I made it out to the lake today over lunch. I was ‘schooling’ the people around me as I pulled in Crappie after Crappie with the occasional Gill thrown in just to keep it from getting boring while they were not doing as well. (Awful fun on the new 3wt )
Well, it seems that here in Omaha, the cool weather we had over the last few weeks has set back the spawning of the Crappie and Gills. Teh Crappie appeared to be getting on their beds while the Gills are stacking up and tormenting them.
Did/do any of you see the same thing? Is it just an anomaly in the lake I was at maybe? Not that I would complain, but it just seems a little odd this year.
I believe the cold weather has set the bluegill spawning back here as well. I was out Saturday and the water temp in the pond I was fisning was 64 taken at 11 am. So it’s still little cold for spawning.
I was down in Iowa this past weekend, and I was catching some nice gills in some very shallow water (less than 2 feet) however, I didn’t seen any beds being formed yet. Maybe they are just getting started. I’ll be getting out a few days this week up here in Minnesota so I’ll keep you posted.
Northern Indiana here - I was catching crappie on the bed 3 or 4 weeks ago. Then another round of cool/cold weather and as far as I can tell everything left the shallow water. Just now starting to move back in. Last Saturday found large numbers of smallish bass in 1-3 foot of water - temp 68d. Bluegill were also in this water - caught 3 that kissed 9" on the tape and a dozen or so smaller ones. When we lost the sun water very quickly dropped into high 50’s and the fish shut down. Has been about 80d since then but next weekend is supposed to drop into the 60’s! Ain’t this spring fun??
By the way, isn’t the 3 wgt FUN? I moved to as 3 wgt rod for almost all my panfishing last summer. I now have a 2 wgt outfit and earlier this year got into 10-11" crappies with it. What a blast!! However, while the 3 will handle some wind the 2 does not. At least not for me. Maybe my ability will improve this year with the 2.
Here in south central Iowa the crappie are just starting to come in to spawn.
Checked three ponds Saturday and the water was in the 53 to 54 degree range.
The gills have not started to bed any that I can tell.
Cold weather has slowed things down a bit.
Didn’t make it out last weekend due to Wife’s birthday, then Mother’s day. Prior to that, got some nice gills. Haven’t made it out for crappie yet, although they,ve probably peaked already. The gills here in Ohio probably won’t hit the beds until early June.
Mike
#&#^$ &#^@&$(@ thundershowers! Now my exploration into this subject is gonna have to wait for a couple more days.
Rick Z, did you guys get hit too badly last night, or did they pass too far north for you? I was out back at 11PM tying the Trampoline to the deck so it didn’t blow into the neighbors yard. Then the hail hit. . . All the lakes are muddy and high now for a few days.
St. Louis area, went fishing Sat. May 7 and bluegills were active close to shore. The ones I caught were large and brightly colored (females?). Usually they are smaller. By the way, what crappie fly were you using?
I tried 3 different ones, and all got the same wonderful attention.
a wooley bugger (Dark blue tail with some mylar peices, ice chenille body and furnace hackle palmered.)
A crease fly. (Silver with brown tail.)
Wooly bugger with black tail, green body and no hackle palmering.
I enjoyed the crease fly the best, cause the lure guys were going nuts watching me catch them on topwater while they went without. I didn’t stick with it, because I wanted to try the green bodied one.
The worst storms have been north of us a wyas. We did get soem much need rain and may have some severe things tonight. will have to watch and see what happens.
)
All the lakes are muddy and high now for a few days.