The Crappie spawn in May and are fat and heavy this time of year and fight extra hard. While other fish seem to migrate after spawning, the Crappie can be found all year along the shore and in the back shallow bays. They are easy to catch and a lot of fun on ultra-light gear.

Crappie have been caught in the lake that exceed 15 inches and regulations have changed so that anglers, when keeping Crappie, have to have half their limit under 10 inches. This regulation was not designed to protect larger Crappie. In actual fact, the regulation is designer to minimize the population of smaller Crappie so the large ones have more food to grow even larger. The numbers of Crappie in Lake Shelbyville are so great that a conservation approach is not needed. The prospect of catching bigger Crappie will help bring more tourism to the area.

If you have never eaten Crappie before then you are in for a big treat. Their meat is highly prized as being very mild like Walleye and they are also described my many anglers as being sweet. There are also many ways to cook Crappie and it's the type of fish kids love to eat.