What water temps will get our crappie out of deep water?

Water temps are still 38 - 40 degrees in the smaller reservoirs I fish and I’m only finding fish in the main deep parts, 28 to 30’. I cruised the entire lake hoping to mark fish moving up towards coves but didn’t see much anywhere. I go back to 28’ and mark a lot of fish, fortunately have gotten a few to bite although they don’t seem to be actively feeding. All stomachs seem empty when I kept and cleaned a few. The weather just keeps dumping snow or freezing rain so temps seem stuck.

https://i.postimg.cc/LsHRpsWv/70-B60...5-BD7-CF53.jpg

Good to see you're still around! 50 to 54 seems to be when they move. Look for areas like coves where water has warmed after a south or west wind on north or east sides of the lake. I have seen coves in late winter and spring warm up fast on sunny days and the fish in just a couple feet of water.

What he said.

What they said, at about 50 some will move at times very shallow to the very back ends of some creeks but they move in and out allot.
One thing I've really learned this winter is to target the more active fish higher in the water column over deeper water. As a rule crappie will move up in the water column before moving back into the creeks.
I've been catching crappie all winter from 6 to 12 feet deep over 20 to 30+ fow.

Roy - I am marking a lot of fish 12' to 15' over 28 to 30' of water but can't get them to bite. If I do catch one it's usually a greenie so I was assuming they were not crappie. I'm only able to get bites at the fish on or near the bottom. I will try for those suspended fish more though.

I went today, only fished half a day. I caught 8.Lots of fish deep but the ones I caught were fro 4 to 12 feet deep over 20 to 35 fow.

@Roy - it has been like you said - they first moved up the water column, although it has been even harder to target them that way as they seem less grouped up. The past couple weeks the water warmed up into the mid to upper 40's and has been even harder to find them. Since I couldn't find them deep anymore I thought they were moving to mid-lake level depths, but it's like they all left the lake. I've tried deep water (fishing bottom and suspended), mid-lake, mouths of creeks and even gone into coves wondering if they went shallow. Nope, nope, nope and nope.

These smaller bodies of water really can confound me. They lack any shad for forage, not even sure what the crappie eat here. The steady sunshine this past week has been nice but every overnight it has also been down into the low 20's. I feel like if the temps can get above 50 I might be able to find some again.

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Originally Posted by wasabi

@Roy - it has been like you said - they first moved up the water column, although it has been even harder to target them that way as they seem less grouped up. The past couple weeks the water warmed up into the mid to upper 40's and has been even harder to find them. Since I couldn't find them deep anymore I thought they were moving to mid-lake level depths, but it's like they all left the lake. I've tried deep water (fishing bottom and suspended), mid-lake, mouths of creeks and even gone into coves wondering if they went shallow. Nope, nope, nope and nope.

These smaller bodies of water really can confound me. They lack any shad for forage, not even sure what the crappie eat here. The steady sunshine this past week has been nice but every overnight it has also been down into the low 20's. I feel like if the temps can get above 50 I might be able to find some again.

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I went out Thursday to a small creek spot for exploratory fishing just before sunset. No one, but me out there. I had been fishing for herring up in NJ so, I had my saltwater set up and a sabiki rig in the car.

Tossed the sabiki out with a 3 oz. sinker and start slowly reeling it in. BAM! Got a 10 inch white crappie.

Had to go back up to NJ, but got back Sunday to fish arund lunchtime. Three guys in the spot!

One guy said he was there Friday and Saturday and got 20 fish each time.

Fished Sunday for 4 hours and got 3 small crappie and 1 bluegill.

The other guys only got 1 big one. I think they fished it out the days before.

Waiting on warmer weather now.

Went out again, same spot. Five other guys fishing there. No one caught a thing.

Just before sundown, a lot of activity with fish jumping everywhere, but none biting. I used crappie jigs, swim jigs, and rooster tail spinners without success.

Got one bite 2 feet from shore. Probably a bluegill.

Temps in mid 60s.