Sardis Trolling

[Pops]

Pulled Bandits about 2 hours Thursday afternoon and had 13 nice fish, 11"-13", very few throwbacks.

I never see any trolling reports on this page, but I know folks are out there because I always see several boats when I'm there.

I think the crappie are basically "skinny" right now, does anyone have an opinion as to why? I do most of my fishing jigging in the spring and fall, and the fish are much fatter. It's hard to understand why they would drop so much body weight in mid-summer.

[JigMaster]

My understanding is the females are full of eggs during the spring (pre-spawn) and also leading up to the Spawn both males and females gorge themselves to get what they need during the spawn. I am sure other will be able to add to this in more detail.

[crappieken]

I agree with jigmaster in regard to feeding heavily in anticipation of the spawn. Then in the fall I think they feed heavily again in anticipation of winter coming on. Since they are cold blooded, their metabolism speeds up in the summer months which accounts for the fish being thinner in the summer. I am not a fishery biologist, but this is my best guess.