Crappies spawning yet?

They spawn in the early 60s, have not been keeping track of temps with my Hbird on the fritz-anyone know what the temps are at?
Some will not fish for them when they are spawning, if you are just getting into crappie fishing or just learning a lake its good to know where they spawn wether you fish the spawn or not. Usually a good group of specks not far from a spawning area all year-my 2 cents-Bird should come today or tommorow, hopefully today!

Water temps in central St. Louis county are hovering around 53-55 as of yesterday. With the cooler weather moving in this week, I don’t think they will hit 60’s soon.

Thanks GR

Not much spawning on east rush, 58 highest, 53 lowest

I’ve always heard that the crappies start to bite in spring when the lilacs start to bloom.

Thanks Beads, sounds like we are a week out-lilac thing sounds about right too.

Have seen them up in spawning areas a couple times in the last two weeks but mostly finding them on the initial weed edge outside of those spawning areas. We seem to be stuck in the mid fifties at the moment. Water and air temp.

Nice Fella wrote:

I’ve always heard that the crappies start to bite in spring when the lilacs start to bloom.

I always heard when the Oak leaves are the size of a Squirrels ear.

mahtofire14 wrote:

We seem to be stuck in the mid fifties at the moment. Water and air temp.

And it aint gonna go up anytime soon either. These cooler temps are going to be with us until the middle of the month. It is actually projected to be below freezing a couple of nights later this week…

They have not spawned yet but I have been finding them shallow. On Tonka in the shallows it was 60 two weeks ago. Last weekend Knife was 56.

John Rasmussen wrote:

On Tonka in the shallows it was 60 two weeks ago.

I was out there last Thursday and the shallows I found were 55.5 degrees. The main lake was only 53 degrees! We’re going backwards…

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>John Rasmussen wrote:</div>
On Tonka in the shallows it was 60 two weeks ago.

I was out there last Thursday and the shallows I found were 55.5 degrees. The main lake was only 53 degrees! We’re going backwards…

Nailed it. I was on Forest Lake in mid April and they were up in channels on docks and water temp was 61 degrees. They were probably almost spawning. Fast forward three weeks and that same channel is back down to the mid 50s. And no crappies up shallow.

Do you think these steady water temp will damage the crappie numbers in some harder hit lakes? This is the easiest time of the year to catch them, and usually it’s only for two weeks, but this year it could last for a month giving fishermen plenty of harvesting opportunities.

Once walleye opens people will say: ‘crappie, what’s a crappie?’ Better if the spawn happens after the opener. IMO

tim hurley wrote:

Once walleye opens people will say: ‘crappie, what’s a crappie?’ Better if the spawn happens after the opener. IMO

What’s an opener

What’s an opener-exactly

I was on Tonka yesterday. Around 2 pm the crappies really started moving in the shallow bays. Some crappies were making nests. The females were very close by but not on the nests yet, but soon. I wonder how the dropping temps will effect them. Some bass were paired up on beds. Water temp was 60. The crappies were not hungry early but really turned on later in the afternoon. It was not that busy at the ramp I was at

Not bad for first Crappie of the year. 15 incher inside a weed edge in 3 feet of water. I would think they are done spawning? Water was 68 degrees and the few I got into were all hanging out solo?

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Crappies like a lot of other fish will spawn where their is good food for the kiddos, they get done and they find their is good food for them too, and they are hungry, so they may not leave right away, pike I guess stay in spawning bays for a while, in Canada I have read that they could stay for a month. Female bass slide out deeper pretty quickly but are usually fairly close-oh, btw-nice fish

eyeguy507 wrote:

Not bad for first <em class=”ido-tag-em”>Crappie of the year. 15 incher inside a weed edge in 3 feet of water. I would think they are done spawning? Water was 68 degrees and the few I got into were all hanging out solo?

River or the Zum?

Tom Sawvell wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eyeguy507 wrote:</div>
Not bad for first <em class=”ido-tag-em”>Crappie of the year. 15 incher inside a weed edge in 3 feet of water. I would think they are done spawning? Water was 68 degrees and the few I got into were all hanging out solo?

River or the Zum?

Comon Tom, I cant catch crappies on LZ! I actually ventured out of my comfort zone on pool 4 and tried Cannon in Fairbault. I ain’t scared naming lakes. Actually tried for walleye for 5 hours and gave up and am glad I did. Crappies have a soft spot in my heart and are my second favorite. At first I thought I hooked a smallie, as all the crappie I catch don’t fight like this one.

Those males get feisty while they are on nest guard duty. That’s a dandy male too.