jig was only bobbin slightly in the waves....or during the pause when it was calm. Out of all the fish we caught in the upper lake only 5-6 had bulging bellies. It looks like they MAY have spawned already up there.....or the other option is they are not even close?????

I am at a loss for the difference in the females in the lower lake verses the upper lake. What do you think???

later
longshot

[IwishIdid]

Im gonna guess not close. Water was only 58 Saturday at the surface. Lake is still low, hope they start holding a little water back. The tournaments yielded pound average fish. Alot of ours were females with eggs from the upper end. Males didn't have their colors on yet.

[longshot]

I hope you are right....because two weeks ago we caught them on he bank in the lower lake. THe water temp was right at 70 at that time.

There were several of my buddies catchin them on the bank then also.

I hope it was just a "test run" of the spawn.

thanks
longshot

[IwishIdid]

They will spawn at different times and different depths. That warm water was almost a fluke with the weather we were having. Crappie are survivors and they must have the right conditions to produce offspring. They were more likely on the bank "sunning". I haven't seen any busted up tails yet.

[longshot]

sunning........huh.....never heard that one....

THEY WERE BLACK.....VERY DARK SPAWING COLORS i thought ...mostly males and a couple females. It was not just me....it was several fisherman I know(and you know). I am not talking about just a few like the 17-18 keepers we caught....catches of 40-60 keepers per boat. I took it for spawning...but I have been wrong a time or two and will be wrong again!!! I HOPE THEY HAVE NOT SPAWNED.... I am always interested in others thoughts on fish behavior.....that is the way to be a better fisherman.

I guess the crappie we catch in the 18" of water in December, Jan, and Feb are sunning?????? Some of the best catches of fish I ever had from wapp were in 18-24" of water in Jan/Feb. There was ICE in the shallow water. Were casting jigs up on the ice and draggin it off into the water and catching QUALITY fish. It does not matter if it is 30 outside as long as it is sunny.... and steady weatherwise. Sunning sounds reasonable.......... Always wondered what they were doing up there.

That is an I interesting theory.......I learn something every day.

Hey....I just figured out who you were....or narrowed it down to two.....LOL.....

which one of the two....tall one or short one????? Look at my profile and you will see who I am....just think ate up with duck hunting and "pureduck calls" or Sundowner Marina in the summer.......LOL


thanks
longshot

[IwishIdid]

Yeah right after ice out they will move up on the shallow flats to feed on shad that are up there "sunning" for lack of a better term. That shallow water will warm up with the sun being so strong at times in the winter. We won the usa tournament fishing the creek channels 4-5'. Most were females that were not close to moving up. It will start moving pretty quick now that we are past this cold snap, HOPEFULLY! Man we've caught fish all over that place at some of the craziest times. Deer season we went up in 2 foot of water in Milan and catch the crap out of them. I'm the shorter one!

[Pirogue]

longshot,
My opinion,for what it's worth,is that the majority of the fish have spawned....especially in the upper end.
I'm only going by past experience,but in years past,even the lower lake spawn was all but over(ie..only small males left on beds banks)by the 2nd week of turkey season.It's usually about that time before we get the 65= degree water temps.
The 70+ water temps week before last,coupled with a FULL moon phase and STABLE water....I'd say it happened.
If you were catching fish right against gravel banks...IMHO they were spawning or at least attempting.
Skinny water on flats=feeding
Skinny water AGAINST gravel=spawning
Again....just MY opinion.
I've cleaned three messes of fish since this cold snap hit(3 different lakes..none Wapp).In each mess,the majority of the females were obviously absorbing thier eggs.That does not bode well for these three fisheries.Hopefully we don't lose this whole year class of fish !!

P

[longshot]

Iwishidid...

.....guess you have figured out who I am???? We fished from 8-2' on Sun. and found fish everywhere in lower lake,,,just larger fish in 7-8'. I just fear the spawn is over in the upper lake and the sudden cold front MIGHT have ruined the eggs/fry up there!!!!!

P,
I was afraid that we might not have a very strong class of crappie this year.....that was my main concern!!!! I think that it is DONE in the upper lake.....and still more to go in the lower. The eggs in the lower fish were BULGING...and out of 300ish fish in the upper lake it was only 5 or 6 fish swelled up. We caught those in the lower lake two weeks ago ON the bank.....and they were moving up HEAVY right at dark and shortly after.....that is a classic spawn pattern. Also the fish suddenly deserted the flats....which is also an indication to me of the spawn. What a LOT of people do not understand is that the females have ALL their eggs all year around.....they are only born with X amount of eggs.....they just change in form (swell up and seperate) during the spawn.

I just hope we have not lost a whole year class.....like you stated. If we did it will take about one year longer to realize the FULL benifits of the length limit!!!!!

later
longshot

[Pirogue]

What a LOT of people do not understand is that the females have ALL their eggs all year around.....they are only born with X amount of eggs.....they just change in form (swell up and seperate) during the spawn.

Longshot,
Not sure I understand what you're sayin' here.I may be one of THOSE people!!:D
I'm sure Mark Boone from the MDC could explain it to us.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

P

[longshot]

I dont figure you or most serious crappie fisherman think that the eggs just appear during the spawn in the fish...LOL:D :D

I just love it when guys tell me that the "the crappie are full of eggs and about to spawn"....it cracks me up!!!!!!:D

Just saying that the fish have eggs in em all year round....just in a shrunken TIGHT lump instead of a swelled up/ loose bloody mass like just before spawn.

Heck neither you or I know anything about crappie or ducks for that matter.....just a bunch of topwater wanna be outdoorsmen

later
longshot