I've fished 3 different lakes and can't catch one fish in relatively shallow water! I'm having a hard time believing that 58-59 degree water is abandoned by crappie. Is anyone catching fish shallow west of DFW? East Texas guys always seem to be earlier than the western parts. But NOT ONE CRAPPIE on 3 different lakes is kinda of freaking me out

Caught a few in 14 FOW this weekend. My guess.....7 years of somewhat stable lake habitats during the drought have suddenly been changed/moved/destroyed/or new areas added when the lake levels suddenly came back up????

Very good point. Hopefully it's that and not my own doing.

And maybbeee I'm a bit early for shallow fish but I know I have caught them in colder water, with colder nights in shallow water. I'm no expert, nor a crappie master, just wondering what I'm doing that is so different than all the other years?

They are there in small numbers, just spotty and hard to find...unless you get lucky!

if this holds water, than maybe because the drought made crappie spawn in areas that are now deeper,because the lakes are normal pool, they go back where they were spawned, and spawning deeper .
THEY DONT ALWAYS SPAWN SHALLOW, AND WATER TEMP IS NOT THE MAIN FACTOR OF SPAWN. !
JMHO !
If we had a few years of good stability, and the water levels were static, than I would start looking shallow first,. but because its been so fluctuating, I look deeper to shallow first.

That is true, Alan Henry in west Texas is crystal clear and most of the time seem to spawn in 8-12' rather than in inches. I'd be interested in learning more about the effects of high water after so a long period of drought.

I think everyone is so focused on surface temps that they are forgetting how much more water there is to be heated up this year. Most lakes have a lot more water going into this year's spawn, which means that even though we see 57-60 degree water, the areas in deeper water where the fish are hanging out are still very chilly. I have fished three different DFW lakes this week and have not found a fish more shallow than 18ft on any of them.

This! They don't all do it at the same time as well. I think they're kinda like people. Some like the snow covered mountains and some like the beach. Who knows. All our fish this weekend were 20-30FOW suspended 16-20ft down. I stink at fishing shallow so I have always focused on catching fish going to spawn and coming back from spawning. Shallow fish are suck fickle critters IMO...

I have heard them called "persnickety "


MO

Ive fished a few creeks around the dfw. One is full of fish and they are in about 8' of water, fishing a 1 1/2' down. Just depends on the waterbody. Id wait til march before i started to freak out. Keep fishing, they will be there sooner than later.