Spring is not sprung till the crappie spawn. When they do, crappie
anglers everywhere celebrate another winter’s demise midst blooming dogwoods and redbuds while slipping fillet after fillet into a livewell.
The event is often misunderstood by the majority. During some years, ideal weather conditions drive crappie spawning so deep, average crappie anglers have trouble locating the activity. Especially, when the average crappie angler “assumes” (oops!) that crappie will spawn in shoreline shallows. In the case of clear water impoundments, the latter, “… ain’t gonna happen!”
The “given” to remember that balances the reality of the season is simply: They always spawn - no matter the weather. The answer to the real million dollar question is - how deep (where) will they spawn and when.
A Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) ten year crappie study conducted on south Missouri’s Table Rock Lake in the ’70s revealed many mysteries associated with crappie spawning activities. It determined that water clarity decides a season’s crappie spawning depth while water temperature switches the process on around 56-degrees and off at 70-degrees.
Simple, right? (Careful, it’s a trick question.)
Key to determining the right answer: Water clarity. Male crappie build nests about two-feet below visibility from the surface down to 10-feet. If water clarity permits visibility below 10-feet, the males usually nest three to four-feet deeper than visibility permits from the surface. The spawn won’t proceed until the water temperature reaches at least 56 degrees F. at the depth determined by water clarity.
Biologists use a device called a secchi disc to determine water clarity. A simple device that is nothing more than a metal or plastic disc with alternating quadrants painted black and white. A good substitute for an official secchi disc is a white anchor, or other painted and weighted device, suspended from a rope knotted every 12-inches. An old window sash painted white makes a reasonable substitute. The device is lowered till it just disappears from sight. The depth that occurs at will determine how much further down the crappie males will fan their nests when the water-temperature reaches 56 degrees F. at that depth.
A professional crappie-fishing friend of mine advises that upon 
determining the depth that male crappie nest at, cast beyond the nests’ positions into water furnishing submerged structure four to five-feet deeper than found at the nests. Females usually hold in the deeper water and visit the nests in waves to lay their eggs. The males fan and tend the nests. When females lay their eggs in the nest, the males deposit their sperm, run the females off and continue to protect the nests against all comers. Nearby structure provides security for the “visiting” females to rest until their next visit.
Key point: Crappie spawning activity begins about 56-degrees at a spawning depth determined by water clarity. It terminates at about 70-degrees at a spawning depth determined by water clarity. Surface water temperature has little or no bearing on the actual spawning depth other than as directly related to the above clarity factor.
Guy Winters, former Camdenton, Missouri lure manufacturer and popular mid-western crappie seminar speaker, strongly advises catch 
and release of all spawn-blackened crappie males caught during the spawn. Usually, the bottom edges of their tails are worn and bloodied from their fanning endeavors over the nests they guard.
He states, “The males guard the nests. Three minutes or less after removing a male crappie, bluegill and various other predators eat the eggs. Male crappie are extremely aggressive when protecting the nest. They attack human divers approaching them during the spawn. When they attack a five pound bass or flathead, guess who loses?”
Male crappie acquire a velvety black sheen throughout their body during the spawning activity - especially as regards their fins - when compared to the silvery color of the females.
He concludes, “When fishing structure holding females you catch more and bigger crappie. The males hatch their charges which improves future crappie fishing. And, the angler takes home more poundage of fillets.”
To confuse anglers even more, there are two species of crappie and
they are usually both found in the same impoundments. A picture of both shows two different “spec” patterns distributed on each species’ sides. The white crappie, Pomoxis annularis, (upper) has its speckled pattern concentrated in relatively parallel bands of dots.
The black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus, (lower) displays a speckled pattern more or less evenly scattered across its sides. The black crappie also displays black edging (mustache?) across the upper lip that is not evident on annularis. The species nigromaculatus should not be confused with annularis males in blackened spawning-colors. Both species’ males turn decidedly blacker overall when in spawning mode - especially on their fins.
The MDC study documented that females only lay about 30-percent of their eggs at a time. It is nature’s way of averting disaster when an unforeseen natural event destroys the first nests - such as sudden draw-downs that expose the nests or unexpected temperature drops, ad-infinitum.
Crappie eggs hatch in 10-day cycles until 70-degrees switches the process off. Females return to lay additional eggs as long as the temperature zone decrees that males attend the nests.
Key point: The deeper that clearer water drives spawning activity, the longer it takes to heat water temperatures at the deeper levels to a 70-degree spawn termination-mark. Therefore, the spawn lasts longer and produces more successful hatches in the clearer water than when muddy water drives the activity to the banks and sediment interferes with the fertilizing of the eggs.
“Where are the songs of spring? Aye, where are they?” wrote the anxious bard Keats.
Emerging bloom from wild plums, redbuds, and dogwoods annually herald the Ozarks’ crappie spawn, the white bass spawning runs up Ozark tributaries and the ridge-top gobblers’ dawn mating calls. Spring in the Ozarks is a vibrant time to be alive - a time when visual and aural symphonies harmonize into a musical version of Keats’ poetry, “… the songs of spring.”