any truth to this?

[beenfishin?]

I read an article today about "guides secret to spawning crappie". It said that to determine how deep they are spawning, take a white coffee cup, lower it into the water until you can't see it, pull it up, measure how deep it was when it disapeared and the crappie will be 2 to 4 feet below that. Any body heard this and more important, has anyone done it and know if it works? Also said that the best places for crappie are the outsides of curves in flooded creek channels on the upper end of it. Any one know anything about that?

[slabbandit]

I've also read that years ago. Our visibility here on Lake Nimrod is about 2 feet and I believe that they spawn each year around 5 feet deep. Our lake was built for flood control in 1942 and although we have some shallow buckbrush in 1 to 2 feet of water the lake level can go up or down a few feet rapidly. I think that the crappie know that and avoid spawning in such areas.
We have been catching staging females in shallow 8 to 10 feet brushpiles for the last few weeks but the fishing has really fell off this last week.
We are going to stop jigging brushpiles for a while and start spiderrigging shallow flats this morning. Hope it pays off.

[NIMROD]

When water levels are stable ,I've seen them spawning on Nimrod 18'' of water or less. Sometimes I think they spawn deeper under certain conditions.

[Darryl Morris]

They will spawn where the temperature, clarity, sunlight penetration, cover, etc. suits them. That definitely will be different from year to year and from lake to lake, etc. The crappie are spawning much deeper on Lake Greeson this year. Not only are we catching crappie with bloodied and beaten tails, but also quarter-sized raw spots on their chests. Either they are using their chest to clean a bed or they are holding that close to the bottom because of the super clear water we've got this year.

[skiptomylu]

They will spawn where the temperature, clarity, sunlight penetration, cover, etc. suits them. That definitely will be different from year to year and from lake to lake, etc. The crappie are spawning much deeper on Lake Greeson this year. Not only are we catching crappie with bloodied and beaten tails, but also quarter-sized raw spots on their chests. Either they are using their chest to clean a bed or they are holding that close to the bottom because of the super clear water we've got this year.

The way my luck has been the last week I thing maybe reading some of your articles will help. Heck I would do about anything right now as it's been tough on me lately. I don't know where the heck they are, but I do know they are not where I have been, LOL!

I really enjoy reading you articles as they are well thought out and have a lot of good information and everyone here could benefit from them. Just want to take a minute to thank you for putting your info down in writing like you do and sharing with everyone! I am not a new fisherman by any stretch of the imagination and have probably been at it longer than you unless you are older than I think, LOL. Every new guy and or gal to crappie should read your stuff!

Thanks,
Skip

[sparky]

One lake I fish the crappie spawn around 12+ feet, very clear lake, you can see a jig down a good 7 or 8 feet. Another lake the crappie spawn in less than 5 feet of water, this lake is flood control and usually is very stained.

[fish.on]

I believe there are deep running Crappie that spawn deep and shallow running Crappie that spawn shallow. I've caught Crappie that looked like they were spawning in 15 foot of water close to real deep water and I have caught them spawning in 1 foot of water with no deep water anywhere around in the same lake. And the deep runners are always later spawners. Probobly mother natures way of preserving the species.

[backtocrappie]

I don't know about the validity of the cup but biolgist use a similar tecnique with a black and white plate lowered on a rope to measure clarity, so I'd be inclined to believe theres something to it.

[whackmaster]

I believe there is something to it also...on the other hand I have caught crappie while wading a very clear strip pit off of beds in 18 inches of water....but they were all bedding next to a tree stump, so maybe they were using the shaded side of the tree during the day....??????

[Darryl Morris]

Crappie, as with many other species of fish, are very adaptable. When spawning they will move around - males on or near beds in shallower water and females staging in deeper water. Of course, this is all relative to each other and both will move between the two spots. I've even caught quite a few females with bloodied tails. I guess they didn't like what daddy did and had to do it better to suit her. It is difficult to catch crappie "in" the spawn. Our water this year is clearer than previous years. On more than one occasion this year I have pitched a jig over the bed and watched the male move in and use his nose to push my jig off the bed and would not eat it. When most folks say they love to fish the spawn they actually are talking about catching crappie in a pre- or post-spawn stage. Water temperature and adequate cover are the two most important factors of the many factors that determine where and how deep they spawn. Not all crappie come in out of winter's deep, cold water to spawn at the same time either. The early one's might get that three-foot water that is right, where the later ones might find the three-foot water too warm and then find a stump in nine-foot of water that is right. Bottomline, they're going to do what they have to do to git-r-done. I sympathize because so am I.