Crappie Patterns?

[trappingaddiction]

I have never specifically open water fished for crappies, and was wondering how they are being caught during this time of year? In the winter I typically use a small colored jig with a waxie or minnow on it, but I am assuming it is different this time I year. The only ones I have caught open water were accidentals, so I did not establish any pattern on them. Also, how far are they suspended in the water column this time of year?

[scott b]

Deep wood 25ft. 5 foot off the bottom if you can find it. Low light. other wise weed edges 5-10 foot down at night. This is for clear water.

[whitebassman]

Crappie jigs will work. with or without minnows tipped on. when searching, i favor using tubes, and when found, add the meat to the jig.

find the color that works for that lake. personal favorites are fluorescent green, and pink head/white body combos.

If you find Bett's brand of crappie jigs in the green color. You've found gold. One of my all time favorites.

Off topic, anyone else hate reading fishing magazines, and their crappie articles are always oriented to Southern State readers??? Hello!!! We can't use spider rigging here! No respect for MN fisherman. I wish we had a true MN fishing magazine. InFisherman is the same, just rehashed over the years.

[Jim Uran]

Depends on the lake of course, each lake will vary a little bit! On the lakes I fish, mostly lakes that top out at 25-35 feet, I fish them in a few hours before the sun goes down along side a cabbage bed near a good break towards deep water!

I generally toss small jigs 1/32-1/8 oz depending on the mood of the fish and how slow they want the bait to sink, change up colors and baits!

Otherwise I'll slip bobber along the edge just moving along fishing an area for a few minutes and than moving on until I connect. Once you connect with a fish you can start tossing jigs for quicker action or just leave the floats on and follow the school around.

[whitebassman]

been having some luck using Gulp Alive minnows, esp in the 1 inch range. Boy the bluegills are nuts over them too! Very fun to watch the jig slowly sink and see big crappies swinging at them.

[Greg Clusiau]

Ditto what Leechbait said. My technique exactly.

[Chad Peterson]

Leechbait is correct. This is a great way to fish crappies in the summer months and you should have success with it. The one thing that works for crappie fisherman is that you might want to fish the outside weedlines and sunkin islands. Great crappie grounds!

Sniffer