Springtime!

This is not a numbers pattern, but a big-fish pattern. Crappies prevail on the outer rim of those shallow flats and shoreline points in spring, but they’re tough to find and even tougher, at times, to catch. Crappie activity is much more predictable and consistent in bays and canals, but those are typically not big-fish patterns. A true, hardcore, big-crappie addict is better off spending a significant portion of time each spring probing these main-lake areas on the outer frontier of crappie spawning habitat.

As main-lake temperatures warm into the 50°F range, some crappies, many of them large, are attracted to reedbeds. Later, still more fish move in. At some point it seems a commitment is made. Many crappies make a definite commitment to reedbeds, while others remain on the fringe of the flat around isolated spawning habitat. At this point, the fish are mostly quite active and catchable—and quite large. But, on any natural lake, this is the last “spring” pattern to take advantage of. When main-lake temperatures approach 60°F, just as reedbed fish are going strong and hump fish are just getting going, the bite in canals and shallow bays already may have tapered off to almost nothing. With all these patterns, timing is key, and water temperature is a pretty solid indicator of what’s going on.

Summary

These four key spring crappie patterns in natural lakes are progressive. Fish canals first, bays second, reedbeds next, and finally main-lake humps. Each natural lake may not be able to provide all four patterns, but other patterns exist as well. Crappie lakes vary quite a bit. Shallow, ancient eutrophic lakes with dark water warm quickly and may progress through these patterns faster than mesotrophic lakes. When reedbed patterns are red hot on eutrophic lakes, canal patterns on nearby mesotrophic lakes might be just getting started.

Main-lake crappies offer the most consistent trophy patterns. But if you’re taking some kids out for a day of spring crappie fishing, best to take them to a canal or shallow bay when the weather is stable and where the water temperatures are hovering around 52°F to 56°F. Fishing can be fast and furious in these solar generators, and often the best fishing is on foot from shore and docks, where kids can run around on the banks and enjoy the warming environment. At any rate, these four progressive patterns represent the most productive we’ve found for spring crappies in natural lakes. With regard to the spawn, location is already 80 percent solved. Crappies on foraging forays in early spring won’t be far from spawning habitat. They often choose spawning locations involving wood, weedcover, or reeds in locations protected from wind and wave action. The earliest spawners often pass through channels to connected bays or ponds. These areas warm quickly into that 70°F window crappies tend to spawn in, and offer abundant minnow forage. The latest spawners use main-lake areas protected by points of land.