Ice leaves smaller lakes first and they warm more quickly than larger bodies of water and the early season crappie fisherman should pick his lakes with those facts in mind to catch ice-out action at its finest. The Ice-out bite occurs in two very predictable areas. The reason action is great in these two areas is warm water. That's the key to ice-out crappie fishing. Actually, searching out the warmest water in a lake is the secret to catching any pre-spawn gamefish.
Fish are cold blooded creatures and their activity level rises with the water temperature.
In the case of crappies, they are the first fish to find warming water in structure areas which they prefer. Small bays will often offer the first crappie fishing after the ice leaves the lake. Bays on the north side of the lake would heat up first because of the angle of the sun. Any shallow, black-bottomed bay with wood structure and good exposure to the sun would be a sure early season bet. The next choice would be the rocky faces of the dam.