Water clarity, or more accurately light penetration, dictates the depth crappie find comfortable at all times during the year, and especially during the spawn. Muddy to heavily stained water keeps crappie shallow, and during the spawn they can be in as little as 1 foot of water. As the water clears, crappie move deeper, and in extremely clear water can spawn as deep as 20 feet. Male crappie fan the nests and essentially make the bed while the females stage out from the nest. Depending on the lake and progression of the spawn, females may be farther out and much deeper than the males, or within 6 feet and at the same depth, but both sexes will be feeding aggressively up to the last stages of the female moving in and dropping her eggs. Females are then in and out rather briefly, and once they�ve dropped all of their eggs are very difficult to pinpoint and catch.

Male crappie are emphatic guards of their up and coming fry, which is why the spawn bite is the best �thump� most anglers feel all year. However it�s important to remember that the males are not actively feeding after the females have left, they are merely trying to run off any predator of the tender eggs. While the initial bite is ferocious, male crappie are only trying to kill or wound baitfish that pose a threat, and will �chomp� once or twice and then spit the bait. They are genetically geared to feed heavily prior to the spawn to prepare for the fasting that accompanies it. A quick hook-set is key, otherwise your bait will be outside of the crappie�s mouth in a matter of seconds.

The role of the female crappie during the spawn is to do one thing and one thing only: lay her eggs. Catching females with eggs pouring out of them is rare, but if it does happen you are right in the heart of the spawn, and should find aggressive males nearby. What exactly causes a female to deem it time to drop her eggs is unclear on any given body of water, but what is clear is that it usually happens in mass in particular areas, meaning if you do luck up upon one, there are more nearby in similar surroundings. Most females caught while spawn fishing are prespawn and loaded with eggs. Crappie move shallow to spawn and do so on firm bottoms, which can range from rocks to logs, but is usually performed on the lake floor surrounded by cover, which is primarily for protection against predators and mother nature�s wrath. Any shallow cover over a hard bottom is an excellent place to look for spawning crappie. Hard objects give the crappie a place to hide and protect their nest. So cover is always where you should look.

Good read thanks.

Learn something new everyday

enjoyed the read.

Thanks for sharing

It really made sense to my because not one fish I caught was in clear shallow water, but in darker water mostly at the mouths of creeks THUMP! In water deep as 29 FT which was Clearer THUMP!

good stuff 2000 wondering this from decades slabing or fish bio gist

Good read, Thanks

very good post. I would add though that the females dont always spawn on bottom structure, they can spawn on styrofoam docks, standing timber, tires, sunken boats ect.
As I have said before I believe more crappie spawn on deeper structure and they do along banklines.
It is a mathematical impossibility for most crappie to spawn along banklines. they would have the be lined up like sardines in a can.
In abt 3 weeks, the crappie will start appearing in mass on main lake brushpiles, first shallow stuff then mid depths.
The folks who have the permanent etching on thier brains that crappie always spawn shallow, and in the warmest water, will be STILL scratching thier heads, and looking into an empty livewell, wondering how they "missed" the spawn.
I am catching males in 16 feet , black as coal, and large females nearby in 27 feet of water on belton. Estimating by the size of the egg sacs, Im thinking around 3 weeks, the females will go drop cargo on the cover that the males are hanging on.
The shallow areas that Ive done good on dont look right for a shallow spawn this year . If the water isnt nutrient rich and has that good looking color, they wont spawn there.
There was alot of growth of vegetation around the lake during the drought, but its all dead. not a green stalk in the bunch. All of that growth doesnt mean squat, unless its in nutrient rich water
Temperture is the least of my concerns, and depth is a close second.
water color, area of the lake ( structure along a north bank or protected cove that has a shallow flat for shad to go feed in at night). Keep this in mind, if the area the females deposit eggs in isnt nutrient rich, the eggs fry wont survive.. These areas that are nutrient rich, can change year after year, but theres usually 2 factors... 1.. wind blowing plankton into areas and 2. inflow of nutrient rich water from creeks and rivers.
Keep in mind, if a deluge of dirty, flood water comes into a creek, that doesnt mean nutrient rich.
a a slow, gentle runnoff from farm fields or nutrient rich soil could be beneficial though.
Heres another example.. the south and middle bosque on waco, warmest water on the lake for last 6 weeks ,historically has been a good place for spawn in previous years, but this year, the water looks dead. its brownish yellow with wood particulate matter in it. It not nutrient rich, emerald green, planton laden water. the crappie arent back there. hardly any baitfish either..
Go up north and the water looks alot better, not great, not good, but better.

Well written and great information!

ruff , last year black, chart rockies were the got to bait on waco for me too.!!

the girl who makes them for me I have her saturate the colors, the black is super black and the chart super bright, same with the white/chart rockies.

Ruffneck and Leanin Post you are both right and good info. But wanted to add here in North-East Texas we have both Black and White crappie and the spawn for two is not the same. The two color jigs of black-chart, white-chart, and chart-chart work well up this way. And they do need do be very rich in color. "The chart is both green and yellow." But the big thing the past couple of years is for the jigs the two colors run from front to back, don't know what it is but that two color tail will do the job.

"Wired to fish"=Male crappie are generally the target when spawn fishing, and they are protecting, not feeding. They are however aggressive, and will attack anything that they deem a threat, so big, bright colors that are more visible will garner more attention and strikes. A little rattle, however, never hurts in dirty water.

Just did some research online and cut and paste some relevant info for our issues finding fish in deep water, and shallow water with water temps that were at 58 68 degrees during the spawn trying to find out why. I do understand that all lakes vary not sure how the bite is north TX, South, East or West but I know this has been the case in CenTX. Crappie. com and wired2fish were the most help online.

constantpursuitoutfitters.com needs to get back online lol I need a re-up! its hard getting deep color plastics that are tough in the stores. Blk and Char-tee is the ticket right now.