Crappie.com - To spawn or not to spawn by Brad Wiegmann

To spawn or not to spawn: that is the question asked by anglers every spring as they venture forth in search of the mighty crappie. To spawn means the migration towards shallower banks to propagate producing future generations of crappie. Or to resist the urge to spawn and wait for ideal conditions staging in deeper prespawn areas.

Shakespeare aside, springtime crappie fishing means anglers are keying on prespawn, spawning or post spawn areas depending on where you live at in the United States. Bobby Garland Crappie Baits pro staffer and Beaver Lake crappie fishing guide, Greg Robinson, knows it’s all about staying in the zone and fishing brush in 8- to 12-feet of water. His approach is to target the crappie before they migrate to shallow areas to spawn and fish the postspawn crappie as they migrate back to deeper water habitat.

“We got the spawn going on with the full moon the third week of April, I believe with the water temperature just warming up that there will be another spawn during the full moon in May. Right now, I’m just not catching a lot of male crappie with bloody tails from fanning the nest. Crappie like to spawn on the full moon and the next full moon you can expect there will be some up shallow spawning,” said Greg Robinson, Bobby Garland Crappie Baits pro staffer and Beaver Lake crappie fishing guide.

Productive areas during this time of year are the mouth of coves, inside the coves and in feeder creeks. The key isthe area that have brush piles where crappie can stage before migrating to the spawning areas. Robinson prefers brush piles in the 8- to 12-feet deep. In fact, most of the crappie bites he gets in the6- to 7-feet depth zone just above the sunken brush piles. To incite a bite, Robinson likes ticking the jig head across the branches where the majority of strikes happen.

Robinson Trolls around graphing the bottom contour looking for structure and cover using his Lowrance HDS GEN3 Touch for productive areas with brush piles. Once, Robinson fines them he will drop his Motorguide Xi5 trolling motor connected to the Lowrance HDS GEN3 Touch to keep the boat locked-on to his way point.Some of the brush piles, Robinson has put in himself while others he finds by trolling around.

His favorite lure is the Bobby Garland Crappie Bait (www.bobbygarlandcrappie.com)Baby Shad Swim’R because of its compact design and lifelike swimming action. Robinson uses a 16-ounce jig head and like the Bobby Garland Crappie Baits Mo’Glo jig heads to add more color to his presentation. “I like to use 4- or 6-pound test Mr. Crappie Hi-Vis (www.mrcrappie.com) monofilament line because it’s easier to see when a crappie bites along with always tying a loop knot,” said Robinson.

When water clarity is clear in the spring,Robinson uses more shad color patterns like Monkey Mike or Blue Ice,but changes to more chartreuse color patterns in stained water.

Is it nobler to fish with little success or change the depths you are fishing focusing on 8- to 12-feet of water.Don’t let the prespawn, spawn or post spawn fool you. To be successful like Robinson, an angler just needs to move away from the bank and fish in deeper water around brush piles.