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Crappie Wall Hanger II
If you are asking why you found the beds but there were no bedding fish on them although they look brand new ,its one or 2 things.One you found them too late and they have come off already or secondly and most likely you werent the first one to find the bed and they were cleaned out by one of those"I caught 50 gills and Shell Crackers guys already..........sort of like the you should have been here last week stories! No new fish take over a bed ,once the guard male is caught its over for that bed.Smaller fish will come in and eat the eggs and fry with no resistance. Remember where you found the bed and start looking in that area again next year earlier as they tend to bed close to or on top of where they did the year before. They need the sandy small gravelly bottom.Unfortunately On Gville a lot of the old bedding areas have silted in from all the grass die offs over the years and its left a lot of the old bedding areas with about 2 ft of muck and no sand..Crackers will use the hole in weeds to nest easier than a gill will and it might not be as sandy.
Slabprowler LIKED above post
Crappie.com Legend
I killed the shellcracker on beds the last two days. I am not so sure a bed is only used by one male one time. I have no idea but it seems strange I can catch so many in such a small circle. Sometimes I can catch them for several days consistently over just a very small bedding area.
Crappie.com Legend
Seems they get turned on by the activity. Even fish that have already spawned and move off their bed will still be in the area for several days. Today there were a few males still guarding beds, but gangs of other gills were swimming around just outside the area with the beds. There were also several large bass on the edge waiting. At least one gill fell prey to one of those bass.
Crappie.com Legend
Ditch those bass love to ambush those gills. I have seen several 8 to 10 pound range bass trying to ambush them. I have even had them try to take ones I have caught, they will try and grab it as I am reeling one in.
Crappie.com Legend
crappieseeker,
Yep. that used to be one of my favorite patterns when I chased bass. There were always a few just out of sight towards the deep water off gills beds. A plastic worm or a jig and pig would always get a nice one or two. I didn't see any truly huge bass, but there was a convention of 4 and 5 pounders.
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