They are pelagic.. They tend to hold in open water in the upper water column when young.
If it were me, (it's not) based on what I've seen during electrofishing and fall net samples, Crappie are more cover oriented in winter than they are in summer but utilize the shallow cover during the spawn so I would be more apt to place trees in a depth that represents that and can be used by young at any time and adults during winter.
In my mind, that would be dependent on max depth and I apologize Pat but I don't recall your depth but I do remember the timber in the upper end.
3-5' will be used for spawning if you don't have any other suitable spawning habitat, that will help, but will only be part of the equation. I also feel for BCP, in particular, vertical structure rising through the water column from something like 10-12' up to near the surface will provide many more choices for where they can position in different conditions. 8-10' cedars are great for that if you can tripod them to get the vertical element, I think that's very important vs laying flat on the bottom.
Last edited by Snipe; 01/30/20 09:23 PM.
