Secrets to Seasonal Migrations, Habits and Habitats

As the seasons change, so do the attitudes and environmental needs of fish. With the passing seasons, crappies alter many things, including type of diet, activity levels, location, even behavior. But the calendar year of a fish isn’t divided into neat mathematical units like our Gregorian calendar of 12 months of relatively equal length. The crappie’s calendar is determined by seasonal needs. Each season brings particular requirements for a certain type of habitat, which may be related to forage abundance, depth, substrate types—whatever the environment demands for survival, growth, or propagation at that point in time.

The In-Fisherman Calendar breaks down the annual cycle of a fish species into 10 distinct periods, varying in length and timing according to the makeup and needs of the fish in question. Dividing the year into 10 periods is somewhat arbitrary, and periods often overlap as individual fish may vary in the timing of activities, and bodies of water differ from one end to the other. But each time frame on this calendar represents basic modes of an annual cycle followed by fish as they move through stages of: Preparing for and carrying out reproductive duties (Prespawn and Spawn Periods); finding forage in warm water (Summer Period); stocking up on stored energy (Postsummer and Turnover Periods); and seeking environmental stability during the harshest time of their year (Coldwater Period).

This chapter describes the fundamental principles for determining crappie location based on seasonal changes that crappies experience annually. How those seasons compare to the months of the Gregorian calendar depends largely upon latitude. In the North, crappies have an extended Coldwater Period and a compressed Summer Period. In the South, it’s just the opposite. When crappies spawn in the South, their northern cousins might still be locked under the ice and entrenched in the Coldwater Period. Though the periods may start at different times in different regions, crappies within the same period exhibit similar behavior in similar environments. So, no matter where crappies live, the In-Fisherman Calendar can be used as a guideline to determine what mode of activity crappies might be engaged in (foraging, spawning, migrating) and what general locational patterns they might be following (shallow, deep, in-between, suspending, or on structure).