Awesome post thank you. Little off topic question but do you think a lake like Palestine gets over harvested on Crappie or are there more fish in there then you and I could count?

Thanks for the report! Good info

I believe that what most of us have thought for many years, that crappie that are hanging around brush in 8 to 17 feet of water are staging and waiting for the right time to go shallow is a myth, those fish are spawning on those areas in the 8 to 17 foot depths. this is why you hardly ever catch big 3 and 4 year old males and females shallow, in 6 inches to 2 feet, its the small immature males and females that go really shallow for some reason. There is a creek that runs thru a cove on a lake I fish, and theres a very large tree amidst a group of smaller trees, with a large flat boulder sitting next to it in 20 feet of water., every year folks go right past it into the back of the cove, and catch a small fish here and there, but if the wind is blowing into the cove, I tie up to the tree, and use a slip cork rig, set at 10 to 12 feet, and catch large males and females .. and plenty of them!!
once I realized that the majority of the nice fish do not spawn shallow, I was able to zero in on areas that were more productive, than fishing hundreds of yards of bankline, to get a dozen or 2 skinny males. Also, In my opinion, paying attention to the water temp is a great waste of time.
moon cycles, hours of daylight, nutrient rich areas, and areas where ive found them in the past is what I pay attention to. areas where shad spawn is great to know as well. Also, the clearer the water is the deeper the fish will spawn.
today I noticed some bluebonnet buds in my yard, and yesterday I saw a few wrens flying around, for me, that has been a good indicator that the fish are getting ready to do thier thing very soon.!!!

Great post Mark, and may your cup overflow this year!!!

Are you identifying the males by the darker fins?

Identify them when I cleaned them.