Old School Crappie Fishing Family Secrets
crappies all over their habitat range are called a lot of different namessuch as calico bass,speckled perch,speckled bass,white perch,pole crappies,strawberry bass, and papermouths. The water temperature during the pre-spawn period is typically between 50 degrees farenhieght to 63 degrees farenhieght. During the pre-spawn period speckled perch are changing their daily patterns getting ready for the upcoming spawning period.
During the pre-spawn period the paper mouths are searching for good spawning grounds to have their young. They require a solft, but not to mucky bottom because the males will be sweeping out the nest from time to time. The soft bottom needs to be close to cover which could be stumps, fallen trees, brush piles, reeds, or stalks that are at the appropriate depth for spawning.
The proper depth for spawning is determined by the water clarity where the paper mouths are located. The clearer the water the deeper strawberry bass must go to spawn. In extremely clear lakes this may be at depths up to 20fett deep. In speckled bass waters that have average clarity, typically white perch spawn in depths of 3 to 6 feet. In mudy or murky waters the spawning depths may be only 2ft or less. The way the depth is determined is by how deep the light penetrates the most. Crappies will spawn right below that point. Light is required for the paper mouths in the gestation period.
The best spawning locations for papermouths are typically bays , coves, and back water areas that have a gravel-sand, sand, sand marl, and sand-silt bottoms.
Female papermouths will start the migration to the spawning locations when the water temperature reaches 50 degrees farenhight. And they will stay near the spawning areas. To catch these females during the pre-spawn period go bait fishing with crappie live baits such as crappie minnows and shiners, or small crayfish. To catch the male papermouths you will have to fish deep cover close to the spawning areas during the pre-awn period. You can use crappie jigs and long crappie jigging poles to get into the deep cover. During the pre-spawning period white perch will feed aggressively. If you can locate the crappie spawning areas during the pre-spawn period you will catch crappie while bait fishing using various crappie baits.
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