Where Did They Go??

Went fishing and caught a limit of crappie in a 5 acre flat off of the Tombigbee River in Alabama. Water temp was 57-61 degrees. The water depth was 1-5 ft deep and the fish were caught 10 yards off the bank in the 2 ft range using a blk/chart jig with float set at 1-1/2ft depth. Water color was slightly muddy. I went back the next day and only caught 1 fish doing the same thing!!! Water temp was 60-61. Where did the fish go??? I need you guys to help. Thank you in advance!


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I would think near same area but moved out a little deeper. Your water is 10 degrees warmer than ours.

Did you look right on the banks ? Could be on the bottom too .

Thank you SuperDave, this flat is separated by a silted in creek that is about 300 yards to the next body of water deeper than 8-10 feet. I didnt see any fish using a LiveScope or Side-view at this next possible staging area.

Thank you Nimrod, I went around the entire bank around the flat thinking that the fish were getting ready to spawn,…..nothing there.

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Originally Posted by Dr Rob

Went fishing and caught a limit of crappie in a 5 acre flat off of the Tombigbee River in Alabama. Water temp was 57-61 degrees. The water depth was 1-5 ft deep and the fish were caught 10 yards off the bank in the 2 ft range using a blk/chart jig with float set at 1-1/2ft depth. Water color was slightly muddy. I went back the next day and only caught 1 fish doing the same thing!!! Water temp was 60-61. Where did the fish go??? I need you guys to help. Thank you in advance!


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Did you try further away from the bank but not necessarily any deeper? Sometimes when they are not as actively feeding they just move out over deeper water but don’t really go any deeper.


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Originally Posted by slabbandit

Did you try further away from the bank but not necessarily any deeper? Sometimes when they are not as actively feeding they just move out over deeper water but don’t really go any deeper.


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Thank you Slabbandit, yes sir and it seemed like the fish had disappeared. I wondered if the fish moved over 300 yards across a silted creek channel over night…??

My next thought would be like Nimrod and right on the bottom. They are hard to see when on the bottom.

I have a saying I try to teach every Crappie angler I'm helping catch fish and that is "Never return to the scene of the Crime". If you clean out a area like it sounds like you did look elsewhere for fish. Here it may be as much as a week for a area to recruit more fish. Also in our rivers right now schools of Crappie are moving upstream, key is they are moving, I know to wait a week before going to check them again. I personally don't like keeping smaller than my standard fish but when it comes to frying Crappie or not the 10 inchers go in the box.

Fronts and pressure put our shallow fish on the bottom around here give em a day or 2 and they will poke their heads back up.