February/March shallow water crappie: warmer water or longer daylight?

[JordanLimit]

I'm interested in some input and observations. Over the past few years, I've seen folks catch a number of nice crappie in February and March in shallow water. I was talking to one fisherman and he said it is all about daylight getting longer and not water temperatures. I've talked to other people and they say it is all about temperatures. What do you guys think?

[ppowell]

I think it's a combination of both that trigger them to move shallow. Given a cold early spring the fish will still move shallow to spawn just not as early as will happen with a warm start to spring. When spring approaches and water temp rises past 50 then it's time to look shallow.

[SEA DANCER]

I feel that daylight hours has more to do with time of spawn and water temp more to do with water depth and lake area. I also think moon phase plays a big part in the spawn.

[albiechaser]

They have a biological clock built in, Longer daylight hours does have a lot to do with it I believe, Love this time of year on tap.
All you need is a tiny spin rod, tube jig pumped with niblets, a 1/32 jig, and a tiny float, cast out and pop it back in,
VERY DEADLY

[chief]

They have a biological clock built in, Longer daylight hours does have a lot to do with it I believe, Love this time of year on tap.
All you need is a tiny spin rod, tube jig pumped with niblets, a 1/32 jig, and a tiny float, cast out and pop it back in,
VERY DEADLY

Or two 1/4 oz jigs with tubes and 40 feet of string........

[genec]

Will keep a watch on this post and see if i can use the information on gaston or buggs,thanks guys

[sprintfns]

To me, the length of days just means more sunlight on the water causing the temp to rise. Just this "rise" may start movement. My luck has been starting in Feb. when the water temp is in the low 50's. I've heard others say 47 deg. is the "start moving temp". I also believe moon phase has an effect. Good input from all and interesting to read. Also, we've heard about water temp. warming up on the NW most areas, but my luck has been in the E area. NW area's dont start for me until March. Interesting.

[CrappieTuttle]

Will keep a watch on this post and see if i can use the information on gaston or buggs,thanks guys

Heck fire Gene I've been watching for your post so I can learn, lol now your gonna watch so you can learn haha what am I suppose to do now lol

[genec]

CT,need all the help I can get,I even watch how fish act in aquarium

[Rdrunner]

What I have found is that crappie often move to shallow (6-8 ft.) water in February because the shad move up out of the channel after a few days of warm weather.I like to go in the afternoon when the shallow flat is a few degrees warmer than the channel.Find wood in those areas and you can catch big crappie.For my style of fishing nothing works better than a roadrunner/curly tail.As for March it could be that they are moving shallow for both shad and/or spawning.Unusally warm weather could move everything up but that doesn't look likely this year.