Heading to Barkley

Heading to Barkley in a couple of weeks. What do you think I'll be looking forward to with all the warm weather?

Post Spawn.

Well then, post spawn up here is drop offs and weed lines. I have not fished Barkley before, are we looking at similar patterns?

You'll be lucky to find any weed lines. The lake will just be filling up toward summer pool. Drop offs and deep flats will be a good place to start.

I'm going to be at Ky Lake in a couple of weeks also. I think what I will find is plenty of crappie in the pre-spawn mode (plumb full of eggs) just like I find them every year.
I know I'm going against the normal way of thinking but I just can't see that water temp being the only factor in the spawn. It seems to me that time also has to be figured into the equation. Crappies start developing their egg sacks in the fall and it seems to me it would take a certain amount of time for the eggs to be fully develop to be ready for the spawn. I do think fish do react to temps but probably more in relation to food and it's movements.
I've been hearing for years that the black crappie have already spawned at Ky Lake by the time I get there in mid-April. Every year the only black crappie I catch that aren't full of eggs are males.
This will be an interesting year. Only time will tell.

crappiemax, I agree with you. Crappie don't all spawn at the same time--there are just too many factors to figure in! For some places, it may be "over" by mid-April, but let me tell you from experience, there are still a heckova lot of crappie that will spawn on up into May and June. The males come "IN" first to fan the beds for the females......makes sense. I just happen to LOVE fishing shallow and when I say shallow, I mean fishing a foot deep in 3-5 feet of water, and I've been doing it for 29 years. I just START fishing when everyone else says "they're done!"
:fish

I will be down on the 12th. Even if every crappie has spawned it won't be tougher than when we were down last year with the high water and the corps dropping the lake big time. But I do agree the spawn may be ahead but every year I find crappie with eggs in them in May.