High water and spawn?

Spent a beautiful day on the lake yesterday, but got skunked. In my experience the crappie should be be spawning right now in central Indiana. However the lake I have been fishing is about 10' higher than normal and the banks are flooded up into the woods surrounding the lake. It is starting to recede slowly.

2 weeks ago I could find them in deep water (20') right above brush piles and other hidden underwater structures you can only find with a depth finder. 1 week ago I was out and got skunked in both deep and shallow. This time I searched everywhere, but nothing could be found. I tried creek inlets, mid-depth staging areas, fallen structures, docks, and even deep water again.

How does their behavior change when the water is high this time of year? Do they delay the spawn, or do they do it in a different spot? Maybe they are spawning, but just don't want to eat?

crappie act very strange in the spring when the water depths change drastically and the temperature of the water fluctuates .
sometimes they go out and suspend under bait and just hang out for whatever reason .
or even go out and set up extra deep like a winter pattern .
i have had some scratching my head days this time of year when I was pretty sure I had them figured out .
they often scatter as well and don't stay in a group per say .
and they might even spawn in spots that didn't have water on them 2 weeks ago as well .
possibly in some really thick flooded cover back where you need a pair of waders to get at them .

I personally think they go back to the deeper levels of the lake when the water levels fluctuate. Three weeks aga I was catching large numbers of 12 " crappie from my slips and along the lake shoreline around underwater laydowns and stumps. Then the rains and flooding of the lake started. They disappeared from the slips and shallow water. I found them on edges and drop offs in 40'-50' of water but could not get them to bite.

The only thing I found in my slips and shallow water were hand-sized and not many of them.

Thursday afternoon bait fish and crappie returned to my slips. I caught 53 in 2 1/2 hours but the biggest one was 8". They were just starting to show a little color. Yesterday I caught 37 in 2 hours before a cold North wind with rain drove me back inside my houseboat. Again they were too small for me to keep any but again a few were starting to show some color.

So I hope they have adjusted to the new water levels and will be back up in full spawning mode over the next few days.

My kiddos are heading down to brown county today. I'll let you know if they do any good...

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

crappie act very strange in the spring when the water depths change drastically and the temperature of the water fluctuates .
sometimes they go out and suspend under bait and just hang out for whatever reason .
or even go out and set up extra deep like a winter pattern .
i have had some scratching my head days this time of year when I was pretty sure I had them figured out .
they often scatter as well and don't stay in a group per say .
and they might even spawn in spots that didn't have water on them 2 weeks ago as well .
possibly in some really thick flooded cover back where you need a pair of waders to get at them .

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I was thinking to myself, "I sure I wish I had an inflatable kayak on my boat so I could get up in the trees". The scattering makes sense. I couldn't find any schools of anything other than bait fish on the fish finder.

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Originally Posted by ezgoing

I personally think they go back to the deeper levels of the lake when the water levels fluctuate. Three weeks aga I was catching large numbers of 12 " crappie from my slips and along the lake shoreline around underwater laydowns and stumps. Then the rains and flooding of the lake started. They disappeared from the slips and shallow water. I found them on edges and drop offs in 40'-50' of water but could not get them to bite.

The only thing I found in my slips and shallow water were hand-sized and not many of them.

Thursday afternoon bait fish and crappie returned to my slips. I caught 53 in 2 1/2 hours but the biggest one was 8". They were just starting to show a little color. Yesterday I caught 37 in 2 hours before a cold North wind with rain drove me back inside my houseboat. Again they were too small for me to keep any but again a few were starting to show some color.

So I hope they have adjusted to the new water levels and will be back up in full spawning mode over the next few days.

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This give me hope, Ill try to get back out next week or weekend when the water goes down a little and see if they are up in shallow water schooled up again. My 2 favorite lakes used to churn out tons of 12"+ crappie when i was a teenager 20 years ago, but today you are lucky if you catch a couple that are 12". Some more experienced fishermen have said it is because the DNR started to bring in bass 15 years ago. funny thing is the bass fishing still stinks and the crappie and bluegill fishing dried up.

I think

Sounds like a forage fish problem to me but bass are higher up on the food chain than crappie and bluegill. When I was a teenager my local lake was full of stunted bass and not much else. The State changed the regulations for the lake where you had to keep every 12" and smaller bass you caught while returning all bass over 12" to the water. Two years later people were catching large bass again and the lake was returned to normal state size limits.

Crappie are not spawning yet in Central Indiana, water temps are still too low water is only 46-52 deg at most..water temps need to be 56 deg or warmer,

Thanks. Just to clarify, should I be looking for 56 in the main body or in the areas where I expect the spawn? At Monroe I was getting 56-57 in some of the coves east of the causeway, but only 52-55 in other areas.

A couple of years ago my favorite crappie lake was 5ft high. You could not buy a bite due to them having millions of new spots to spawn.

it needs to be 56 or above at depth they are spawning. Are you sure your depth finder is reading the correct temps, have not heard those temps anywhere in Indiana yet, I guess maybe you could in a cove with really shallow water. As said above when water is high Crappie have alot more places to spawn especially back in trees/brush etc can be harder to locate at times..
Next weeks 70 deg weather days should warm the water up a lot might see some fish moving up shallow then.

I am not positive that my depth finder is correct. It is a new boat and new depth finder. Entirely possible that is reads a couple of degrees high. I'll try and remember an actual thermometer next time to compare it to. I appreciate the help.

Well now guys are saying water temps are showing 52-57 deg so your df may be correct probably going up pretty quick due to the warmer weather.

Up here in snow country when ever the water level starts to drop the fish will slide out to a deeper break if a cold front happens at the same time they will lay belly to the bottom. The way I find them is watch my depth finder and knowing the area where the bottom normally appears flat not much there. There will be what looks like sticks or weeds laying on the bottom more times then not these are fish. Now to get them to take a bait that`s another consideration, I will go for a reaction bite and covering water with a crankbait and weights to get the bait down and run around 1.5- 2.5 MPH. Not a fast bite by any means but I can at least pick off a few.

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Originally Posted by Bricks

Up here in snow country when ever the water level starts to drop the fish will slide out to a deeper break if a cold front happens at the same time they will lay belly to the bottom. The way I find them is watch my depth finder and knowing the area where the bottom normally appears flat not much there. There will be what looks like sticks or weeds laying on the bottom more times then not these are fish. Now to get them to take a bait that`s another consideration, I will go for a reaction bite and covering water with a crankbait and weights to get the bait down and run around 1.5- 2.5 MPH. Not a fast bite by any means but I can at least pick off a few.

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I like to fish laydowns or the edge of brush piles, dropping a 1/4 oz jig to the bottom and bouncing it up and down, trying to irritate them into a reaction bite. Caught my biggest crappie this way. :)

Blacks are spawning on KY lake now and the first whites are trying to move up. Central Indiana is going to be behind that.