At lakes Fork and Toledo Bend and Lake O’ the Pines, no minimum length applies for crappie caught from Dec. 1 through the end of February, and all crappie caught must be kept, up to the daily bag limit, which is 25 at Fork and Lake O’ the Pines and 50 at Toledo Bend. This short lifespan means that a year of poor recruitment can have a significant impact on the number of legal-sized fish available.

“Crappie are very prolific fish, and when conditions are right, a mature female can produce 50,000 to 100,000 eggs,” Bonds explained. “The reason their population abundance is so erratic is many times related to environmental factors, especially reservoir hydrology, or the way water moves through a reservoir. The fluctuation in water levels, how quickly water moves through, and the timing of the movement has a significant impact on spawning success.

“On a mainstream reservoir, when there is a high flow-through in winter prior to the spawn, that’s often a predictor of a good spawn. But if you have a lot of water movement in summer after a spawn, you may have poor recruitment.”

Since many East Texas lakes function primarily as water-supply reservoirs and so tend to be drawn down in summer, crappie populations in those lakes may be adversely affected in some years. “Young crappie behave much differently from largemouth bass,” Bonds said. “When largemouth bass are about fingerling length, they are eating macroinvertebrates and are tight to cover. Once a young crappie starts moving off the nest, it goes to deeper water and feeds on zoöplankton. If the lake has lots of water moving through, nutrients are flushed out, and zoöplankton production is low.” And reduced zoöplankton production results in a degraded nutritional situation for young crappie.

“The general rule of thumb,” Bonds said in summation, “is you want high water and good inflows before the crappie spawn, and you want stable water levels and slowly moving water after the spawn.”

By analyzing the historical water level and flow regime of a reservoir (available from controlling authorities named in lake profiles at www.tpwd. state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/recreational/ lakes), you can predict which lakes should have had strong spawns during two or three prior years. Therefore, you should have sizeable populations of legal-sized crappie.

You can also contact the TPWD fisheries biologist in charge of a particular lake for information on the results of recent electrofishing and creel surveys. You can find the biologist for each lake at TPWD.State.TX.US/Business/About/Divisions/Inland_Fisheries/Offices/Index.PHTML#biologist.

COLD-WEATHER CRAPPIE HOTSPOTS
Now that you know how to catch crappie in winter months, here are some East Texas hotspots to try. The experts advise that if you don’t find crappie in a likely-looking spot, move. But recheck the place later. Move with the fish.

Lake Fork: This lake’s legendarily big largemouths have to eat to get big, and crappie are a mainstay of their diet. A bonus of winter crappie fishing at Lake Fork is that lethargic largemouths target schools of crappie for an easy meal, and you may find a lunker bass on your line instead of a crappie. That’s exactly what happened to Barry St. Clair on Jan. 24, 1992: The 18.18-pound bass eating the minnow that the angler intended for a slab is still the state record.