Dogwood blooms signal the onset of many outdoor spring events.
During that time, spoonbills (paddlefish) complete spring spawning runs up Missouri’s Mississippi River system. White bass follow reproductive urges into the upper reaches of Ozark rivers and feeder streams emanating from Ozark impoundments. Gobblers greet morning’s first light echoing their gravelly voices clear across the state.
And, that delectable morsel called crappie performs its annual ritual once called the “coming to the banks.” However, for many years now, Lake of the Ozarks’ crappie spawn has fooled many. They did not “come to the banks.”
Often, many frustrated crappie anglers mistakenly believe the spawn
was aborted or, that it was somehow prevented from occurring with the intensity recalled from years past. As far back as I can remember, I saw swarms of crappie that greeted spring splashing along Lake of the Ozark’s murky shoreline after sundown.
The Dragon Lady (an affectionate local name for Lake of the Ozarks) dressed in a peasant’s drab brown colors then. Truman Dam was not built yet and sediment from rich farmland’s topsoil to the North washed freely into LOZ via the Osage River. I held my hand just under the surface of its water from time to time to prove, once again, I could not see it.
After Truman Dam was in place, significant changes happened to the “Lady.” Her waters cleared. Now, she regularly dons sparkling blue gowns. This is remarkable to those of us with memories of the heavily stained waters of the past - especially after heavy spring rains. Today, Truman Reservoir’s huge holding-basin retains sediment-laden waters long enough that much of the silt settles out before reaching Lake of the Ozarks.
Lake of the Ozarks extreme water clarity during more recent
spawning seasons has encouraged crappie to spawn at ever deepening depths than in its earlier history. This confuses many dedicated spring-spawning crappie-fishermen. To comprehend what happens, it is necessary to first understand what cycle triggers crappie’s spawning urges.
Two major factors govern the event. Water clarity determines spawning depth. Then, temperature regulates the on/off switch.
Water temperature triggers the event at about 56 degrees Fahrenheit. Spawning activity reaches its peak at 62 degrees Fahrenheit and terminates when passing 70 degrees.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) performed a 12-year study on Table Rock Lake’s crappie spawn. They determined the various levels crappie spawned at during that more than decade long study with a secchi disk. Quadrants on it usually alternate from black to white.
The MDC discovered that at levels down to ten-feet, crappie spawned about two-feet deeper. Below that depth, they spawned approximately three to four-feet deeper.
The conclusion from these findings is - the clearer the water, the deeper the spawn.
Surface water temperature has very little impact on the timing of the spawn. It is water temperature at the spawning depth that determines the timing of the event.
It takes temperatures longer to rise at the deeper spawning depths in clear water than in shallower depths predetermined by heavily stained water (the “coming to the bank” syndrome).
There is a major plus to crappie spawning in deeper water. Due to the lengthier time water takes reaching 70 degrees in deeper water (rather than nearer the surface where solar rays act more quickly), we may logically expect that the deeper the spawning depth, the longer the term of that season’s spawn.
During the span of the MDC decade-long study on Table Rock Lake, the length of the crappie spawn averaged from 29 to 69-days. During years with muddier water, a water temperature of 70 degrees was achieved in much shallower depths in much shorter times. The duration of the spawning event was also much shortened due to the shallower depth the spawn occurred at and the shortened length of time it took water in the shallower depths to go from 56 degrees F. to 70.