Spring Time Can you Feel It?

Hey everyone, I cannot wait for the Crappie to start moving and then get into some Walleye in May? Stoney is almost ice free and the water is starting to come back up to where it should be.
What's everone's plans? Just getting excited and looking for some back and forth!

MC

The crappie started biting on saturday. Two of my friends were catching them in the kawarthas and one friend on simcoe. And I was catching them in zone 16. Crappie are in very shallow water right now, early morning and fish all day if you can.

Here is a picture of crappie. Caught 25 kept 9 big ones and one small one that swallowed my jig. Crappie were 11 12 and 13 inches.

Stoney lake is a gold mine for crappie with all those little bays and spring run off spots. Good luck on your spring crappie.

Hey CM,
Thanks for the info on the crappie being in shallow already. I was planning to try much later but may do so sometime in the next couple of weeks if I can get out...and with my baby boy to boot (not that he will be fishing yet but just to get outdoors already)...and with mom of course so I can hopefully catch a few for him to examine. I have a few spots (culverts and small creek mouths that I know crappie can be found in the right time of year) on a couple of the large Kawartha lakes to try. How long do they stay shallow and close to shore in your area?

Thanks CM for the update, I didn't think they would be on the move already.
Time to get out and give it a try ASAP.

MC

On Balsam and Sturgeon I fish for them from ice out until about the middle of May in shallow water. When they start spawning I try and leave them alone to make more baby crappie. Targeting crappie nests is something I dont do. Sometimes I catch a few so I move away from that area. Here is a picture of crappie I dont like to catch, they turn very black when guarding the nest. If you pull them off the nest the other fish around rush in and eat the eggs. The sooner you can get out the better, good luck and stay safe.

Yes they are definitely out there now. My friends have been fishing for them since Saturday. Slip bobbers and 2 to 3 inch baits about 12 inches under the surface of the water if you are in about three feet of water. Pink, yellow and green bright colours or your favourite crappie bait. Good luck and stay safe.

wow nice catch! at least someone is on them. Been fishing the rivers on Simcoe and nada so far

Thanks for the good info. For sure, when the males are on nest guarding, they go very dark...when I was younger, I use to put on a wetsuit and swim out to check out sunfish, bass and crappie on nest to see what they were up to. The bass can be very aggressive and try to hit your mask. Crappie (basically a sunfish, as are bass) do the same thing but don't nest in the densities like sunfish (more scattered nests) and bass nests tend to be even more spread apart. Also found a couple of catfish guarding their brood as well but these guys didn't dig out nests like the sunfishes (sunfish, bass, crappie) - they were under on in holes in logs. Very cool to see how fish spawn underwater. And I agree, if the guarding males are off their nests even for a short time, other (usually smaller fish) swarm in and eat as many of the eggs and fry as possible before the males return to chase them away. So I was never a fan of OOS tournaments that allowed fishermen to catch bass on nests even if to release later...all the babies would die in the meantime. Don't know if there are anymore tournaments that do that (not good for the future of any fishery). If I can get out soon, I will try. Otherwise, my chances to fish later goes down again anyway. Keep the reports coming (if I can't get out at least I can see what I am missing).

Crappie are still hungry was on the phone with some friends and they are killing me with stories and teasing me because I am working nights. I should have called in sick all week. It has not been this good out there for a few years. At least I got a bunch last Saturday, and I will be fishing from sun up until sundown on Friday I hope. Happy Easter to all and good luck out there. Stay safe.

Hoping to get out on Friday as well but those high winds aren’t looking too promising. Any tips you might have for a new crappie angler in those high wind conditions?

Wind will be strong from the SW find a place where you can cast with the wind. Also some trees behind you to break the wind. But not to close to the trees in case a branch comes down. Many people say crappie don't like the wind. I do not agree with that theory. Many times it has been windy or rainy or both and the crappie still hit my bait.

Heading out tmr, seems a bit windy to to explore in the boat, gonna try few of the closer bays and see if i can run into some.

Good luck to you tomorrow, CM
I was not able to get to Kawartha yesterday to try my luck for some crappies and ended up going to Simcoe for some perch action And boy were they hungry
Caught hundreds and took home a couple dozen .