As it approaches the Middle of February with a few warming days ahead....what are some of the indicators that Crappie are coming up shallow to spawn. Redbud / Dogwood Trees blooming? Last year in my neighborhood 7 acre pond never seem to find them as I had in previous years. Love to catch them on ultra light with jig and float.

When nobody is posting on here saying that they’re catching crappie up shallow… You can bet your life they’re sacking the crappie up shallow…

Seriously, go start fishing shallow around the first of March. The crappie will be there. You just have to adjust your approach a foot or two.

JR

For me it's when the Bradford pears have white blooms on them.

For me I start looking in dfw in late February. I look for time of year and then if we can get 2-3 warm nights in a row during that time. The warm nights bring them up. 50-55 degree nights are money

Cold fronts, north winds, cold nights, water temp drop are indicators they won't be up shallow. So look for the opposite conditions. Stable weather pattern is a big plus. There will be some crappie up shallow last two wks Feb right on thru first two wks May. I've caught crappie last two wks in 20-25 FOW with eggs that are fairly mature and eggs that are still very firm. Some of these fish may be spawning by end of Feb. Where they will be and when is like buying a lotto ticket. Some areas are consistent spawning grounds and those areas are where I start looking first. There will also be crappie spawning in 6-12 FOW on structure and that will usually be March/April.

Caught a few at Whitney in 16ft. , and all the females were realy big and full of eggs.

When the leaves of a sycamore tree are as big as a mouses ear, the crappie are in the shallows.

when daytime hours equal nightime hours,, march 16th is when that happens,., also when the bluebonnet shoots come up and get buds on them, and the little WREN birds show up in mass.. has always been a good indicators for me.,
if you wait on water temps, your going to miss out,,
alot of folks get all riled up because a few are being caught shallow, but what is happening is as the water warms, and dayight increases the shad start moving out of deeper water and going shallower to feed, and the crappie are following them.
the earliest ive found crappie spawning is feb 29th and that was on a gin clear central tx lake.
I will start looking for spawners around the second week of march.

For me middle of March all the way about halfway through May. Once that water temp goes above 70 degrees they will be back out on the main lake. There will be always some shallow early but it's too early at least in my area for the crappie to be up shallow spawning yet.

The only indicator I use is the calendar. I start looking for them shallow in late February. If I don't get bit consistently I'll look deeper. I know you said you're fishing from the bank so that's not necessarily an option. The reality is that everything mentioned above CAN mean the crappie are up shallow. But, none of it means that for sure. Just start looking for them toward the end of Feb. Even if you don't catch them at least you're out fishing. Some of the best days I've ever had fishing I didn't catch any fish.

You & I are similar in our line of thinking about some of the best days of fishing . I`ll tell anyone "if I had to catch fish for a living I`d probably starve to death" however I`ve had a few real Good days inside........ but I wasn`t fishing.

I know they are spawning so deep in central Texas they are getting the bug eye and can't get 'em rolled over in the livewell!

I've seen temps ranging from 52º-62º. Warm nights and rain may help and a big ol' cold front will shut 'em down!!! Don't sweat it, they'll do
their thing!

Last year we started getting limits of big fish in the shallows by mid February. A day or two of great fishing then it would shut down for a week in the rain and cold. Two good days of sun would get the bite going again.

I never could figure the crappie spawn out so I drop my standards and go fill the freezer up with bass filets

You bet Troy. Especially those over 3lbs.; those big fillets grill like red fish. Plenty of ketchup or tarter sauce and they're gooooood.