Crappie spawn questions!!!

[YaBoyMaxWeezy]

I went fishing at Shoal Creek and Town Creek (G'ville State Park area) this past weekend. I caught a lot of crappie for my standards (30+), but almost all were VERY small. The only good sized fish I caught were in deeper water. The areas that had some structure and were in shallower water 3-7 feet were covered up in small crappie, so I had a few questions.

1.) Do the smaller fish move into spawn first?

2.) Will the same areas that are holding smaller fish attract larger ones?

3.) When will the fish actually start making beds and lay eggs?

Any other help and info would be appreciated!

[Bob D]

Look for the article "Crappie by Degrees" on the site and it will explain a lot about the spawn. Water is still a little cold on that portion of the lake. My experience tells me the bigger fish hand in the deeper water until the temps get right and then they come in and spawn quickly and move back out. The males stick around then and protect the nest for a few days.

[YaBoyMaxWeezy]

Yeah I have read that article and it's a great read. Apparently most the fish are in pre-spawn mode and judging from a lot of the successful reports this appears to be true.

The water temp has been pretty consistent the last few weeks. Mostly around 62 with few days under 60 early last week.

[Hitek]

We had just the opposite results Friday and Saturday fishing close to the same area of the lake. Caught about 50 Saturday and all of those were over 1.25 lbs with 30 or so being over 1.5 lbs. Could not find a small fish. Weird how things work. The water temp is prime in my opinion for the black crappie to be doing their thing...

[YaBoyMaxWeezy]

Scott,
How are you fishing right now?

[Hitek]

Longline trolling.