I can hear and see spring comming

The last few mornings the birds have been a tweeting and the snow is almost gone. Weatherman called for 56 deg. today but at 3:00 pm it is 40 deg. Well a tlest it is not below freezing. I am getting a little excited to do some open water fishing. I usually do a trip or two to south central Va the end of March and beginning of April. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive but usually worth every minute of drive time. Crappie is my targeted fish. So lets get to the point. When do you start getting serious about shallow water crappie fishing. Also do you rely on the water temps. or time of year ( photo period) or what is your madness to get out there for the big catch? Also any good advice is always appreciated! You can PM me your favorite honey hole because I will not tell anyone. HA HA!

I have usually done well as soon as the ice started to melt from the shoreline. In the shallow coves the open water may only be 30 or 40 yards from shore out to the ice but it warms pretty fast. I would float a jig under a bobber in that open water. Most days I would do pretty well and decent size too. But it's fishing, and success varied from day to day. It was just good to wet a line after a long cold winter.

Zeke. I assume you fish it very slowly due to cold water temps? Also any certain color or type jig work better for you?

I'll give you my secret early season spot. Go back the dirt road til it gets too muddy. The walk out through the woods a ways til you see a pond. There's a brush pile under the willow tree - try it there. Lol

I wish you didn't post that flyboy now everyone will be fishing it. I already gave you one of mine.

We have been getting smallmouth right across from my house ( I live by the Susquehanna River). Water is high and stained and VERY cold, but we have been getting some on hair jigs fished real slow. Water temperature is still upper 30s, so it will get better as it warms up some !

Tried off the docks at Pymie and I won't be back for a while. Seems like there is nothing there except very small gills and baby perch. Did hear on the radio last weekend that they were catching crappie off the causeway 8 feet down in 15 fow. The bite was in the afternoon. Temps are suppose to warm up real nice next week.

I went trout fishing for a while after work. I got 12. Not much skill involved though, they stocked them this afternoon.

You know my saying about trout. There are two kinds smart ones and dumb ones. The ones they dump in yesterday are not all that smart. I will start looking for open water lakes in a few days and post results. I know Lake Marburg is open water. Reports are they are catching some pan fish. Gordan at B and B tackle in Hanover is a good go to source for info. Also he is one of the only private bait and tackle shops in our area. They do reel repairs and I think some boat trailer hitch work. Yes a little plug for his business but we need these guys and they are falling fast.

I'll vouch for B & B they are top notch for local info, bait & gear.

I drove by Redman on the way to Baltimore Sat am. It was muddy looking.

Btw- I stopped in the Lexington market when I was in Baltimore and they had a bunch of fresh roe shad there. I asked if he knew where they came from he said VA and South Carolina