Crappie question

I was fishing in a pond in march and caught some good size crappie. All were released but now can only catch dinks.
Do larger one go to deeper areas this time of year?

Also, the other afternoon, crappie were breaking the surface in an area. Fished there and only caught small crappie, sunfish and a small bass. I was using a itsy minnow bait but bites were slow for the amount of fishing breaking the surface. Anyone suggest a better bait? Will crappie hit a flyrod bug?

Thanks for any information or suggestions

depends on how big/deep the pond is, they hang around structure/standing timber this time of year, and in March they move in to spawn, (water temps are key) try a slip float an fish alittle deeper with your minnow, a good bait other then a minnow is a 1/16 jig with a tube or curlytail, retrieved very very slow, works for me, count down each time, till you hit bottom then back it off, how deep is the pond?
Crappie will move alot if there's bait tobe had, Good Fishing

oh an yes they sure will hit a bug, long as the bream dont beat em to it. lol

As the water warms up the crappie will go deeper and tend to hang out in, and around structure. If they are breaking the surface, using a fly rod, try a 1 to 2 inch streamer that will sink slowly; fish it slow with plenty of stops. Try different colors till you find out what works.

Good luck,

B-

In the evening, especially, the smaller crappie will eat aquatic insects and will be breaking the water like trout sipping insects. A fly rod is probably the best tool at that point, but you may or may not catch a keeper.

Thanks for information. Sky Hawk sounds exactly what I was seeing. Yes all fish caught were small