The Dogwood tree just happens to be a good indicator of the time that the temperature of the water reaches the mark for crappie to spawn. In my experience, the tree blooms around the time crappie come up shallow, and that can be in March or April here. I am catching crappie from 8 fow to 2 fow on Wylie. I have been catching big males in shallow water where they are preparing beds and fat females in deeper water where they have not come in yet.