Wheeler crappie

Went trolling this afternoon for a while and got skunked except for a catfish. Between the wind which blew at least 100 mph and the cold front was lucky to catch anything I reckon. The water temp says it should be game time, but I can't seem to figure out what's going on. I have been catching some females full of eggs, but haven't caught very many males at all. I am fishing deep, and shallow and there not stacking up like I thought they would be. I just hope they hadn't pulled a fast one on me. Any body else on wheeler seeing the same thing?

I haven’t seen the Lake Wheeler Crappie off the main lake or river channel move up shallow yet either. I think the few I’ve found are the same shallow residents that I catch all year.

FYI, I think the wind was blowing closer to 150MPH!!

10/4 on the wind ditch. I have been catching some in 3 to 5 feet deep, and my thinking is with the water at 62 degrees they should be thicker than cord wood. I have been fishing in fox creek. I did notice sticks floating straight up and down and that normally means the pressure is high which is bad, and between the cold fronts they can't make there minds up. Gonna keep after them though.

Dogwood in my backyard is blooming, the old timers say that means the Crappie are on the beds.

Ditch you posted not long ago about fishing over near fox and you had a few with their tuxedos on. I am fishing on the river side of that. What is so frustrating is I know they should be going on bed and they just aren't there. I am wondering if the bite gets funcky when they get in this transition period maybe that's what's going on.

62 is temp AT the surface, drop your temp guage down 5 feet and its 5 degrees colder :) It will take a few more warm days to get the water warmer at spawn depth. Backs of coves on the North side of the river will be warmer. They get more spring sun. I fished Wilson and Bear Creek lakes over the past couple days and no where did i find fish laying eggs. The females I caught were suspended in a brush pile in 10 feet of water. There were a couple males in same area but much shallower. I caught them in 4 fow. They were all Whites except one big black female. They all were dark colored though like they get when they start spawning. Beautiful fish.

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That's two good looking males (fish) there.