Summer Crappies

[CrappieJohn]

It appears that with the warmer water and high skies that the crappies have either shifted ,or are about to, into the sometimes confusing summer/ post-spawn period. And as usual there are about as many ways to approach these fish as there are fish. For many this will be the time of doldrums and frustration, while others will enjoy continued crappie action right on through to the hard water. On the lake I fish most, there are two ways to tag these summer fish: drift/trolling and vertical jigging deep water. The drift method works quite well right after the fish scatter from spawning areas and basically you do just what the style implies....you drift or slooooow troll a jig or minnow combination of some sort over open water, looking for your hits to come from the three to eight foot water surface zone. Once the water shows a distinct thermocline, fish are located with the electronics, the boat is anchored or controlled with the electric motor, and the fish are approached using jigs and twisters in the water where they prefer to be. Some people will use minnows/ slip bobers doing this, but I like the plastic. When you are looking at a very deep thermocline in very deep water, dissolved oxygen can become an issue. In a lake with this depletion being a factor, look for the fish to be near or slightly above the thermocline. My favorite lake does not appear to suffer from this and we actually can catch the crappies above, at , and even below the thermocline. As I stated, the summer approach is greatly varied from area to area, lake to lake. If anyone wants to share thier own preferences and fishing methods, I am sure there are many out there that would appreciate the input.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[united jigsticker]

As I have said many times in the past, July, August, and September are my favorite Crappie months...And October ranks up there too, after turnover.

Fishing only gets better and better from here on in.

Good fishing

[CrappieJohn]

The largest crappies consistantly come to the boat for me at this time until turnover occurs in the fall. I guess many people have a tough time figuring out how to pattern the fish when they have lost the predictability as in the spring and pre-spawn/spawn periods. It's really just like ice fishing...you locate the schools of fish and then go down to where they are and feed them.
Jigsticker....how are your lakes now? Any kind of action? On Thursday , the grandson and I smoked them and on Friday I fished with a very skilled angler and we could only tag eight craps+ a couple bass. We could see the fish, but I think they could see us as well and that pretty much did us. The water is awful warm and I think that the bulk of the rogue fish are going into the depths now to feed on smaller minnows and bug life. I plan to give it a whirl on Tuesday and will let you know what I come up with.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[Guest]

the up coming warm weather certainly does bring the "best" crappie fishing of the year I think also...I have come across a crappie fishing "technique' that I would like to share here on the forum ...on those "calm evenings" primarily(no windy conditions)....I go out with my canoe and watch the surface of the entire lake(lakes are usually about 250 acres or so(usually out toward the middle...not a deep lake so the middle is no deeper the 20") and watch for the-tale tail rings of surfacing crappies(almost always crappies ...different then blue gill rings or bass or any other fish)...when I see these rings forming...I know they are gathered for "the feed"...as I look out on the calm surface.....I can sometimes see their fins breaking the waters surface...sometimes I see "pods" or clusters(many of these "pods" throughout the lakes surface) of these fish "finning" right beneath the surface...I then slowly and quietly approach these "pods" and throw a 1/32 ounce white maribou or "flu- flu type jig into or near by the "pod"(actually...anything you throw at these pods will work....I've tried)...literally almost every cast will produce a crappie....amazing and exceptionally fun way to catch crappies... when i'm done with one "pod" or there dispersed... I move onto the next "pod" and fish that one...the fun starts all over...I,ve experienced these surfacing crappies on more then one lake(been doing it for years) and this technique works on several lakes in the area...just wondering if this works in other lakes as well or if others pursue crappies this way .....thanks ...jon

[Guest]

arghhhh!...........20"?...how about 20'!.....sorry typo....lol!

[united jigsticker]

July is more predictable then June, when you go to the edges of the "Crappie Weeds", free cast a jig, and when the line "snaps" set the hook. It's a blast.

August is great too, cuz you find the edges of the breaklines in 12-20 feet and look for them on the Vex...Still either vertical jigging or casting to the school, counting down a jig.

The lakes I fish are seeing Crappies in 5-16 feet, depending on conditions and water clarity.

It only gets better from here on.

Good fishing

[CrappieJohn]

Amen, dudes!

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[can it be luck?]

sixmile, Do you want to add a little twist to your method? Some guys have called me crazy till they witnessed the results. When you find those described situations, try slapping the rod tip on the water. The noise simulates feeding and puts them in that aggressive feeding mood. Some times I keep a spare rod(no line)in the boat just for that. In the winter I do somewhat of the same thing useing an ice scoop to "rattle" up the water........I promised myself never to reveal that to any one . I call it "rattling", and it works. Watch your vex while ice fishing and see the activity it creates. The more aggressive usually the better. Mark Hoffmann/can it be luck?

[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 06-18-2003).]

[Dano2]

maybe you should invent a fish call.
Call it the "Crappie Rattler"

[united jigsticker]

This time of year noise may just be a trigger at times.

I have been sitting in spots and had "careless" individuals come through and run my line over. After that the bite was alot better for about 10 minutes.

The Crappie Rattler. I wonder if it would take???

Good fishing

[CrappieJohn]

Right after the spawn and just before the craps go deep, I have had some pretty good luck fishing near where carp are on the surface and creating havoc. This noise factor has been good for me when they are suspending in the main lake prior to the deep dive. I've also had fair luck on craps with a small spinnerbait with the spinner ticking the surface. Best results there are early and late day, but not dark. I've also put on a casting bubble and fished a popper on the surface about three feet behind it....again early or late. Its amazing how some noises will shut them off and other noises will fire them up.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[can it be luck?]

Suspended main lake, early and late but not dark..........YES!

[united jigsticker]

I too have popped a few Crappies using the same set-up Tom outlined above. It works well this time of year, but requires some pretty flat water for the most part to get the best results.

Good fishing

[CrappieJohn]

I don't have the patience to learn fly fishing, so the clear bubble will have to do. But did I mention the challenges with it? And the tangles? And the..... Try one and discover the excitement,lol. But yes they really do help catch fish and yes, as Jigsticker said, you need flat water. Another alternative is to toss a very small floating rapala out as far as you can get it and twitch...stop....twitch ....stop retrieve it. I've had some hellish crappie hits doing that. And small mepps spinners will turn a fish as well.When the fish get turned on by a bit of noise though, that bubble and popper is hard to beat and if you get into sunnie domain, they will drive it too! For a five dollar bill you can get a years worth of needed goods to fish this way and can be a great day-saver when the craps come up high for fodder.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[can it be luck?]

Dano, You know that what the reason I didn't tell anyone. Fear that someone would capitalize on my idea(actually I seen Homer Circle doing this about 25 years ago). He called it slapping. I thought of ideas but can't come up with one, other than grabbing my scoop and "rattling up" the water. I was thinking something on the lines of an egg beater/rattler that would sit on the ice cvered by a shroud useing the thermal heat of the water to protect from freeze up. I do know it works and leave it at that , never to talk about it again. Mark Hoffmann/can it be luck?

[Guest]

"can it be luck'..........no .......I've never heard of that "approach" to fishing crappies but certainly can see where it certainly could work.....thing is ......I want to make sure no one's watching me or they might think I'm "flippin out" slapping the water!........lol!.....usually if there already surfacing.....there all ready in "the feeding mood" but maybe they'll swim to my canoe for a "look see"..........lol!.......interesting concept.......i'm going to try it!.... I did great on the crappies this last couple of days on a small lake up here in northern minn.(bear lake,Itasca county)....camped there for 2 nights....crappies surfacing every evening and morning (mirror calm water both days).......got em on a small silver beetle spin with a black twister tail(1/32 oz.) drifting slowly...."whack!"(even got a few walleyes in between)... also got a few crappies drifting slowly with a small 2" floating rapala.....nice size crappies (were all 12" plus) kept 2 crappies(for shore lunch along with a couple walleyes),released the rest...also got a few "humpnosed" blue gills on my flyrod...a great couple days for sure..........sixmile jon

[CrappieJohn]

Hey there sixmile....sounded as though you landed on heaven's doorstep!

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[can it be luck?]

Absolutly right Tom, Heaven. Calm mornings and evenings with nice stable weather is always good time to fish mid lake crappie. When the crappie are not on a real active bite you can usually get the attention of a few this way. And sixmile, people WILL think you've "flipped out" if they see you "rattling", for a while, then you'll probably get their attention. Opening weekend I fished walleye, but later in the afternoon it calmed down to crappie weather. I was fishing green weeds over 14 FOW. There were about 8 boats in the area and nothing much going on, until I started "rattling". I had everyone looking at me goofy till the crappie started comeing in the boat. I had one guy move in a complete circle around me anchoring four times! The bite was slow due to the cold spring, but we did manage to catch about twenty in the upper three feet of sun baked water(Wisconsin, opens week prior to Mn.). Every one was fishing deep and I dont recall seeing any get caught. The guy that moved around me could not bring himself to "rattle" in front of me(won $5 from friend, I said he would not "rattle", had a good laugh) but he did move away and I could see him "rattling", and looking around to see if we were watching, do not know how he did. As with fishing there are no gaurantees but anything to gain a edge is worth it. This works good on Red Lake ice fishing. I'll tell you if it works in summer there, I'm up the 21-28 of June at Blackduck and will hit Red and others. Who knows if the fishing is good, maybe two weeks! Time to get packing. Good luck guys. Mark hoffmann/can it be luck?

[Guest]

here's an unusual"addition " I heard on the radio a couple weeks back......you know.......the "in fisherman" radio thing they have every day (3 minutes or so)...one of there staff said if your looking for crappies..start "smelling the air"..........yup........the guy says you can smell the crappies during the spawn...slight "fishy odor hangs in the air....hmmmmmm!........well!.......I tried suckin in the air till the cows came home last week on one of my crappie outings and I didn't smell anything out there(fishing buddy thought i had sinus problems)...........lol!.....HEY....one's gotta be aware of these "hints"....under ideal conditions..maybe this crappie smelling thing may just work....sixmile jon

[CrappieJohn]

Where I live the area is full of pastures...full of cattle exuding copious amounts of methane gas. I don't even allow smoking in the boat because of them and the gas....which incidently they emit from both ends. I'd rather fish than sniff, seeing as how there are no roses in my boat. They didn't say whether the individual that they had as a sniffer doubled as a wine taster as well, did they? If so, I'd sure as heck stay away from his recommendations. The only time I notice a change in air when I am fishing is when the water comes up due to heavy rain or an algae bloom. See if you can track this dude down and see if he works this good on ditch chickens...if he does he can go road hunting with me.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[This message has been edited by CrappieTom (edited 06-20-2003).]

[can it be luck?]

Dano, If the fish are on the vex then it's better to be quiet, there already there. To attract them in, different story. Heavy weight thumped on bottom to add sound and disturbance? Hmmm. Make sure your looking at crappies when you see fish on the vex. Perch may look big, but if you bring your bait up they tend to drop back down to the bottom. Predator becomes prey. A lot of crappie will show up suspended and usually all will bite on Red Lake when seen on the vex ice fishing. Mark Hoffmann/can it be luck?

[CrappieJohn]

I would have to agree with CIBL... when you have fish targeted, to go ahead and make a racket might just have the same effect as a couple of jetters come sailing through your area....the exception I might make would be if I were drift/trolling and seeing pods of inactive fish. In that instance some noise right when you detect them may move them around a bit and produce a strike. Otherwise I try to maintain quiet

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!

[Dano2]

Hmmmmm, I just may have to try that one on URL this winter with the ice scoop.
I'll probably get some funny looks from my buddies becasue once I start seeing anything on my flasher I'm always saying, "SHHHH, quiet, Shutup, you'll scare em away"

I have heard some say noise doesn't matter when ice fishing even when your fishing shallower, whats funny is I've always had better luck out by myself then with someone else, I usually have the lantern turned down more too.