after spawn

[slipfloater]

After gills and crackers bed up and spawn,where do they go? I have trouble finding them.

[wademaster]

in ponds, i still catch them right under the banks or right off of them a few feet, actually, ive caught them at lake norman around the docks, even in the cold weather

[CrappiePappy]

After gills and crackers bed up and spawn,where do they go? I have trouble finding them.

They back off from the bed area and go back to their normal routine/depths. Depending on the body of water, and it's depths, they can be a few feet deeper or tens of feet deeper. The bigger ones tend to go deeper & stay deeper, for the most part. You also have to take into consideration that, if your body of water creates a thermocline ... they'll not likely be below that depth layer, as there will be little to no oxygen in the water below the thermocline.
You also have to understand that, for the most part, the larger fish will be scattered. Gills & Crackers are not primarily a schooling species (like Crappie) ... they're just so prolific that their numbers dictate that they inhabit vast areas, and crowd around any available cover or feeding areas. Gills will suspend in the water column, according to temperature & available food ... Crackers generally stay on or near the bottom, also according to temperature & available food.

... cp

[Tracker123]

They are everywhere down here - year around.

[deathb4disco]

As CP indicated, they will often suspend. I catch a lot of suspended gills throughout the year.

[slipfloater]

They back off from the bed area and go back to their normal routine/depths. Depending on the body of water, and it's depths, they can be a few feet deeper or tens of feet deeper. The bigger ones tend to go deeper & stay deeper, for the most part. You also have to take into consideration that, if your body of water creates a thermocline ... they'll not likely be below that depth layer, as there will be little to no oxygen in the water below the thermocline.
You also have to understand that, for the most part, the larger fish will be scattered. Gills & Crackers are not primarily a schooling species (like Crappie) ... they're just so prolific that their numbers dictate that they inhabit vast areas, and crowd around any available cover or feeding areas. Gills will suspend in the water column, according to temperature & available food ... Crackers generally stay on or near the bottom, also according to temperature & available food.

... cp

Thanks.

[omegapd]

As CP indicated, they will often suspend. I catch a lot of suspended gills throughout the year.

I fished Chehaw Park's little pond today for the first time. The water is pretty clear and we could see them suspended a good ways out from the bank. Almost every pond I fish is muddy so this was the first time I actually saw that.