Quinte Fishing

Hey guys and gals. Just a quick report then a question.

Was out on Hay Bay Sat. morning and was very surprised to see that there were not as many boats as I thought would be out there. One reason was probably that the north shore launch water was so shallow that the medium to larger boats couldn't launch.

Ended up getting really hot out in the afternoon. Landed pretty much everything that swims in there getting 4 eyes to the boat all about 2-2.5 lbs. From what I was hearing from other guys we did pretty decent. Once winds picked up and it looked like it was gonna pour we took off.

Now my question. On Sunday I headed up the the cottage about 20 mins north of Kingston to try for Crappie. From end of May to August I know where they are but September to early May I have no idea. Some reports from other lakes people have been getting them in shallow so I started there, nothing. Usually I can see them if they are in the shallows but nothing. Tried a bit deeper and nothing. Tried all the bays in the lake, again, nothing. I know this lake is filled with them so it's not a numbers problem.

Can anybody give me some advice or their experience with crappies in the spring time. I don't know if they spawn and then move out again or if maybe they just haven't spawned yet and are slowy moving in?? Should I have been fishing the main lake deep water??

Any help would be awesome.

JFish

I managed to boat quite a few crappies Sat. and Sun. It was a lake in Northern NY just in-land from the St. Lawrence River not too far from Kingston as the crow flies. I assume same general conditions. Water temp was 58-59 degrees. In my experience this is about 3 weeks ahead of where it normally is this time of year. I know guys were catching them really shallow about 2-3 weeks ago. I believe they were spawning then. The ones I caught were in 8-10 feet of water right on the bottom. Nothing fancy just a small hook, small split shot and a small minnow. They were close to shore but off the drop. I would cast to the bank and let it fall to bottom and work it slowly back to the boat. They weren't timid about biting once I found them, they slammed it. As you said I saw none in the shallows. Hope this helps

I figured everything would be ahead of schedule but I thought that means they would be in shallow. I'm still learning their migration pattern. I assume if they have spawned already they must have dropped back into the deeper water. There were no weeds coming up from the bottom but I find when the weeds are starting to come up I find the crappies in them fairly shallow. I find through the summer they start slowly moving back into the deeper water but still fairly close to shore. September though, I lose them again.

Thanks for the info.

JFish

This fish I caught were not associated with weeds. They were still on the rocks just deeper than normal.

Riverdog 11,
I don't think the crappies have spawned yet. Two weeks ago they were in shallow bays 5-7' of water but weren't on structures where they spawn and weren't turning dark yet. They move into these shallow weedy bays prespawn and are related to weeds. They were full of what appeared to be very small aquatic worms of some sort but would still take a minnow. I think the cooler weather and fishing pressure may have moved them deeper into the 8-10 ' where you found them. As you said things started early but I think the next warm spell should move them back shallow and then they should be ready to begin spawning.
I just returned from Quinte . The bite was not hot but we caught a good number of 14-19" walleyes. Plenty for a big feed last night and we all brought back limits today. We caught 17 eaters this morning
in 15-18 ' of water trolling worms and spinners.

Crappie out here in the Lake Simcoe area have not spawned yet. I caught a bunch yesterday the eggs are just starting to break through the sack. I'd say another week or so.

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Fish,Hunt or die!

Fished this afternoon and the crappies were back in 5-7' of water caught about 15. Interestingly we caught many more on Berkley jigs than on real minnows. Both were fished 3" below a bobber.