Thread: I have a few questions

I will be interested to see the responses because my personal experience is more often than not like the weather forecast the major and minors are wrong. Nothing increases your chances for good catches than time on the water. I by NO means am even close to figuring out specs.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Good questions my friend: Major & minors feeding cycles - I have spoke with couple old times (Florida born & raised)
Majors & minors do not mean all that much to them - they pay more attention to Barometric Pressure & high /low pressure comming in: I have learned since living in Florida (1994) that Crappie will (when their bodies say to ) will
spawn anywhere they can if their regular habitat is gone: Does not have to be pencil reeds- etc have found places in
mud where they spawned- besides, lilly's, downed brush etc. Moving to Florida hardest thing was to learn to fish Fl., due to almost all lakes are "up side down bowls" and being of shallow nature - St Johns river have fished it but am not familiar enough to give any pro's or con's - working the shallows and backwaters eddies would should work.
Crappie if weather is unstable for any length of time - and they feel uncomfortable - they will injest their eggs back into system and move on -
Have you tried calling the local FWC bio person in your district - they maybe able to answer some of your questions

Originally Posted by fishin813

Good questions my friend: Major & minors feeding cycles - I have spoke with couple old times (Florida born & raised)
Majors & minors do not mean all that much to them - they pay more attention to Barometric Pressure & high /low pressure comming in: I have learned since living in Florida (1994) that Crappie will (when their bodies say to ) will
spawn anywhere they can if their regular habitat is gone: Does not have to be pencil reeds- etc have found places in
mud where they spawned- besides, lilly's, downed brush etc. Moving to Florida hardest thing was to learn to fish Fl., due to almost all lakes are "up side down bowls" and being of shallow nature - St Johns river have fished it but am not familiar enough to give any pro's or con's - working the shallows and backwaters eddies would should work.
Crappie if weather is unstable for any length of time - and they feel uncomfortable - they will injest their eggs back into system and move on -
Have you tried calling the local FWC bio person in your district - they maybe able to answer some of your questions

Interesting. I would have never thought that spec would spawn in the mud, but I guess when it's time to go then it's time to go. As far as the minors and majors I try to fish them when they end up being around the morning or afternoon/evening. A lot of times that works out for me, but not all the time. Let's take this week for example. My thoughts were we had three fronts blow in last week, and I'm thinking that after a few days of consistent weather they will hopefully bite. The major is in the early morning around sunrise. We are approaching a full moon. I don't know the exact water temp but I'm willing to bet it's getting about right for the spawn, so they will want to feed up before they bed. Well this being my mindset I decide to go Tuesday and Wednesday since I don't have any work right now thinking they should bite well, so I decide that Tuesday I will troll the lake, and Wednesday I will try the river. That being said the last few times I trolled the lake I only caught a few fish and those were smalls, so I'm wandering if they are done biting in the lake and I should switch to the river. I go and I'm on the water and set up at about 6:30am and troll for about 4 hours. I catch 6 keepers (no smalls). Now that is better than I done the few previous trips, so I'm happy for that but I was hoping for better. The next morning I get up and think that there has been another day of consistent weather and hopefully they will bite better. I head to the river and try some holes that I usually do well in. I catch 2 fish. One keeper and one small. And so I'm left scratching my head once again thinking I would have done better. I've had a rough year. I've had a few good days, but other than that I've done CRAPPIE!!! Thanks for taking the time to respond to my blabbing. I really do appreciate it.

Sent from my Hi9plus using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

First of, you ain’t just blabbing, that’s my job and I do it well. Point; no dumb questions or statements. Most of us have a good idea of trying things that we’ve done in the past, and keep after it until we find something. I call it my bag of tricks. We all have one. There have been times that I carried so many rods I looked like a tackle store, but I was in search mode so I carried casting, jig and cork, dipping and trolling rods. Now I’ve gone to ultralight also, it never ends. Best thing I can tell you is to spend time on the water and talk to everyone you can. Watch what goes on around you. You’re not off the mark, you just haven’t found em yet. Good luck and keep us posted on how you’re doing. Maybe we can help you fine tune when the time comes.

PS, a lot of us leave the minnows in the store. Makes it lots more fun.

But not all us leave the minnows at the store

Sent from my SM-G970U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I'll second what Skeet said, I too go through several techniques to attempt to find them and now I mainly fish single pole jigs and am on the move all the time, most times we (Miss Vickie) and I catch fish. Crappie will do their thing when the temperature is right and the bed in many different , areas sometimes they can be found in a wide open flat other times weeds and tree tops. The best way to fish is the way you enjoy the most, it's not always about the catch and most often when it is "we tend to be disappointed". Best of luck!!!

"Only a Jerk Don't Jerk"

Just about the time you think 'I've got this figured out' the fish will change it up and you'll wonder why can't i figure this out.--shu

Thank you all for the replies. I'll try to do a better job posting. The words of encouragement already make me feel better.

Sent from my Hi9plus using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app