Do the big ones hang with the little guys?

[Slab Apprentice]

Friends, today I found my first crappie school on livescope. Water temp in 40s and caught 4. Unfortunately, all 9” so back to the green abyss they went. I know it could just be luck of the draw, but do the keepers hang with the dinks? All looked about the same in size on my finder.


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[Fridays86]

Sure there are keepers mixed in the school. I find that sometimes the larger fish may be above or below the school. If the keepers won't bite just move on to the next one.

[Redge]

Different times of the year they school by size.
Other times, fall especially they are all mixed up.
After you look at SI long enough, you won’t even stop if you see they are small fish.


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[Atimm693]

Sometimes, but not always.

If they are, I've noticed that a lot of times the bigger fish are not in the same area. Might be just off the bottom on one side of the pile, deep in the brush, suspended over it, etc.

[skeetbum]

When I first started, someone told me to think of a swing set and playground. The older folks are off to the side while the kids are all together and busy as can be. I always look around the edges before I move on.

[Slab Apprentice]

Thanks everyone! Appreciate your inputs


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[Ketchn]

the one thing about livescope i learned to appreciate quickly is the size of the marks .
small marks are small fish , there might have been larger fish near those you found .
we are seeing the larger fish with the larger fish right now in a lake just north of you .
when we find small fish there are not many larger fish with them .

[NIMROD]

Here I always said most the times the big ones are segregated around wood or open water . Where we see large schools of Crappie most are same size . Many times big ones are loners setting out in the open . Livescope best way to hunt them down one at a time .