Crappie fishing in the Central Valley
I live in the Central Valley which is up north of you SoCal guys. Up here, most of the lakes have trout. There are a few lakes that have crappie,but they are near the Bakersfield area which is abot a three to four hour drive, way too south for me. So i just fish in the San Joaquin River near the wetlands.The water is muddy but there are plenty of catfish,carp,bass,and bluegills. I expect the river has white crappie since it's muddy.Recently,the water level has gone up since they are letting more water out of Friant Dam to restore the areas of the river which run dry in order to bring back salmon to the river. All this water has made plenty of reeds grow along the shore which provide cover for fish.One time my dad caught a black crappie in the river while fishing at night.There aren't that many places to fish at in the town where I live since the area's mainly agricultural. there's only one lake and there are plenty of jet skiers and power boaters which churn up the lake and make fishing difficult. The river is a thirty minute drive from my house.I will fish the San Joaquin and search for crappie. When i find them, I will catch enough so each person in my family gets to eat one or two crappie and let the rest go so they'll be there next time.