Setting aside cold fronts for the moment, how long will crappie stay in the shallows?

Maybe a better way to ask this is when you begin to find them shallow, how long do you figure they'll be up close before moving back out?

Main reason I'm asking is I'm considering putting out some more brush but wondering if it's a little late this year (in which case I should probably do the yard work I've been putting off).

Thanks!

It's never too late to put brush out and Crappie will be fairly shallow in different areas of any given lake into early May.

I put out 2 crappie condos in our slip on Friday at 1 pm. Caught fish of them at 4 pm. Sometimes it don't take long at all. I did bait it with hi protein feed pellets to help lure in some minnows.

Thanks guys.

I'm thinking tossing out a few range cubes is a good idea. I've read where some think that crappie are attracted to those cuz they catch a few crappie when chumming for cats.

You put range cubes out and you'll attract all the catfish and carp in the area....not crappie. Crappie only need some kind of structure to attract them, not any kind of 'bait'.

ditto

Wonder why when I was a kid and the compress was still runnin, we would always catch lots of crappie with cottonseed cake in a towsack over the side. Same place and no cottonseed cake and fishin was really slow to non existant?

That cake drawed bait, like minnows. That is what draws the
crappie into a spot. I only have luck with this when I hang it
high, close to the top of water. You can actually see the
minnows circling the cake. Cake is hard to find nowdays. It
also makes good bait for minnow traps. Good Day,

I would also consider setting out brush deeper along the creek channels. When they finish shallow they move deep again.

Agreed to late for shallow brush expecting to draw or hold new fish this season.
We brush our deep holes as well as shallow during the summer months when it easy and "warm".Dropping chum on spring hole is done around the first of Feb with milo. Carp will run out the slabs if its done much after that.We do bait out the mouth of creeks pretty good,it keeps the carp out of the shallows abit better and the crappie get to do their boy/girl thing without the bully's.

As for the cakes,its really easy to make your own cake.
Seed hulls are easy to get,acouple of 5 gal buckets with holes drilled in the bottom and the center cut out from the lids.
Soak a bucket of hulls acouple of hrs in water then put them in the bucket with holes drilled in the bottom.
Put the cut out lid on top with a good heavy block and smash out the water. Minimal smarts will clue one as to what needs to be done to tweak the process for the desired cake thickness etc.

Allow a ferw days for the cakes to start drying "in the bucket"
then knock them out and finish air drying

Again,tweak the process to suit your needs

Normally your will first start seeing a few males move up shallow around the first part of March ( once the water temp gets to around 59 to 60 degrees) and you will have late spawner off the the main lake and in coves the first couple of weeks of May. So from the beginning to the end it could last 2 months.

+ 1 and add Corn meal

i've heard up using white rie for drawing in crappie.

Big Dave,
Where might I find your slip?

rice* i meant