Crappie spawn

[rivereddy]

The gents are still in their tuxes but the ladies are starting to look a little thin.  Been dinging the crappies right regular of late.  Got back to it this afternoon for the first time in about a week and caught several spawned out
females.  I think the dance is winding down...

fish on,

rivereddy

[Daybreak]

Hard to believe it has happened already.  Didn't realize the water had warmed up that much. What was the water temp where you were fishing?  Ponds would be much warmer than the reservoirs, since that is pretty much all central Indiana has to offer.

[Daybreak]

I don't want anyone to panic about missing the crappie spawn.  I think there is still time for people to get in on some of the action.  Here is a post from another site regarding yesterdays fishing experience in central Indiana for crappie.

"After 47 degree rain all nite long last rain, water temp was set back to 56 all over main lake of Lemon. Couldn’t find fish except on one bank kinda out of the wind most of the time with water temp climbing to 60. Caught maybe 60, but kept 18 over 10” to 13 “ for 7 hrs of fishing and when I cleaned them, every fish was a female and eggs not ready and a long way to go. Crankbaits were used. speed was 1.4 to 1.6 mph in 10’ to 12’ of water next to 20’ of deep water as they were just coming up. Ran the cranks a couple feet off the bottom constantly changing their running depth with the bottom depth versus the fish I was seeing on the electronics. I did find one bay with 64 degree water but no fish. Lemon has yet to turn on and it’s just been alittle weird with the heavy rains and the up/down water temps. Fishing main lake and creek channels was totally unproductive with no fish caught in most places I tried today. So figure that one."

"Your at the mercy of Mother Nature and it’s way early yet. Surface temp means nothing anyhow. 3 ft. down water is ice cold yet."

[Big Buck]

Man...thats a great report!

[abishop]

Thank you, thought it was a bit early yet. Thought they spawned between 65 to 68 degrees.

[rivereddy]

The news about Lemon Lake makes for an interesting comparison between two bodies of water. We were fishing a fair sized, deep lake not more than 10 miles away.  We caught black crappie in about 6-10 feet of water on 1/16 oz twistertail jigs. Last week they were in the wood and shallow. As mentioned earlier most of the fish caught were males.  None were weeping milt. We  caught several females as well and all but a couple were spent and gaunt. Those females with eggs came from deeper water. It will be interesting to see if another spawning wave follows. Bluegills and small LMB were in the shallows and aggressive. We caught a lot of fish, but only kept 10 - all "cookie cutter" males between 10 and 11 inches. All had drained gonads.  The largest, caught and released, was an egged out female at a tad over 13 inches.

I can't speak to absolute water temps, I managed to run  my jeep over my tried and true thermometer a couple of weeks ago and haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. 

fish on, crunch....,fish off

rivereddy



 

[fishcrazy]

Depends we’re you are in the state. Water temp at Black oak bayou 50 degrees Sunday.

[abishop]

Depends we’re you are in the state. Water temp at Black oak bayou 50 degrees Sunday.

So what are you saying that they are spawning at 50 degrees??. Water temp Monday was 54 where I was at and NO CRAPPIE BITE. TOOO  COLD. IMHO

[rivereddy]

The lake we fished was in northern Brown County, south central Indiana.

fish on,

rivereddy

[Big Buck]

Missy river 52 degrees...we have some time yet! The best is yet to come!

[taxid]

Good to hear. I still want to pick up about a half a dozen white crappie females to go with that many black male crappies to produce some hybrids in one of my spawning ponds. Daybreak and I cancelled a trip to Missi as was told it was muddy. 

[charlys1954]

fished Nyona Monday(11am-4pm) with no luck(temp 54-55), caught 2 bass in pads on a float and 1/16 hair jig. Even tried the 4-5' long channel with some wood and no bites. Talked to a land owner while I was out front of some pads, he said the crappie was in the pads, guess I'm to inexperienced in the spawn, never had a bite. May give it another try Thur if the rain doesn't show.