How weather impacts crappie during the spring spawn

Many Mid-Missouri waterways have been teeming with spawning crappie. Many fishermen and fisherwomen have been aggressively hitting the water in hopes to fill their freezers.

Tyler Ham of the Missouri Department breaks down how weather can play impactful roles in the bite, "About 50 degrees, they start moving inshore and then usually about 55 is when they really start to spawn. So 55, 56 is kind of that sweet point." Temperatures during the months of April and May play a key role in determining the start and finish of crappie spawns in local waterways.

Major swings in temperatures caused by fronts can either boom or bust for a fishing trip. Chad Hoots is a local fisherman digital creator who spends a lot of time fishing locally for crappie at Lake of the Ozarks, "I would say above average because it gets them moving along better, warmer the water, more metabolism, more they eat, the faster they move along through the spawn."

Major cooldowns from cold fronts can stall crappie spawns and slow it down. These cooler temperatures can also lead to a slower metabolism. Rainfall totals also play a key role in crappie habits during the spring months. Tyler Ham on preferences for rainfall totals, " Pretty close to normal now, rainfall is not necessarily a bad thing, but uh but certainly you don't want to get an excessive rainfall, um, crappy just like bass or other fish, their nest spawners."

Chad Hoots recalls his personal preference, "I don't mind the water coming up a little bit, but what I don't want is one of those floods to where the lake's real low, and also it comes up 2 ft, brings debris in the water. That just gets them really confused."

Very high rainfall totals in a short amount of time can lead to flooding, which causes loose sediment to fall onto crappie eggs, and it can lead to decreased offspring totals. A slight increase in rain though, can be a good thing. Tyler Ham details the positives about slightly above average rainfall trends, "Small bumps in rain is, is not necessarily a bad thing. It kind of opens up a little bit more of that near shore habitat, some of the brush and things like that."

With more shoreline structure for crappie to spawn during just slightly above average rainfall trends, that could mean more production for the upcoming years for fishing.