On larger rivers like the Mississippi in Minnesota and Wisconsin, crappies also spawn out of the current. The habitat of choice most of the time is within large, sprawling backwater areas. Crappies here occupy woodcover almost exclusively during the Spawn Period, when available. Some backwaters and embayments hold the fish all year. Current is too strong in the main-river areas of the Mississippi to hold crappies most of the time—until water levels drop quite low. But prior to spawning, crappies sometimes move 2 to 4 miles, farther in some cases, to reach spawning embayments.

In some instances, northern river crappies spend winter in natural lakes connected to the river by short canals or streams. In rivers with dams, crappies may drop down into a reservoir to spend the winter. In the northernmost latitudes of their natural range, river crappies tend to have two critical requirements: To get as far away from current as possible, and to find areas at least 20 feet deep. Crappies forced to winter in areas less than 15 feet deep in far northern climates generally suffer more stress and higher winter mortality rates—and it often happens, since the only available backwaters completely out of current often are less than 10 feet deep. However, ice-fishing for crappies is popular and productive in many northern Mississippi River backwaters.

As water temperatures climb into the 60°F range in spring, those crappies with options involving deeper winter habitat begin to migrate, usually downstream to bays and backwaters where they stage and eventually spawn. After spawning, they move directly to areas adjacent to the main current—or as close as they can get while still occupying woodcover. Big-river crappies often move throughout the summer, but continue to utilize backwaters, especially edge areas where still water borders the main flow of the river.

In these areas woodcover provides important habitat. A deadhead log may drift in, provide habitat for several weeks to several years, and harbor crappies during summer. When floods wash the deadhead away, crappies may not be found there again until the river deposits more woodcover. Those that stay in backwaters during summer become more difficult to approach, as many of these areas become choked with vegetation.

Ronnie Capps is a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer when he’s not busy winning crappie tournaments. Between traveling to and from tournament sites, he chases oxbow crappies in the lower Mississippi River. Typically, in truly large rivers like this, crappies avoid the current of the main channel whenever possible, preferring sloughs, backwaters, and oxbow lakes.