Spawning Migrations by Lake!

I wanted to share some info on the times that the fish will be "On the bank". I know we have lots of factors to include every year including, temperature, water level, water clarity, moon phases etc. We are all chasing the fish to the shallows in March and back out to the lake by June, from the shallows watching a crane take a 12 inch male out of the buck brush 6 inches deep to the 25ft brushpiles on Tenkiller on the south end of the lake where its 15ft visibilty (Blows my mind). Maybe we can get some of these experts on there lakes to talk spawn by lake.

Lake Eufaula: Its called the "Gentle Giant" for a good reason, at 102,500 surface acres this can be a challenging body of water. When the water temps reach 57 the you can find several big males on the bank. Its starts first around the last week of March down in the creeks. Graves, Gentry, Mill, Rock, Coal, and the infamous Gaines creek. The creeks will warm up very very quickly it may be as much as a 12 degree difference in the creek than in the lake. Then around the second week of April the main lake on both the North and South end will start to fire up. North of North 69 Bridge and South of Number 9 bridge. I would say that the last 2 weeks in April to the first 2 weeks in May is the peak of the spawn on the lake. Then the mid lake parts and east to the dam the month of May is very very good. With Eufaula being so big the spawn here last about 10 weeks most years. But its 2.79 ft below normal which means it will need to come up 3ft for some of those spawning hot spots. When it comes up it will be muddy for a little while which means tough fishing and shallow fishing. I hope this was helpful to everyone. EB

Maybe we can get some guys to talk the spawn on there lakes? Maybe some guys want to add to Eufaula on areas of the lake they fish. Talk about some of the lakes maybe we dont know much about.

Oologah- DeerhunterOdie, Reaper?
Kerr and Wister- Wister Slab daddy, Jerry Beale?
Tenkiller- Ranger09, Redge?
Ft Gibson- Ft Gibsonboy, Johnnyshad?
Grand- Grand kid, CrappieKirby?
Texoma- OkieBob, crappie menace?
Kaw- Swollencrappie, dstreet?
Navigation Channel???
Keystone?
Hugo?
Pine creek?
McGee creek?

Basic question that I haven't seen discussed. When we speak of water temps when crappie spawn,etc are we usually talking surface temp that our locators indicate or actual temps at spawning depth? There can be a big disparity between the two.

Brian do you have a recent water temp for the north end?

Well since I'm not in the same class of Ranger09 and Redge here I guess I'll leave all my information stored on my hard drive in my brain. Just Kidding.

Here's all I know about fishing Tenkiller. Stay away from there you would just be wasting your time there. The lake is dead and there aren't any crappie in the lake. I think EB and Odie fished them all off my holes. Well guess what I have new places that I'm not sharing.....:Rofl

Ok here goes. I do know from the past to now the lake has changed. 15 yrs ago I could go out and catch crappie on the bank in 5-8 fow and only take an hour to catch a limit on a bad day. Then the unheard of happened. The lake went dead for a few years. High water was the biggest factor in that they we didn't have good spawns during those years. Plus to many little fish being kept and hence the new regs for the lake. Creel limit of 15 and length limit of 10". I remember the first time I went out with the new length limit in place and I thought man this is going to kill this lake, but you know as soon as I caught a fish and measured it I was surprised that the fish that I had been keeping all along was more than likely a little longer than the new limit instilled on the lake.

So now we are into the new Lake Tenkiller 15 fish limit, 10" on length. I can still catch a few fish in that 5-8 fow, but that seems to be few and far between. Most fish now days are being caught in 10-20 fow during the spawn. For me most are associated to wood. I fish brush piles any where from 10-25 fow. Most of the time I cast and drag these piles during this time and will pick up fish on the first 5-6 cast over the piles about 5-7 fow, then I will let my jig fall for about a 7-10 count and slow roll it back through the pile itself hitting every limb possible. This will usually pick up another 5-7 fish in doing this. Once you have made 5 cast in a row with no bite it's time to move on to the next pile. You may ask why I think they are in the brush and not on the bank on their beds. Well for Tenkiller the water is to clear most of the time and the fish are actually spawning in the brush itself. Laying their eggs on limbs and on nest they have made on the bottom. This not only makes for great cover for them to get a better spawn, but also makes great for when the fry do spawn out. This gives them more added cover to help in their survival.

I will start hitting the upper end of the lake mid March until about the first week of April, then I start making my way down the lake chasing the spawn. Will hit mid lake anywhere's from the last week of March to the end of April. Then the lower end I start hitting from 1st of April to as late as the end of May. Now this doesn't mean they aren't spawning early than this in the places I mentioned it's just how I go about fishing Tenkiller. Keep in mind folks with a clear lake the water doesn't warm as fast and therefore the spawn is a little later than some lakes from year to year. This all depends on how much rain we have received and the clarity of the water. Some years I have seen beds 15' deep with fish on them and other years you can't see more than a foot down. This goes for all lakes though. It all depends on the amount of rain and how bad the lake conditions are.

Well that is my two cents worth, but we all know I am just an amateur compared to the upper class on here.....LOL

Usually talking surface temp because thats usually what everyone gets....yes there can be quite a disparity in that but we usually go off surface..

surface water temp on north end of Eufaula Saturday was from 39 to 41 degrees

All the Crappie on Oologah spawn at a spot off Hiway 69 called Crowder. That is the only place to catch spawning Crappie on Oologah.

Grand sounds almost identical to the way Eufaula plays out. The last 2 weeks in April through the first 2 weeks May are usually the prime spawn weeks. The males will start moving up early, its easy to pick them off shallow once the water starts staying consistently in the upper 50s. If all your catching is males up shallow you can usually move out off the bank a little in that 10 to 15 foot range and find big female on nearly any type of cover.

Jigging thank you for the reply on Tenkiller since I've started fishing Tenkiller it has made me a better crappie fisherman. But it took experts on that lake showing me a few things and a few brushpiles ;) I was tickled to death when you took me on the the south end where we could see 10ft down. Here's something special about learning to catch them in clear water. We love this lake because it fishes like no other lake we normally fish. Thanks Jigging EB

I fished Skiatook yesterday. And with the exception of one spot, all the piles I have been killing em on all winter are completely devoid of fish. The shad are shallower and beginning to spread out (I was seeing schools at several different depths) and the crappie are following them away from their winter haunts. I found crappie everywhere from 15 to 27 feet but always stuck to the bottom. And they are no longer schooled up except for the one spot that I mentioned. I had been getting kinda spoiled with the excellent winter fishing this year. I am excited for the spring spawn but I kinda hate to see the winter bite go! Water temp was 47.5 to 52 depending on the spot I was fishing. Only caught about ten fish but I was doing a whole lot more looking than fishing. Last year I struggled to catch fish during this pre-spawn period. I may end up putting out piles and stake beds instead of fishing for the next month or so.

Same here for Kaw, Maybe a slightly later than that, weather and moon phase pending, I think moon has more to do with it than the weather.

I was on Kaw today. On the bank so I didn't have water temps, but the shad were in the creeks. A guy came in and threw the cast net. Picked up well over a hundred with one cast. Water depth was 8'

Nice write up Jiggin! Don't know that I have anything to add. Still a newbie, compared to Ranger and Jiggin. I do agree about spawning has changed since I was a kid just like Jamie said. Great idea on this post EB, I am soaking it up like a sponge!

What is a stake bed Fishers?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crappie ciller

What is a stake bed Fishers?

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It's a place where those shad balls gather and real fishermen have their tiny boots on while working them beds just right.

C2 - Its a place where you put a medium stake on a bed of hot garlic smashed taters..........

Attachment 194891Attachment 194892 You can use a driver for single stakes made of PVC and do it from a boat so you dont have to stand in the water. Place in shallow spawning coves.

Thanks for the pictures Fishers. I have heard the term but never pictured something like this.

I've seen some pics of stake beds in deeper water for the winter bite.

They have been doing them for many years in the SE like Alabama.

I tried some wading stake beds and buckbrush on the north end thursday with no luck....wait.....i did see a cork hooked to a floater, a young man and his family with two little girls were there so i thought i would get the cork and give it to them...to my surprise there was about and 3 pound bluecat still attached to one end and the rod and reel to the other...lol....so i grabbed the rod and reel and let slack out and walked it back to them and gave it to one of the kids and told her to reel it in.....they were shocked and the older sister yelped "sister you caught a big catfish!!!"....lol...so i told them they caught a rod and reel to....the smiles were definitely worth the walk....I sure miss those days when my two boys were that age but i sure do enjoy fishing with them now that they are grown....when they can come down....it was a good day.

Andy