Crappies can also become concentrated in small coves that have no shoreline cover. In this spring scenario, crappies tend to suspend right in the middle of the cove when it’s calm, or concentrate near the shoreline where a sufficient wind is causing waves to slap the shore. Of course, that’s assuming the weather has been stable and warming.

In most areas of the country, in both lowland and flatland reservoirs, one dynamic pattern stands out during the Prespawn Period. It involves what we call the Suspension Zone. Typically, crappies begin to move toward spawning habitat as the surface of the water approaches 50°F. In most flatland and lowland reservoirs, classic crappie spawning habitat is found in shallow embayments and coves. In the absence of anything resembling those options, crappies spawn in brush, woodcover, reeds, or weeds along main-lake shorelines. Before moving into shoreline cover to spawn in any of these habitats, when water temperatures at the surface read somewhere between 50°F and 59°F, they stage and suspend in open or somewhat open water away from shore.

In classic spawning bays or coves, crappies wander like nomads across featureless flats. When they hold for any appreciable length of time, they often loosely relate to brushpiles, cribs, or some other form of cover. It’s common to find prespawn crappies, scattered but in groups, suspended 5 to 10 feet down in 10 to 18 feet of water within spawning bays or coves (old creek arms that have silted in), in both lowland and flatland reservoirs. As the water warms above 60°F, you can find them with increasing regularity associated with shoreline cover until they finish spawning.

Spring weather can be harsh in the northern states, and crappies move out of coves entirely during nasty cold spells. The creek channels entering these coves may be silted in and indistinct. Crappies may move to the most precipitous drop-off they can find, which might be hundreds of yards away within the main lake, and suspend there. The most precipitous drop might be from 8 to 10 feet, but they seem to prefer depths in the 12- to 17-foot range to ride out a cold front. These particular suspended crappies, driven off by cold fronts, can be very tough to catch. As with natural lakes, the best bites usually occur during stretches of warm, stable weather.

Perhaps the most common spring pattern in all reservoirs involves the Suspension Zone. It’s common for crappies to move upstream from main-lake or near main-lake wintering spots into creek arms of flatland, highland, and hill-land reservoirs until they reach an area of maximum environmental stability.