HELP with placement of trees on quachita

i got about 50 xmas trees collected from the neighborhood. I want to put them in quachita as im gonna be spending a good time down that way soon. How deep should i put them to catch crappie in march and april?

do i need to be on a flat or next to a ledge? close to deep channel?

i have never fished in 40 feet of water so this is new to me. the trees down there i curently know about are in about 10-15 feet of water but they dont hold all that many fish. i want them to hold a bunch.

Please help with tips on where i should put these to attract the most fish. probally do 2 or maybe 3 piles as i know you got to have a bunch for it to work down there.

put in deep water or shallow any tips would be much appreciated. if you see a boat about to sink cause all the trees thats me, be going outta joplin as thats where i stay most. will probally be putting out next weekend and week

Looking for depth advice

If it were me,,I'd look on minor creeks, the channels next to a flat, I'd place some in 8 to 10 feet iof water for the march crappie and the others just below the surface in 4 to 6 feet of water for april...hey,,but thats just me...good luck

We put out some cedars at drop offs to fish in the Fall.

For March and April fishing I would average about 8' of water and put them in pockets guarded from the wind if you want them to be good for spawning. I would put them no shallower than 7' on Ouachita. The crappie spawn deeper here due to the water clarity. I catch a lot of spawning crappie on Ouachita in the 7-9' range. You want some help putting them out? I fish the lake a bunch and could help with placement if you don't mind sharing. By the way, once April gets here the spawn should be pretty much ending unless we have some weird weather. I think I would mix them up, some shallow some deeper. The deeper ones I would place in about 20' depending on how tall the trees are. If you do want some help PM me.

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Originally Posted by Slab Junkie

For March and April fishing I would average about 8' of water and put them in pockets guarded from the wind if you want them to be good for spawning. I would put them no shallower than 7' on Ouachita. The crappie spawn deeper here due to the water clarity. I catch a lot of spawning crappie on Ouachita in the 7-9' range. You want some help putting them out? I fish the lake a bunch and could help with placement if you don't mind sharing. By the way, once April gets here the spawn should be pretty much ending unless we have some weird weather. I think I would mix them up, some shallow some deeper. The deeper ones I would place in about 20' depending on how tall the trees are. If you do want some help PM me.

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I'll defer to a local fishermen every time, I hadn't considered the clarity of the water on Ouachita! Good advise.

shallow i wasnt expecting that with the recent pictures of the swim bladders being full. pics are from deep waters right now. they move up shallow that quick? or should i put them deeper. seen some posts on this board saying 40 feet. confusing for sure. shallow or deep i guess thats a tricky question??????

Yeah, I'm the one posting those pics and those fish have been real deep but it ain't going to last very long. I truly expect to find those fish gone out of that deeper water by this weekend. I figure some guys are probably already catching some in shallower waters but I didn't try last week since I was catching them in that deep brush pile I was on. The females are already full of eggs and they are going to be on the move. They will stage in shallower cover and feed up for a few days and once that water hits about 57 they will be looking for a place to spawn. The surface temp was 49 when I launched my boat last weekend and 52 by mid afternoon but it's going to warm up fast with this weather we are having. I wouldn't be surprised to see 52 or 53 in the morning and 56 in the afternoons right now. Of course not every fish is going to spawn at once. That's one thing that is neat about Ouachita. It is so big and diverse that when one guy is catching them in 10' of water some other guy is catching them in 20'.

The level swings so far on wa****a all my bamboo is too deep or shallow when I get to fish!