CP and other Experts needed

[Sam W.]

I need some expert advice here, on crappie. I made a long drive yesterday to fish a major river arm of Tablerock Lake that I've never fished before. I did that because a game warden told me that a December electrofishing survey showed the crappie population there up 400% from three years ago, with many big ones found.

So I went, and was disappointed in the size of the crappie we caught. We caught about 30, of which only 10 were 10" keepers. Our biggest fish was under 11", and I caught one that was only 6 1/4"!

I guess they're in a pre pre-spawn pattern there. Surface water temp was 50, and no fish were found near the banks, coves, cove points, or in brush or flooded timber. They're all suspended on the drop offs at the edge of the main channel, in 23 to 28 feet of water, about half way down.

According to the scope, there are millions of them! Go along that drop off, for hundred of yards, and there are 10 to 20 fish on the scope at all times. They weren't biting very well, though. We slow trolled and jigged through all those fish, and would only get a bite about once every 15 minutes.

They were all white crappie, and when I cleaned them I found that half were males and half were females with fairly immature eggs. So - the males and females are still hanging around together, suspended in deep water.

Questions: Where are the larger crappie? Are they going to be findable when the pre-spawn and spawn actually start, or is it going to be all these dinks? And - if the surface water temp is 50 now with the present pattern on the channel drop offs, at what temp are they going to start moving to the banks and coves?

Thanks. - Sam

[Larry-Southern Indiana]

How far did you go back in that creek arm? I would have went way back in myself to start. If you were catching them out over deep water I would have tried those depths and shallower near the end of the creek arm. Ledges or quick drops with some kind of cover would be a good place to start. Water might have been a tad warmer also. If you don't know the area very well you fished it's that much harder to figure them out. Sometimes they are where you least expect them to be. Guess that's why it's called fishing instead of catching. I'll be fishing the end of creeks before long here. It needs to warm up some and with some warm rain added in. I ain't no expert but that's what I would have tried.


Larry

[Jason Piper]

Sam, I have found that the bigger crappie have been moving up to the bank under laydowns on the banks that have recieved the most sunlight. This method is excelerated if you start on a sunny day that ends up with an overcast! The fish have been deep in the morning and move shallow late in the morning. Our water temp starts out at 47 and by mid day it warms to 50 on Beaver. The past week I have caught numerous crappie in less than 2' of water, most of wich have been longer than 11" with some near 13". Stay in bed late and hit the lake at about 10 on a warmer day and I bet your luck is much better! The crappie here are near spawn. The Males have their spawning colors and the females are plum full of eggs!
Good luck! Jason