Thread: Spring training

This post is for those of you out there that are learning this sport . The spring fling on crappie is often hit and miss . Legendary ketches are not uncommon but often end abruptly .
The tiniest things on water conditions and weather changes can send the fish back to deeper haunts at the drop of the hat . Cold weather for a few days is often the culprit . Rising water and turbidity come into play as well .
Wind seems to play a much less important role in moving the fish though . Next up is the moon and or lack of and I have yet to understand exactly how that comes into play as sometimes on the full moon in the spring it is beyond good right at dark and on thru the night and yet other times it seems to have very little or no play .
Make no mistake though if the weather is somewhat stable and the moon is big or near full dark thirty is often a really good choice to visit spawn areas .
one other thing worthy of mention is spawning areas and how determined crappie are to use the same general areas each year for that purpose . unless something in the lay of the water changes drastically they will return each year to the same spots . studies suggest up to 85% of the fish are returning to where they originated .
yet another thing to keep in mind is cloud cover and or lack of , many a time they stay shallow better when there isn't much sunshine on them .
there are many things to consider when chasing the spring run fish and to be sure if the stars line up just right ,it will be a visit that is what memories are made of .
in closing I would suggest not to be discouraged by a dry run or a less than stellar ketch rate , stay after them and keep visiting spots that are known shallow water spring areas .
somewhat predictable in a crazy sense of the word is where this post is going and yet not predictable at all is the other end of this spectrum .
dont let them get you down if you dont find them on a particular trip .
because if you stay busy this time of year looking shallow ,you will eventually stumble on the herd . and ...
KABOOM is the word

try shallow of course when conditions right but then if nothing turn and throw roadrunner or beetle spin out to deeper water at different depths probing for where they are. could be staged up right off shore waiting for things to be right again. Main thing is? keep wetting a line and trying different spots as the reward can be best fishing you ever had.