Odd crappie trip….

[redblood]

Went crappie fishing this morning. Lake is full again and all my brush piles were loaded with crappie. And man they were hungry. Probably caught 40. The only issue is that almost all were short. Way short. Probably caught more short fish today than i did all last yr. Best fish was a 14" male. Just cant figure out where the big fish were. Very odd.

Could all the big fish be spawning? I apparently hit the nursery!

 

[Harold Money jr]

How deep is your brush?
The reason I ask is, the adolescent males will come up before the even the adult males and especially females.
The bigger ones might be deeper.

 

[redblood]

How deep is your brush?
The reason I ask is, the adolescent males will come up before the even the adult males and especially females.
The bigger ones might be deeper.

Most was pretty shallow. In fact, the pile that had most of the small fish was 12 ft, shalllow for a deep lake. Thank you. You may be on to something. I will definitely be back in 2 weeks and try again

 

[TITANSFAN2104]

Most was pretty shallow. In fact, the pile that had most of the small fish was 12 ft, shalllow for a deep lake. Thank you. You may be on to something. I will definitely be back in 2 weeks and try again

The males have been up in priest for a month now and 2 weeks ago they were loaded with eggs. At least all the black crappie have been. Ive only caught white crappie in a few of the 15ft brush piles. I havent been in a couple of weeks.

 

[redblood]

The males have been up in priest for a month now and 2 weeks ago they were loaded with eggs. At least all the black crappie have been. Ive only caught white crappie in a few of the 15ft brush piles. I havent been in a couple of weeks.

This was Normandy lake and 98 percent of the catch are blacknose crappie. Oddly, on the state site says that all population growth in the lake comes from stocking. Does that mean that they dont spawn?

 

[TITANSFAN2104]

This was Normandy lake and 98 percent of the catch are blacknose crappie. Oddly, on the state site says that all population growth in the lake comes from stocking. Does that mean that they dont spawn?

Blacknose are a hybrid also known as a magnolia crappie in some areas and supposedly they DONT spawn.
Center Hill used to also have a nice population of blacknose. I just dont hear many people talking about fishing for crappie up there.

 

[mike243]

Never heard that theory before, originally from Arkansas, TWRA has stocked lakes with them for years, they spawn just like all the others, they are easier to track was 1 reason they decided to stock them.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

They spawn, but most of the the eggs are not fertile.

 

[WTM]

could be either. call the hatchery and they can tell you. i do know without stocking they said that normandy and tims cant support a crappie population.

 

[mike243]

https://panfishnation.com/black-nose-crappie/ lot of folk tails out there about them. pick your poison lol

 

[WTM]

https://panfishnation.com/black-nose-crappie/ lot of folk tails out there about them. pick your poison lol

if black nose have been crossbred whether its natural hybrids, stock hybrids or magnolias is with genetic testing to know for sure.

the only to way to know what goes into normandy or tims is to call the hatchery.

 

[mike243]

I didn't disagree with you, 2 other statements were not correct from what I read on the net. I wouldn't think twra would put a crossbreed into a lake when the hopes are to increase the population instead of a put/take form like trout in some places

 

[redblood]

Blacknose are a hybrid also known as a magnolia crappie in some areas and supposedly they DONT spawn.
Center Hill used to also have a nice population of blacknose. I just dont hear many people talking about fishing for crappie up there.

we kept one female that had eggs. all other females were released. i didnt realize it was a female or i would have released her. i will post the link

 

[TITANSFAN2104]

https://panfishnation.com/black-nose-crappie/ lot of folk tails out there about them. pick your poison lol

I have always heard they didnt reproduce or were infertile like stated above. HMMM.. No doubt if they reproduce then thats a great thing. Endless supply of big ole slabs right there

 

[mike243]

That link tells how and why magnolia were made. 8000psi on the eggs make them grow up sterile. Not sure how they figured out how to do that but needs=results sometimes

 

[redblood]

That link tells how and why magnolia were made. 8000psi on the eggs make them grow up sterile. Not sure how they figured out how to do that but needs=results sometimes

great info. so black nose crappie spawn but magnolia crappie are essentially sterile due to the triploid condition

 

[redblood]

every single crappie i have caught in my life except for a handful i caught out of streams were blacknose. teh stream crappie were whites and they were 40 miles from the nearest lake....i guess they washed out of someones pond

 

[mike243]

Over here on the east side we catch all 3, twra stocked them in Norris as a way to track them, there are no wood stumps left in the lake and it's rare these days for the water to ever get into much wood, ledges ect make up the habitat and probably lowers the numbers. piles of bait fish so really not sure why most of the fish population is lower than I would think should be here. Rockfish can't be doing that much damage and walleye either.