Do They Or Don't They?????????

This is an age old question ask about the spillways of the big four. Do crappie go through the spillway or not?????
Love to hear some opinions on this, should make for an interesting conversation on a cold day.:biggrin

I have seen Enid during extreme cold have fish floating as if knocked out from coming through the spillway .Saw warden write tickets for dipping them up during this time . I have no way of knowing if they came through the chute or not . On the flip side Ole Miss did a study and put a net over the outlet and got two small cat in it from 6pm. on Friday till 6 am on a Monday . The study was done in early spring and had same results in the summer .

Sounds like a question for the Spillway Snagger

I was at the spillway last Sunday. My opinion is that if all those fish came down the spillway, you'd be able to see some splashing through. I've never seen the first fish.

I would like to know this also . The reservoir were I fish has a draw down ever year about this time of year. They claim it is for flood control. I think they mostly do it for the people around the lake to work on their boat piers. They let it out pretty fast when they let it down some times dropping the whole lake 5 to 6 foot in 2 to 3 days. With it being only half full the first part of the year I am surprised there is not a bad fish kill from the draw down, or maybe half the fish go out the dam. I hope more people reply to this thread about what they think about this. Thank you for bring this up Rees Guide and Eagle 1.

I believe that if we get alot of cold weather ( enough to realy drop the water temps ) just before and during the winter pull down, that alot of fish do git pulled through the spillway, this is the reason i believe Nader is missing a yr class of fish, bout 3 or 4 yrs ( think it was 3 ) ago all the above mentioned things happened, we had a great spawn that yr, and when the draw down started snaggers below the spillway were loading buckets and the the catfish guys trying to get shad were dumping nets full of baby crappie out. I believe large schools of crappie had migrated to the deeper water and just got sucked through the spillway

I used to take the biologist's word for it. But with the lack of catches in the Sardis lower lake following a hard winter, I have my doubts. On those bodes of water that are so large, it seems impossible for fishermen to fish the lakes out but I'm leaning toward believing that. More and more, I'm finding it hard to believe that 80% are going through the spillway.

I think this is what has happened to our small reservoir. The deeper water is in the main body of the lake close to the spill way or where the draw down locks are and I would imagine that a lot of fish is sucked down the back side. Our fishing has went south ever sense they started letting the water down this year and then when it rains during the winter months it just goes up and down it fills up when a big rain comes and they let it back down in 2 to 3 days after. Like you said the fish are probably behind the dam in the spillway but they don't allow anyone to fish there. We are not even allowed to walk on the dam. We are told that our reservoir is for flood control not recreation all though they charge to enter and fish there.

Kent Driscoll seems to think they are pulled through!Crappie relate to dams this time of year - Mississippi Sportsman

I believe they some get pulled through a lot of cold lethargic fish just can't fight that current JMO!