March to July seems more like 3 1/2 months of tracking data than 2 years worth of year 'round tracking data to me. They didn't even net those fish until mid March and the transmitters died in July. Unless they have conducted more studies over much longer periods of time, you can not make the statement that crappie "stay in the bays and rarely leave".

By year 'round fishermen, I'm talking about guys that find the fish on the main lake during the winter and mid summer and follow them into the bays during the spring. Not the people that only hit them for two months during the spawn.

It is pretty hard to deny the patterns that serve to catch crappie throughout the seasons year after year. Common sense tells you that the brunt of the fish are not staying in one place or bay simply by following the fishing activity.

What about all of the crappiethon tagging that went on over the years? To the best of my recollection, many of those fish didn't simply hang out at the release point to be caught and claimed.