Spring Crappie at KY Lake vs Polar Vortex???

[cford]

What does everyone think this colder than usual winter will do to the Spring Crappie fishing at KY Lake? Chime in

[Bronson]

Depends on what the weather does in the next couple of weeks. I've seen it be real cold the last week of March and weather turn unusually hot for that time of the year and the crappie swarm in. Wasn't as many fishermen out then either because they were waiting for weather to warm up.
The water temp had been 55 degrees the week before and was 67 degrees the weekend I got on them. Whacked them good for a couple of days, another cold front came in and the water temp dropped to 57 and fish got lockjaw. That's why it must be nice to live close to the lake to take advantage of the weather.
This year may be like the one we had 4-5 years ago when most fish were spawning the 3rd week of April and later. I heard everyone was catching them, I was working. Water temp of 62 or more usually gets them moving up pretty quick.

[M R Dux]

Less fishing pressure since fall and a couple of big shad kills should make it a good spring.

[bandchaser]

I agree with mrdux! Bring it on!

[pab1981]

If I was from out of town and thinking about fishing Kentucky, this would be the year to do it. There are good numbers of good size fish, the weather for the spring blitz will always be a crap shoot. The forecast for the next couple years after this one isn't as bright.

[danwalleye]

I am hopeful it starts early

[cajun fryer]

They won't be bittin untill it gets real warm out. I would stay off the lake LOL

[Wiskers]

Here we are well into the first week of March. This last little blast from Mother Nature has or more than likely will bring the water temps in the bays, back down into the high 30's.

Basically you're looking at a 20 to 25 degree deferential, to get to spawning temps. Look'n at the extended forecast, it's gonna be HARD for the lakes to move that much in the next 3 weeks. There are a few other factors that play into the spawn, like daylight hours, but water temp is the determining factor. We are probably looking at a LATE spawn this year.

I can remember back in 1978 my Granddad and I were catching crappie full of eggs on up into May. He commented more than once, that he had only seen that 1 other time in his life.

I think it is gonna help the spawn because by then the lake will be well on the way up to summer pool and maybe more stable water levels too. Again... This is assuming we have normal precipitation and temps this spring.

The down side will be crowds! By then the lake lice will be out big time!

[crappiemax]

They won't be bittin untill it gets real warm out. I would stay off the lake LOL

I agree. I'll be down from April 7-13. This weird winter is going to cause some of the crappie to not spawn this year. Everyone who is fishing the northern end of Ky Lake should stay home. The fishing will be great south of the 68 bridge during that week...go there.

[DaveBuckeye01]

Starting Friday it looks like the extended forecast is pretty good (I am looking at Benton). Some highs are getting in the mid 60s with lots of sun. How long does there need to be consistent sun and warm weather to get things heading in the right direction?