hey guys, i went over to a lake called Big Lake. i was fishing the banks in my boat, and only caught 2 crappie, 5 bass, and 3 bluegill. whats the deal is it not warm enough for the crappie to be on the banks yet? i surely thought that the black crappie would be on it. some advise???

Crappie normally spawn when the water is near 70*. They will start to stage earlier, but if your water temps are below 50 or so, they are probably still deep. Tom
Lifer from NE Illinois

thanks, about how many more weeks till they do start to get on the banks?

Hey yall, I've been seeing the activity tripple over the past couple weeks. Haven't got my limit yet but 10-15 is better then 0. Try drop riggin em worked when nothing else would. Or if you prefer a float, get your depth then set about 10-18 inches off the bottom. I was using small shinners with a pretty good result.
Take a Kid fishing, they are great bait!

The crappie will move in to spawn as the water nears 70*. Depends on geography and weather. Tom

the warm temps have yet to hit this area but we been catching good crappies suspended at about 4 ft. and about 10 ft. off the bank. using live minnows and a slip bobber . the best days for us have been during the last few hrs. of daylight. we had a big front move through on the 24th and they were biting slow that day. 2 days prior though we took some nice fish !!!

The males will move in first when the temps are getting close but the females will be staging out and deep around cover waiting,so if you are catching males just move out into deeper water around cover and they will probly be packed in tight around cover.
Oklahoma Life Member Since 2009 OKARNG 45th Inf.

on a lake i fish in oklahoma the crappie are still at 20 ft + deep both male and females the fish were caught before a major low pressur front moved through with t-storms
Oklahoma Life Member Since 2009 OKARNG 45th Inf.

Would you believe that my local pond went from iced over to 57* in 2 1/2 weeks? The fishing has been a bit slow, but I'm not sure if it is me or the fish. we have had some very strange weather in NE Il this winter, like many places in the US. An old wife told me that the crappie bite when the forsythia bloom. My bush started blooming today, we will see! Tom
Lifer in NE Illinois

smityman76 them some nice slabs, here in arkansas the bite is on man aint busted no slabs like smitty's yet but been catchin' some nice eaters though on bobber and minners and on 1/16oz  white zoom grubs and also white zooms w/ roadrunner heads happy easter everyone



may mother nature bless your line with every cast

They are still holding deep and very sluggish here in north east Oklahoma they were at 22ft yesterday and hitting ever so lightly.
Oklahoma Life Member Since 2009 OKARNG 45th Inf.

Here in the north west of Pa. was out on 3-27 and caught a nice mess of perch & crappie from shore with minnows in 5 fow. pictures are in the members photo under more big fish from canadohta. Went out yesterday & caught 20 crappie but the bite is still slow, BETTER DAYS AHEAD ---------------
FISH ON LIFE MEMBER SINCE 02-98

I'm sorry I don't know where you're fish'in but I'm from southcentral Pa. and was on Raystown Lake last Thursday and had a pretty fair day caught some in the 11" to 13" range. The big ones will probably be up in 2 or three weeks. The biggest I have ever caught was 17 1/2 inches, I lost one that was bigger due to my stupidity and not retie'in after use'in pliers to unhook bluegills a couple times.

We were dead line'in live minnows with a small split shot in brush at 12 to 20 feet deep. Yeh ya get stuck but if ya want to catch em' ya gotta go down after them. It will be easier as the water warms, it's in the low to mid 50s here.