Why were the big crappies in 25'???

[LOWinEYEin]

Me and a buddy hit a very small lake in the NE metro, hit the small craps in about 10-15 feet. But the big 12-15 inchers werer in the 20-25 feet. Can someone tell my why that is, when the water is as warm as it is??????

[CrappieJohn]

First off, the water will be much cooler at the 25 foot mark right now. Secondly, the craps will be feeding heavily on just about anything they can eat....primarily minnows and late season bug hatches. Chances are that the minnows are being found in this deeper water and the minnows are probably finding thier forage base down there. The larger craps will most always displace smaller fish to enjoy the best feeding opportunities. That is why the smaller fish were found at one level in the water column and the larger fish were found elsewhere.

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Sure life happens- why wait....The Crapster....good fishing guys!
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[Scott Steil]

If you are looking for the big slabs you will find them suspended over deep water most of the fall. They are tough to fish on windy days but if you get a nice calm day, fire up your LX-3 and you can fish them just like you are through the ice.

I always say you can catch crappies from 2-40 ft in the fall, but the ones in 40ft are the ones you want.

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Mille Lacs Guide Service
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[united jigsticker]

Them 40' fish are the typically active and aggresive too , but beware of the ones down more then 25' if releasing them is your goal, as they have a tendency to float back up. Bringing them up slower may help, but can be difficult to do is the wind is stiff.

Success for bigger fish has also been noted by finding the top of the suspended schools over deep water and then fishing the bottom in that depth. (example. Top of the suspended school over 40 feet of water is at 22 feet. I'll then pursue 22-25 feet of water looking for fish close to or hugging the bottom) This has produced some super quality size fish for me in the fall pattern on more then a few occasions.

Good luck.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[can it be luck?]

That's interesting. I could see how that could be effective.

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[CrappieJohn]

Crappies are one of the few fish that tend to be hitting at the same depth throughout a lake on occasion. Don't count on the activity as a standard, but there are times when if they are hitting at, say,10 feet at one part of a body of water, they may also be found at 10 feet hitting throughout that body of water.

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