SIGHT ketchn on the BEDS !
Some will cry foul as they always do and to be sure I got a lesson on bedded fish the other day . The things I learned are in the ole memory bank for ever and several of them defy EVERYTHING I thought I knew and have always heard and read about crappie spawning .
I got an invite to a private lake I haven't been to in a while , the owner of a tract along the shore has 3 docks and said the crappie were all on beds right under his docks ! :yikes
I was like well sir I would sure love to give them a go if its possible and he said sure come on out .Got there about 8 am and sure enough there were so many beds under his docks in around 3 to 5 fow I was shocked ! hundreds and hundreds of beds all along the shore and NOT a crappie on one of them ! :banghead
He tells me this , they usually don't show up here until around 9 am and I was like what ? In real clear water they come when the sun is shining hard down on the beds ? Well sure enough I cant get a peck and manage one bluegill and just about say this is enough and THEN ….all the sudden about 9 am they came in like a pack of hounds and set up on every bed !
VERY nice and orderly and no aggression to each other at all and to make it even better several bass and a herd of bluegill came in with them and set up on bed locations in close proximity to them .
Now here is where it gets real interesting , EVERYONE worked together as a community to protect each others beds and pumpkin seeds even hit jigs going over crappie beds .The next thing that was VERY noticeable was a jig HAD to be drug by the beds , if it sat over a bed and went to slow nobody would even look at it ! If it had a fair cadence and went by pretty steady they would slam it !
AND it gets better , almost no fish actually on the beds you targeted would hit the jigs , it was always a neighbor fish from pretty far away the would race over and hammer it ?
to add to it they set up frequently black white black white with only an inch or so border between the beds and that in turn is what I am sure causes hybridization , note the small fish in the one photo on the dock ,pretty sure its hybridized along with several others I managed to ketch
Anyway it was very interesting for sure and I couldn't stay long but I filled his basket and had a splendid time for about an hour …..
on a final side note they fish seemed to have an affinity for fresh water clam beds to spawn over if that matters .
and for sure I wish I didn't have to leave
stay tuned and have a great day :highfive
