Crappie Season!

Spring 2024

May equals crappie season. Every spring, crappie slowly make their way more and more shallow as the water warms. The male crappie move in first and make the spawning bed, then the females come in and spawn. The spawn usually occurs when the water hits 68 degrees. The males also guard the nest until the fry hatch. All this activity occurs in 2 to 8 feet of water, during about a 3 week time period; usually in May. This makes the fish extremely easy to catch on a fly rod! Katie and I know we have this short window of time to fill the freezer with crappie, so we try to maximize the number of trips we make in May.

We made our annual pike trip up north and this is usually where we harvest our first batch of crappie. This year was different though, and we came home empty handed.

CJ Strike

Last year at Strike, I lucked into the best day of crappie fishing I've ever had for numbers AND size, bringing home 59 crappie at 12-15 inches. Hoping to replicate that in 2024, Katie, her dad and I picked the least windy day we could and hit CJ for one day.

All day we had dozens of 7-9 inch fish tugging on our line. Eventually we decided 9 inches would make the cut and we began to slowly fill the live well. 

Random bass alway get the hopes up that you have a large crappie.

After numerous spots and at least 100 crappie to hand, we knew this year's fish were just smaller than last year. 

Towards the end of the day, we hit a spot where the average was just a touch larger and where Katie grabbed the first and only big crappie of the day; 14 inches.

We finished the day with probably 150 crappie to hand, but only 26 keepers at 9-10 inches for the freezer. A good start to the season but more would surely be needed. 

Owyhee Reservoir

Known for its numbers and not size, Owyhee is usually where we rely on filling our freezer. 

The Clarks join us every year for this trip; Katie, Bryce and their daughter Josie take their camp trailer over and enjoy several days of fun fishing. This year was different, though. In 25 years of fishing Owyhee, the largest crappie we've ever caught was 11 inches with the average at 8-10 inches. This year they were huge, with the average being 11-13 inches!

The water level at the reservoir was completely full, and as a result we had poor clarity. The fish were not plentiful like they normally were either. We would pick up 1 or 2 here and there with a couple spots holding small groups of fish.

Katie lucked into a large rainbow trout; a rarity here.

The scenery is always spectacular at Owyhee. Katie Clark found a Western Ground Snake swimming near the shore; a neat little colorful snake that made Josie's day.

My dad even came over for a day to take advantage of the larger than normal size this year.

In a couple days, Katie and I kept 40 large crappie. This brought our season total to 10 meals in the freezer. 

Greed and hunger took hold, and with a couple spare days left in May, we planned another trip to Owyhee; this time with my Dad. On the second day, Bryce and his dad, Perry, also joined in the fun.

Fishing was still not red-hot, but we managed to get several here and there, with a couple of spots producing most of the crappie. 

By the end of the second day, we had fillets from 80 large crappie. Now we definitely had the freezer stocked up. Crappie season for us was now about over and we had enough meals to get us through to next year.

As the days grow longer and hotter and the water temperature pushes past 70 degrees, the crappie finish their spawn and start to move deeper. This makes them much harder to target, especially on a fly rod. June's arrival wraps up our crappie season and other fish make themselves available. Time for the next season!