I have dedicated a bunch of my adult life to studying catching crappie.
Seems like the more I figure out about them the more I realize I don't know.
You seldom see any young, even if they seem to have a good hatch, which leads me to believe that they do move out to open water, probably to escape the predators that cover holds. if you catch a juvenile crappie it most always is out in open water and a little ways from cover. I know you do need some shallow cover for them to spawn in, what seems weird to me is the way they congregate around one specific piece of cover for the spawning, you can have a good bit of shallow cover but if you are able to find the few pieces of cover they spawn in the will spawn there year after yr, and ignore another piece just 50 ft away, also yr after yr.
My theory is the deeper cover is not as essential in their survival but if available they will congregate there somewhat, especially in an environment where you do have some bigger fish that might prey on them.
That being said I will be following this thread as I am always wanting to learn more about their habits. most of my ramblings is just theories that I have observed over the years.
