# Livingston Summer Crappie Pattern??



## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

I live on Kickapoo Creek--pick up a few crappie early sometimes off my dock on shad.

What is a good summertime pattern for crappie where they bunch up during the day?

thanx


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

When you get the answer on our lake, hire an agent. You are going to get rich selling the secrete. 
Not being facetious, just in my opinion Livingston may be the poorest summer time crappie lake in all of Texas.
With the fabulous winter and spring we had this year maybe it will change.
I did catch a 1 1/2 lbs slab about a month ago on a drfting jug in mids-lake 3' deep in 22' water on a chunk of gou. Not much of a pattern but it did indicate it was out there chasing food with the blues and WB's.


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

Man sunbeam way to kill it for me! Lol I seen this post and I was like all right finally going to get some good info on the crappie and the here you come with your bad news lol.
James


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## BuckCarraway (Jan 5, 2010)

It has been at least 15 years ago but we used to find hugh schools of crappie hanging out in standing timber on the south end of the lake. If I remember it was in about 16' to 22' in the timber we used to fish. From what I remember we would go straight out from FM1514 and you would run in to a timber stand. I am sure that timber isnt standing like it used to but there should be some of it left.

Also used to find them stacked in some of the deeper log jams up the river around Carolina and Bethy. 

But all of this was years ago...


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

thanx guys--maybe setting out brush piles would help


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## kellisag (Feb 18, 2010)

wwind3 said:


> thanx guys--maybe setting out brush piles would help


Thats my plan starting Wednesday, I cut this yesterday getting ready:goldfish::goldfish:


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## Lone Eagle (Aug 20, 2009)

I have been working on summertime crappie a little this year. Buck, I know where that stand of timber was/is located. Have not been there as of yet. I have caught some crappie in this past week but not enough to say that I have a pattern. When I get one I will start advertising it for my guide Service. It will also be on my website.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Back in the 70's you could catch a limit of crappie most any day in the flooded timber below Kickapoo Creek bridge, most any area in lower White Rock, the Jungle or in the river to lake transition area near Riverside. When all that timber fell and the tops dissolved the non-spawning crappie fishing when down hill.
One theory that is stated in several articles I have found on the web is that the natural progression of fish populations causes a decline in scaly predator fish.
It is noted that newly filled and artificially stocked reservoirs have a large ratio of scaly game fish to rough fish. This being that the rough fish must play catch up by natural spawning where as the game fish have a head start due to stocking.
After about a ten year period the rough fish will over take the game fish and can out number them as much as 1000:1.
Scale fish that build nest during spawning are in great peril. The black buffalo and carp will raid and eat most of the eggs in a nest. This effects crappie and black bass the most. White and yellow bass spawn in running water where the individual eggs drift free until attaching to an object. It is much harder for the rough fish to find and eat individual eggs thus a greater survival rate of the true bass. 
Catfish build nest in hollows or rock dens. Normally a male blue cat can defend it's bunker like nest and also insure a larger survival of it's spawn. Any one that hand fishes for cats knows how hard a male cat fish can bite.
The bulkheads in Livingston grossly limit the natural spawning areas needed by nesting scale fish. 
During the low water period caused by Hurricane Rita, lots of shallow areas grew up in weeds, senna beans and willow sprouts. The first spring after the lake refilled there must have been a much better spawning survival due to this cover. The swarms of crappie this last fall and winter was a result of that spawning period. Unfortunately that cover disintegrated rapidly and the spawning areas are now subject to the rough fish predators again. 
Most lakes that restrict private ownership of the shore line such as Rayburn or Toledo Bend are better crappie holes. Conroe has lots of undeveloped shore line in the upper end due to the national forest land that provide protected spawning areas.
Livingston is just not a crappie or black bass friendly lake. Without a abnormal situation such as Rita it never will be again.


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## CmackR56 (May 30, 2009)

Last year I caught a good many crappie on small slabs around the 190 bridges on the west side. Kiled them this spring up in Caney creek. Road bed had been dead for me so far this year for white bass or crappie.


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

Sunbeam you are very knowledgeable in the ways of lake livingston and I love reading your post. I did read somewhere that livingston used to have hydrilla grass (not sure how to spell it) but TPW killed it off. Then when they tried to reintroduce the grass it would not take. So y would they kill it off to start with?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Ducky, one of my best friend is the foreman of the weed control spraying operations for TRA. They kill every thing that is green and in the lake. The spray air boat is some where every day that the wind allows spraying. He averages about four days a week from mid April til first frost.
Hydrilla has never been the catastrophic problem that it was on Conroe. But I can assure you that TRA never tried to introduce it.
TRA built this lake to sell industrial water to the ship channel industries. They do not want any thing in it including chlorophyll from plants.
If TRA had their way there would not be any fishing, boating or housing on THEIR lake. 
I am sure once the hydro-plant is built there will be no fishing any where near the plant or dam. They resent the money spent paying for secruity on the lake now.
Once that valuable asset is in place there will be no boat "bombers" any where near it.


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

Wow there is a lot about the lake that I do not know! I never knew that TRA killed all the plants off of the lake seems like some kind of organization would get together and find some indigenous fish that we had to save lol.
James


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