Anyone catching any shoreline fish yet? What are your favorite bank spots? I like hillsdale along the cove by the dam, and the back boat docks at Clinton.
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Anyone catching any shoreline fish yet? What are your favorite bank spots? I like hillsdale along the cove by the dam, and the back boat docks at Clinton.
Think water might to cool for the start of the spawn. I like around Rock Creek Marina at Perry during the easy time of the year to catch slabs.
If you've got mainlake temps in the lower 50's, you've got spawners in a cove somewhere on the bank.
I think we just need a good 5 days straight of 65 deg. and sunny and no cold rain.I think the shallow water is warming and getting cooled back down a day later by cold rain and temps.It won't be long and it will be here.At Toronto I like Toronto point cove and Mann's cove.
After several years of studying the spawn I am more convinced that water temp is the lesser of the two important parts of it. Most important part is length of daylight in a day. Last year proved that for me, we had 70 degree water early with no fish shallow but a few "eager" males. Crappie still spawned on their normal beds at their normal time. I do think they go shallow to feed in in the warmer water early in the day and evening.
OK, I have a question for you then. In the fall, say "sampling time" how do we end up with yoy crappie that are 3"-5"? Genetics? 30 days growth is about 2" for a crappie. Just something to think about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Springhill Duckman
I guess I am not following what your posting here?Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiedoc
Every year about this time the discussion of when the 'spawn' is for crappies. Again, most fishers are confused about the difference of 'shallow' crappies as to 'nest building' shallow crappies. There is a BIG difference!!! If you will look at the threads from last year,,, they look just exactly as these threads. Trust what the biologists say, and they will say the
'spawn' happens when the combo of water temps and photo period comes together for best hatching. Believe me they are not nest building under 60 degrees. Make up your own theories about this if you must but,,,, try not to confuse the issue. JMO <*)}}}><
Great post chatt, that is more or less what I was trying to say. There are alway outliers but for the most part this has held very true the last several years for me.
Kirwin Reservoir / Region 1 / Fishing Locations - Public Waters / Where to Fish in Kansas / Fishing / KDWPT - KDWPTQuote:
Originally Posted by Springhill Duckman
So why the big size difference on the crappie? 2"-5" Why do the pond crappies spawn so much sooner?
thats a winner winner crappie dinner imnho think all 3 of ya is rightQuote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt
Better yet, look at the scientific publications and try to disprove the findings. :biggrin Photoperiod is the major factor for all fish spawns and water temperature will dictate diurnal activities.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt
Chatt I would have to agree with you on this. From my experience the photo period dictates the time frame of when the spawn may occur, temperature is secondary. You need to have the right temperature in the right time frame.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt
For the past couple weeks I have been catching crappies in 2-6 FOW and so have others. I was out at the lake the other day and it was a little slower than it had been had to really work for them, a gentleman asked me "you think they are about done". I look at my depth finder afternoon water temp was 55. I'm thinking about done what??? eating?? I knew he was talking about the spawn and I told him what the water temp was and that he had plenty more good days to come. That was last Friday.
I was at the lake Sunday and caught some males that had color and were starting to shred the tail that wasn't really that much of a suprise to me as the water temp was 57 and I've known large males to move in and start first (these were large 13"+).
This is where it gets interesting though we got about an inch rain Sunday night. I went back out Monday after work water temp was 62 on north bank and 60 on south and we nailed them again this time they were about 90% males and most of them had color a couple of them were MILKING :yikes when I cleaned fish that night most of the females that I did catch were stacked full of eggs except one....I thought it was a male at first but no sperm sack then I found a bloddy egg sack that was basically empty. She had already dumped here eggs:yikes. These are white crappie. The lake has balck crappie as well but they have showed no signs of spawning activity.
Its been my experience at this lake and others that the biggest fish always spawn out first. I'm concerned that when the weather straightens out there won't be much of a bite from big fish.
Craig can probably explain the size difference best but I will give it a shot. On the bigger resivoirs the water temps in the upper ends raise much faster and you can see 60 degree plus water temps in early to mid April. The lower end near the dam warms much slower and the 60 degree mark may not hit until the first couple weeks of May. The best real live example I can give you is when I used to fish Tuttle Creek a lot. The upper end coves would always have fish starting to spawn somewhere between April 10th - 20th depending on the weather that year. The marina cove would have fish spawning as late as the last week of May first week of June. That could maybe explain your size difference:dono.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiedoc
You're onto it. Now as for photoperiod, what about Texas and Oklahoma, look where those two are at in their spawns, same photoperiod though.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappie_hunter15
i was on the water monday from sunrise til one o clock. i found 59 and 60 degree water on upper end of lake and also found big females out in 4 to 6 for in those areas. One of them i caught in less than 2 ft of water as i swung my boat to turn around and dipped on some brush. I didnt expect that so much. All lakes are different i think... Spawn is gettin close... Some fish may be more ready than others rt now.
I've often wondered the same thing. I'm not a Wildlife Biologist but I have a pretty good Biology back ground. The best way I could rationalize that statement is by the fact that animals adapt to the enviroments they live in over time. For example whitetail deer accoss the US. They are all the same speices but are different in many ways because of the enviroments they live in. Over a long enough time frame and with extreme differences in enviroments enviroments they would develop into multiple different species.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiedoc
Anyway enough with that back to the crappie my theory is if you brought crappie from Texas and introduced them into a Kansas water with no other fish present I would bet you their spawning pattern would be all sorts of messed up because over time genetic traits have been developed by those those fish that proper spawning temperatures occur at "X" time.
Again just my thoughts above I think Craig could shed more light on this subject. Hopefully he sees the thread I would be very interested to hear what he has to say.
They have not spawned here yet. They were staging late march in 6 feet with cover...this cold snap and rain has moved them back out. I suspect when it warms up the next couple weeks the shallow bite will be on.
Spawn is such a relative term, I use the word more for location + presentation anyways.
A study done on Missouri's Table Rock Lake by fisheries biologist Dr. Fred Vasey. Vasey learned that "The first [crappie] nests to appear had an average of 13.2 daylight hours," and "The last nesting sites occurred when the daylight averaged 14.6 hours." In other words, you can determine when spawning will begin and end, and therefore postulate when it might peak, by calculating the number of hours between sunrise and sunset on a given day.Anglers also should remember that crappie almost invariably nest in shallow coves protected from wind and wave action. Finding areas with these characteristics is the key to finding crappie beds. Nests often are near a log or other large object over a bottom of sand, fine gravel or interwoven plant roots. The depth where nests are found can vary considerably, from less than 1 foot to as much as 20 feet. But most will be in 1 to 5 feet of water.Several nuances of the spawn may not be readily apparent. One is the fact that the biggest crappie often are in deeper water when smaller males are first preparing nest sites. For this reason, it's smart to try fishing deeper areas away from shallow-water beds, sometimes as deep a 7 to 15 feet. Nebraska researchers examined whether crappies display spawning-site fidelity at Sherman Reservoir, a 2,850-acre Nebraska irrigation impoundment known for good fishing. They captured crappies in trap nets from 5 coves in May and marked them with color-coded tags over several years. Adult crappies demonstrated cove fidelity within and among spawning seasons. Over 80 percent of tagged fish were captured in the same cove during the same spawning season, and over 70 percent were recaptured in subsequent years in the same cove. The researchers concluded that crappies sought specific coves in which to spawn, even when similar coves and substrates were available nearby. Another fact to remember is that spawning activity is spread out over a period of time. Female crappie don't all lay eggs at the same time, and an individual female may deposit eggs in batches over a period of two weeks. This assures successful reproduction and provides anglers outstanding shallow-water fishing opportunities for an extended period.
- THANKS!!!!! <*)}}}><
What great dialogue thanks for the input guys!
It’s good to see science I participated in. This was a great study. Nic Fryda, now a Wildlife Biologist, has the authorship and at the time was getting his grad degree. I along with many others assisted with daily operations and it was eye opening to see the field results first hand. Very good science indeed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt
I would like to see that Temp somewhere
Long time visitor to the site, just registered.
I do believe the first spawners are the biggest avg. fish of the year. I fish Perry most of the time, most of the time from the bank. On avg. my first batch of spawners are towards the end of the first week of April almost always by the second week. Not confused with shallow feeders cause these females have eggs running out of them. When you get into the first fish up there are hardly any short fish maybe 20 keepers in 25 fish. Later in the spawn may have to catch 100 fish to get 10 keepers or so.
Love the web site. Like everyones info and opinions. This is my first post,hopefully not my last. Hi and good fishing to everyone!
So now is the time to be fishing the spawn?
Not here today
Welcome to the board DWJ, keep on postin.:welcome:fish
:welcome :welcome:welcome!!!! Glad you are here DWJ!! The males during 'Spawn' should be the 1st up making nest with their 'tuxedos' on. Then they lure the female to their 'love' nest. After some dancin, bubble blowin, and who only knows,,, eggs and sperm are a flying. She leaves for a nite out with the other ladies and never comes back. Male is left holding the bag & a few thousand eggs to watch. A few days later,,, eggs hatch and like most youngun's, leave home. Well that's how Grandpa taught me!:Rofl:Rofl:Rofl:Rofl <*)}}}><
Typical female
:hesaid JUST DONT GO SNIFFING THE CRAPPIE BUBBLES
If old topics dont get re-hashed, then the newbies and youngsters won't have the opportunity to LEARN. Besides while I mostly agree with the biologists reports, I also know not all crappie are programed the same. Heck at my favorite lake I usually can catch spawners somewhere on the lake from late April thru the 2nd week of June.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt
Have fun. Go fish!
I still go a couple time a week. Spawn or not I am fishing.
Clinton crappie eggs are a lot bigger than two weeks ago.