Have you experienced finding shad everywhere but getting no bites or spotting no crappie in winter creeks? What do you think could be the reasons for this?

Winter creek crappie are finicky. These fish don’t go up every creek and sometimes the fish are there but they won’t but for squat. Or they might be in that creek but they just didn’t swim all the way up to where you are.

I have found that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water really applies when it comes to winter creek fishing. They really like to stack up in specific areas.

Microsat everything afore mentioned is absolutely spot on! HOWEVER here is a very important variable i`d like to add: If you find shad in your creek and are getting no bites in your creek it could be you are there at a negative bite cycle and the Barometric Pressure is just too high for them to aggressively chow down or you have gone fishing right after a front has passed thru and the low pressure has rendered them sluggish and they just don`t want to bite anything at all.Had you been there just before the front your chance of catching may have been much better because fish,sensing the oncoming change ,always seem to feed vigorously. The Barometric Pressure has a drastic effects on creek fish ESPECIALLY if it`s a SHALLOW creek! The fish in deeper water not so much so If you are planning a creek trip, next time,I suggest you check the pressure reading for the specific time of day you plan to fish and hope for a favorable reading. Between 29.62 mb - 30.4mb Believe it or not it makes a huge difference I learned this from DFW area fishing guide Carey Thorn back in the White Rock Creek fishing hay day`s.

When this happens, I really just feel like I haven't found them. Crappie in the creek move around ALOT and this is why I don't guide for creek fish. Lately, I have been finding most of my fish on submerged stumps and I basically have to be bumping them to get bit. I personally NEVER look at the air pressure. The crappie have to eat.. period. Change up your depth and retrieve. Some days they like it worked fast than others. I hope this helps

Couldn't agree more with regard to big swings in BP ! Must be tuff having a swim bladder !

When fishing for Stripes , they relate to trees in high pressure swings in big swings to low pressure I can't find them !!