Thread: Identifying a Potential Spawning Bank

Only Mrs Crappie knows for sure and she aint tellin

That's to make the back bigger for when drilling well they have room for barges etc in back and for when they have to go back in the canal for wrk overs etc

CoonPopper you ask a very good question and Southerslabs you gave some very good info and I say, right on. It's info like this that makes this site the best. I've observed the same over the years. There are a few places I return to every year and the fish are always there and it can be a very small area. I have one spot which has a hard bank with hardly and vegetation which slowly drops from about a foot deep to 4 foot at 10 foot from the bank. It is only about 25 feet long on the bank. It's one of the places you keep to yourself. It is only good for a certain few weeks when conditions are right. I have another spot that has some underwater stumps that constantly hold fish during the spawn. Marsh canals can be very plain Jane with very little visible structure and on a mile long canal there might be only a half dozen spots that are great. You can pick up fish here and there but then there are the hot spots. Usually it an unseen object or a hard bank under water that is not visible from above. When you hit such spots make a note or a mark on your GPS. Another clue to finding fish, start much earlier than you think. Many wait for the beautiful Spring days with warming sun and bright skies but if you want to catch some nice one go in Jan. and Feb. that's when the biggest fish spawn.

The first picture is a potentially good place which has paid off when the timing is right and the second is another. In the second pic the water is only about 10 inches to 15 inches deep.

Great info Mr. Gene!...........This is my first year of actually trying to learn the how, when and where to catching these fine eating fish. I've fished for them many years (sparingly), but decided to put forth the effort to learn how to increase my odds of coming home with the ice chest full......Kind of how I learned to keep my freezer full of Speckled Trout and Redfish......

That first photo looks like maybe the North end of the Grove or in the Shell canals. I'm wondering if these areas along the banks with sparse vegetation, are spots that Alligators have worn down sunning themselves, and maybe contain a firmer bottom for them to easily crawl back on the banks? Maybe the Sacs use some of these areas to spawn while the gators are not active......

As Southern Slabs mentioned above, I've also found success on patches of Cattails and Roseau's That may help in finding the firmer bottoms like you mentioned as being good areas to fish. Roots holding the bottom together firmer with silt being filtered by the vegetation!

I have a relative that starts fishing them in January. He works the lower half of St. Mary and Terrebonne and proceeds North as the water temps start coming up. I'm just hoping work doesn't bog me down too much during prime time.....