Hill-land impoundments are typically clearer than flatland reservoirs. Depths near the dam tend to be in the 100-foot range. Contours throughout the lake are steeper. Creek arms are longer, narrower, and more numerous, and are the places most crappies call home most of the year in these deeper environments. Depths near the mouth of a creek arm, where it intersects the main lake, can be in the 40- to 50-foot range.

Highland reservoirs are even deeper, with maximum depths often reaching several hundred feet. Creek arms tend to be 60 feet or deeper at the mouth. Typically the water is quite clear and the lake has little standing timber, with lower fertility—which equates to fewer pounds of predatory fish. But potential for trophy-sized specimens of all species seems to increase.

When the subject turns to seasonal migrations, crappies in highland and hill-land reservoirs may be nothing like their nomadic cousins of the flatlands. In these environments, they may remain within the general area of a single main-lake point, cove, or creek arm all year. Habitat in the depth ranges crappies prefer (50 feet at the deepest, most of the year) is limited in these environments, compared to shallower flatland impoundments.

Or crappies may be true to their river heritage and move many miles to spawn. It is quite typical for hill-land crappies to winter in and around timber on primary points (a primary point being one at the mouth of a creek arm, where it intersects the main river channel). When the water at the surface approaches 50°F, they may pack up and move upstream within the adjacent creek arm.

Little scientific observation in the form of tracking studies exists on this topic, but some professional anglers and guides from various parts of the country have described the movement like this: As the surface water warms to about 47°F, crappies rise straight up out of their wintering habitat. They linger within 5 feet of the surface for about 24 to 48 hours, then suddenly make like bees for the upstream sections of the creek arm. They don’t hold or stage anywhere until they reach the point where the maximum depth of the creek channel tapers up to about 35 feet. At that point they spread out and stage for several weeks, sometimes for more than a month. The area they inhabit continues from that point, where the maximum depth in the creek arm is 35 feet, upstream to a point where the maximum depth is about 20 feet.

During the time it takes for the water to warm from about 50°F to 60°F, crappies spend a lot of time suspending throughout this staging area, which is why we call the upper one third of a major creek arm the Prespawn Suspension Zone. Guide Bill Fletcher of Arkansas theorizes that this zone represents one of the most environmentally stable areas in the reservoir during early spring. “The nights can be quite cold in early spring,” he said. “In water shallower than 20 feet, like the back ends of bays and coves, where crappies eventually spawn, water temperature can fluctuate quite a bit over a 24-hour period. Crappies don’t like to yo-yo around much. Water needs enough volume to provide stability for them. But they apparently don’t like too much water volume, either. Back up the creek arm, where the water is 45 to 55 feet deep, crappies just move through in spring. They never hold on anything long enough to be caught until they reach that magic depth range.”

When crappies first appear in that range, they tend to hover a long distance from shore for days, typically holding right over the creek channel in the top half of the water column. Forage species like shad and shiners prefer stability, too, and often hold in the upper part of the water column in the same areas. In all cases, they’re moving closer to spring spawning sites during prespawn movements. Warm, stable weather extended over several days eventually triggers shallow movements into fallen trees, submerged brush, reeds, and other shoreline-related cover. Cold fronts, however, send them back out into the Suspension Zone.