I think in any water that’s open now the crappies will be moving to the pre-pre-spawn areas. With water in the upper 30’s and 40’s, I look for deep water in or near proximity to where they actually stage pre-spawn. These fish can be touchy. Barometric changes, water level changes, water temp changes and general shifts in weather can chase the fish into the deep water where they find their safety/comfort levels. Deep water is stable water and those crappies like the stability offered in deep water until things warm some.
Until the core water temps reach into the mid 50’s expect a daily shift from deep water in the morning to warmer surface water in the afternoon, then they’ll drop back to deep water at night. Once some 50s are found in the core water they’re way less likely to make any serious shift in depth unless a weather/barometric event moves them.
Non-emergent weeds can gather heat from the sun too and if its been bright and wind free so the weeds warm up they’ll hold crappies day and night.
Spring storms are maybe the biggest threat to decent spring crappie fishing. Rains can be cold and can drop surface temps enough to send crappies packing for deep water. Spring weather can also usher in radical barometric changes that can upset crappies big time, but the warmer the water, the less disturbed they will tend to get. Spring rains can also bring muddy conditions and that can set crappies way back as far as the early staging activities.
Play the color game, slow down, check the temp often [a single degree can make a world of difference right now] fish the shaded side of structure and fishing from top down are all things that can make or break a day on the water.
Locally people are marking schools of fish over deeper water and catching a few, but they are still having issues in getting them to hit at times with this roly-poly weather..
