OK, I admit it- I don't know squat about crappies!

[Scoot]

If I was going to a new lake or river system and chasing walleyes or muskies, I would need to know a few things (time of year and topo info in particular) and pretty quickly I'd be able to locate some likely spots that would be good to chase walleyes or muskies. If I were going to a new body of water to chase crappies, I'd be fairly clueless on how to go about targeting them. I'd be stuck going where I saw others going and doing what they were doing. I don't like this approach as it's often the blind leading the blind.

I just don't know much about crappies- where/how do they move throughout the system according to season, where/how do they move througout a system according to time of day, etc. Can someone give me a "Crappies for Dummies" version of what I need to know to get started? I'm not looking for lures and presentation information. I'm looking for information regarding location and how to ID likely spots for crappies give a particular time of year.

Thanks much and I look forward to the tutorial!

[Coach1310]

I'm not an "expert" but I've read enough stuff about seasonal movements and patterns to chime in a little.

Ice Out/Early Spring

With the ice gone and still cold water, you should be able to find crappies over deep water basin areas. As the water warms, they will make their way up to shallow water to feed. Many folks think they are their to spawn, but that isn't the case yet. If the water isn't quite warm enough, they will many times hang just outside the bay anywhere from 10-15' waiting for the right temp that causes the food to show up. These bays are ofter refered to as "muck bottom" bays because they are often mucky, rather than rocky/gravely.

Spawn

It really based on Water temp.... you can find plenty of info on what the magical temp is... for me, because I don't have a temp gague on my boat, it comes down to fishing to see if they are there. Classic spawning spots are bull rush stands and areas with a firmer bottom, gravel, rubble etc.

Post Spawn to mid Summer

I always look to the deep weedling outside of these spawning areas. In my experience there is length of time right after the spawn where crappies are tough to find/catch... it may be just me, but I have seen it on numerous lakes, so I think their is something to it. Fishing these weedlines, close to some deep water has been good to me. If you can find these elements with a piece of structure like a point, sunken island, hump, rock pile etc... all the better in my experience.

Fall

I can't offer a lot other than I would focus on the deep water, basin areas adjacent to your summer spots.

Winter

Basin areas/deepest parts of the lake, attract the most attention, but there are plenty of guys who fish the weeds. You will hear "Find green weeds and you will find crappies". This is probably true, but it takes a lot of searching to find them, if they are even there at all. A key for me has been to use lake maps in comparison with community spots. I try to find spots that have the same characteristics the community spots have..depth, structure, bottom comp. etc. and see if I can find the same type of area undisturbed. It has worked before, but it has led me to zeros as well.

Good luck.

[fisherdog19]

Scoot, give me a call, way too much to type out.

[fishuhalik]

It varies a ton by where you're chasing 'em. If you're in the north country (iron range-lotw) look for 25-40fow. Alot of times they'll suspend this time of year, so a flasher is a must. On popular lakes there's a good reason there's community spots, but you can usually branch out and find fish on your own. Also, it seems minnows typically outfish larvea on those lakes, whereas it seems waxies/euro larvea outfish minnows down here.

Down in the metro, the fish can be in deeper holes and they can also be on weedline/in the weeds. It takes alot of time to learn the lakes down here and where the fish are, but it's also nice that the fish aren't confined to one or two small, deeper holes. I like gradual drops, traditional walleye/bass fast dropoffs typically don't hold too much for crappies. If you're fishing a lake with alot of structure, fast drops, etc, look for those long sloping weed flats and you should find fish.

[Jim Uran]

Scoot I hope you called Peter, that boy's got a nose for crappies.

I really can't wait until late ice now, and for ice out...

[Scoot]

I haven't yet, but I will. I know he's a crappie chaser at heart and knows 'em well. I'll shoot him a call in the near future...