Lets spin up a little conversation here about the crappie spawn. What day last year did y'all start catching crappie limits or good numbers? I remember I caught my first limit on March 18. So please share with us what day you noticed they where moving in thick? Please share your thoughts, theories, etc.... I know this year it a lot different from last year but please share your knowledge of past years that have been similar to this one. I have not been crappie fishing along time, this will be my second spawn to fish so I'm not to familiar with the spawn etc.

Last year, because of the flooding during springtime, we never came close to cathing a limit.

Same at Lavon. High water.

Looking at some old pictures from last spring, my first one came on March 12.

I caught my first fish on the bank on March 13th last year.. I was getting limits by the end of the month.

I usually don't do well from the bank or in shallow water until April. March is sandbass season for me.

I never did catch my limit on crappie or sandbass over at Old Alton bridge from all the water I think. But I did limit out several times on blue cats at Marshall Creek on grapevine during the floods.

My first shallow fish came on February 21st last year.

Am I missing something?

It really depends on where you fish to find them shallow in March. I have found March to be VERY good in the creeks and in smaller bodies of water.

I have always felt that the middle of March is when it seems to start heating up on most of our lakes. I realize that is a general statement, it could swing a week or 2 either way, but as a general rule...by the time Spring Break hits...it's time to start hitting the shallows.

Creek, river, and private pond spawning times...that's on a whole 'nother level of time and dates

First thing that crossed my mind

I think one misconception is that too much attention is drawn to the spawn or 'run'. The fish follow shad, if the shad are in the creek so are the sandies and crappie and the shad tend to move up the creek in the winter so you can really catch them earlier it just depends if the food source is there or not. It may not be as fast as the spawn but you can still do pretty good without the run it just may take a bit more work to get a limit.

must have been a warm water lake because where I was fishing temps were between 44-48 after all the snow melt around that time last year