Crappie fishin ?

[LedHed]

Crappie people - how would you fish this damn - I mean dam - area for crappie?

View attachment 7

Water is 65F - algae - dropping an 1" a day.

Females are in 20 - 24 FOW - suspended ~15 FOW - not a lot of eggs

Slow trolled 15 FOW - sporadic marks - nothing

 

[Ron Don]

Quickest way to find them would be to longline that. That's if there aren't a lot of boats in the way! I'd use 1/4 oz heads with 2" curly tails. 4 to 6 lb line but 4 would be ideal. Troll 1 mph with 6 poles out the back will get you close to the strike zone. Cast the jigs as far as you can.

 

[AtticaFish]

With jigs maybe?

.......how would you fish this damn - I mean dam - area for crappie?......

Just kidding, sorta. :jig: I would be using jigs.

Almost every one of my small local lakes that hold crappie are upground reservoirs that have nothing but a rip-rap shoreline the entire way around and have a fairly steep drop. They are totally devoid of cover. Water clarity is usually very good, anywhere from 4'-6' of clarity all the way up to crystal clear with easily 20'+ visibility. One lake in particular, have seen bluegill and crappie both spawn out in water over 10' deep!

How is the water clarity? If it is pretty clear, chances are they won't budge from their comfort depth until low light conditions. Twilight hours are best for me when the water is very clear. Holds true for both crappie and walleye. They start rising up in the water column as the sun goes down and are a LOT more willing to bite.

Are there ANY weedy areas? If you can find weeds in that 15' target depth... maybe you could find some more concentrated schools. If not weeds, look for any structure or changes in uniformity at the depth you are showing suspended marks. Just may find a few that are feeding in the 'diversity zone' and a little more willing to bite.

If jigs don't do it alone, set some slipbobbers at your target depth you are seeing marks... hook a minnow through the nose onto an 1/8th oz jigs..... start dragging it around.

 

[AtticaFish]

Oh yeah, almost forgot......... :jig: 's

If you are wanting to cast/retrieve jigs (once you locate them) i would stick with 1/8 or 1/16 rabbit jigs. If you go at twilight, slow the fall with 1/32 - 1/80 kip jigs and peg them below a small float as deep as you can and still be able to cast as far as you can from the boat. Reel slow and steady and wait for the bump.

Gotta find them first! :trollin:

BTW - Here is a pic of one of my favorite lakes. The shoreline looks similar to yours and is this way around the entire reservoir. It drops down to about 35' deep, but the crappie hold right around 12'-15' over the rip-rap during the day then come up closer to the surface to feed at dusk.

 

[toadfrog]

Sneak out there and sink a few cedar trees or a burlap bag full of chicken scratch . Make them a field of dreams . They will come .

 

[StumpHunter]

One thing I seen with your report was you are fishing the same depth the fish are holding. Try a couple feet above where the fish are holding. Crappie does feed up 99% of the time. In clear water lakes I drop the jigs and let the wind push the boat and if no wind just hit the trolling motor every now and then. Your boat will become cover for them to hide under even at 15' deep.

Marabou or rabbit jigs would be my choice.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I'd try trolling small cranks or belly spinner baits and try to find them first. Then switch to jigs once you find them. Since they haven't spawned yet males should be shallower so look for water 60+, males will be up close to the bank and the big girls will be a little deeper. Those Black crappie like to spawn in rocky and weedy areas.

 

[plateboater]

Three rods each side of the boat. Troll with planer boards or not. I use line counter reels and set lines 50' back, 60', 80' (find the bottom and stagger the lines). I would use belly spinners or straights. I would run either one 1/8 or 2 1/6oz. I think plastic or custom tie jobs would work. Next option is Bandits 300 series 50-90 ft back. I use HI-Vis line and uni-knot in fluro for all my rigs.
Similar to RonDon. Run at 1mph to 1.4mph. If you are getting dinks move out away from bank go deeper but remember like others have said stay above the crappies.

 

[Thumbs]

I would do what Ron Don said, but maybe try a 1/8 oz jig first, and if that didn't work, try the 1/4 oz. jig.

 

[papaperch]

LED- try using those mini crankbaits you collect. Suspended crappies almost always are suckers for crankbaits. Chrome and gold and firetiger patterns will produce. As pointed out prior make sure bait is above the crappie. I would troll between 3/4 mph to 1 1/2 mph. Depth will be most critical factor speed is the next critical.

Reason small cranks work. Crappies are the apex predator in the panfish world. That big bucket mouth of theirs was designed for eating other fish. Small or young of year gills , perch and even small crappie are fed on with relish.

If you want almost guaranteed action. Go night fishing if it is an option. Use an underwater light at about 3' deep . Anchor close to the suspended fish. At first use live minnows for bait to get them started. Anchored boat should be set up to move very little ( double anchor ). Fish are normally drawn to the light about 30-45 min after full dark. Minnows swarming around the light is what attracts them.

The night fishing method works best when there is little natural light. IE nights that are dark of the moon or in its waning stages. You can catch them during a full moon but its normally not as good. After bite gets going you can switch to jigs and hammer away. Some nights the crappies will come up so high. You can actually see them feeding right on surface. Which has a tendency to ramp up the excitement level.