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in your opinion, how do falling lake levels during a drawdown affect a crappie's behavior. will it hold tighter to cover, feed more or less aggresively, retreat to deeper water. i have a few ideas myself, but i'm always open to a few more. thanks in advance to anyone who responds.
You better believe they effect the crappie and all the other fish. There is much less water and area for the fish to live. Secondary breaks or drops become the place to search as the primary breaks are sometimes out of the water and we know the fish can't be there. The fish will be concentrated in less water so they should be easier to locate if you know where to look. A good ( I mean real good detailed) topo map should help find the fish. Long points that extend all the way from the shallow water cover to the very deep water are places to start searching. Secondary drop offs with brush hold the fish when the water levels drop. But the falling water levels means that that water has to go somewhere and unless it's evaporated it means that the COE has opened the flood gates and has let the water out of the dam. That means current. Current also effects the fish by effecting the water quality. Time of the year also comes into play. Fall Drawdowns are performed to get the lake ready for the next springs rains and to prevent flooding. Fall is also the time when things start slowing down. Water temps are falling and the life cycle of summer has ended. Summer was the time of plenty but it's over and fish are starting to go into shallower cooler water. Fall nights with air temps dropping down into the upper 40's helps cool the suface waters. As the surface waters get cold they start to sink and that breaks up the summer thermoclines and that also effects the fish. Cold deoxygenated water is allowed to once again mix with cold surface waters. This time of the year can really effect the fish and they will move to areas that have what they need to survive. They still have to feed and they need to feed a lot to prepare for the lean times of winter.
Crappie are going to head back into the bays for a few weeks and then after the water gets cold they will head back out to the main lake drops and old river channels.
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Originally Posted by abarkley