High Water Crappie

[Nightprowler]

Where do the crappies go when the level is rising? falling? How long does it take for them to get used to rising water? falling?

[NIMROD]

Here on Nimrod Lake they move into the backwater. Most are caught on YoYos if it gets extremely high. That is because when it's at full pool our lake swells to about 5 times normal pool surface . There is also 31 ' of water above the normal 8 ' average depth. The Crappie like to suspend in the brush here . The YoYo fishers mostly set less than 1 ' deep even if the depth is 20 '.
Times when we only get a few feet of extra water ( 10' or less) the brushlines can be loaded with Crappie. They like the shallow coves that warm fastest on the northwest banks which recieve more sunlight.
Ever lake is different but here the water is seldom clear, mostly stained to down right muddy. They tend to go shallower in off color water here.
The fish tend to pull out to the normal edge or brushline when the lake starts to fall very fast . If it falls fast we work the buckbrush and willows here on the normal lake bank. The fish pull out quickly when the level starts to fall. They may not always bite good when it starts to fall . But as we fish a flood control lake it may take weeks to dump all the extra water. The fish will get adjusted and pick up biting after a few days.
When it is almost down to normal we pull out to the creek channel brushpiles as they tend to stage on the first drop.