Thinking about length of day; hours of daylight are about the same in the central time zone. Example for March 28: length of day in Belton; 12hrs 24min: Fargo, ND 12hrs 39min. Low tonight in Belton 55; high tmrw 78. Low tonight in Fargo 20; high tmrw 36 with 80% chance snow. Based on length of day, crappie should be spawning in lakes in North Dakota. Don't know anyone to ask in ND to find out, but my intuition says ice out may or may not have happened. Lake Audubon is usually open for ice fishing till April 1.

Based on length of day, crappie should spawn same time in Choke Canyon and Texoma. I know several people that go to Choke and Lake Mathis every Feb to catch crappie up shallow. I've never heard of anyone catching shallow crappie in Texoma in Feb. But with length of day the same from north to south, crappie should be spawning from Brownsville to Lake Winnipeg, Canada.

Here's a quote from a fishing guide service on Rainy lake, Canada:

"Black crappie travel in schools during the summer and winter. Open-water anglers get their first crack at them as ice clears from backwaters in April or early May and the fish move inshore to feed. Top spots include man-made boat cuts and canals and shallow bays with cover (wood, weeds, docks). More fish move in by late May and June to spawn."

As Beltonbanger said, if you're waiting for a good report, you'll most likely be late to the party.

Exactly why the advice that water temps don’t matter is complete hogwash. Texoma runs late. I fished it for many, many years. The earliest I EVER saw fish shallow (on the west end mind you where it warms up faster) was maybe the last few days of March, and even then it was a few here and a few there with the exception of one night. Most of the time it was the first and usually the second weekend of April when it got good. I had years where I was still catching males guarding beds into the first weekend of June. Why? Because texoma is a little further north, and it takes longer to warm up. I will say with sandbass they’re a little more unpredictable, but crappie tend to be pretty stuck to their ways. Water temps around 56-58 a few males might start to look around, but it’s gotta stay there for a little while. Around 65-68 it’ll be game on, but I’ve seen them up shallow still guarding beds well in to may when temps are in the mid 70s. We always get what I call a “false wave” early in march with the first warm spell, but once a front hits they are gone, why? Because the water temp dropped. I remember one year it was about 35 degrees outside in north texas and we had just had a huge snowstorm right around mid March. I had been on lavon a day or two before and the main lake temp was 45 and I marked and caught some fish as deep as 40’. Some folks were in academy buying minnow buckets and bobbers to go hit the crappie spawn that day, I looked at them, said “what are you gonna fish for” they said “it’s crappie season” all I could do was laugh. Weather and water temps mean everything folks, especially for crappie. I have a crappie pond I fish and I haven’t caught a single male with worn down fins or a female that dropped her eggs. The males don’t even turn dark until you put them on the stringer. Presumably the cool temps of northeast texas and the cold rain has dropped the water temps and they just aren’t ready yet. Sandbass are a little more unpredictable, but I can in general bet on them showing up once water temps start to get around 55, but broadcast spawners tend to work a little differently because other factors like current flow play in. Bass, catfish, crappie, and bluegill I can predict almost all their behaviors based on water temp.

That's him!!!!!