Site Fishing Crappies

[early007]

Site fishing crappies is one of my favorite ice fishing techniques. It can be very exciting and productive during late ice. The best time to try it is from now until last ice. When the crappies make there annual movement to shallow water in late March and early April is prime time.

The areas crappies like to relate to are shallow flats with scattered weed cover, typically hard bottom. Try looking just outside where you find them in early spring right after ice out. The best flats are usually close to deeper water. Depths to key on for this technique are less than 12 feet.

Live bait is not required, small jigs and plastic tails work best. I like to use a 1/32 oz. jig head tipped with a tail. My favorite tails are Mar Lynn Puddle Jumpers or Custom Jigs and Spins Finnesse Tails. I don't use a bobber but some guys use a slip float. Most of the time I use brightly colored tails that I can see easily. When I'm twitching the tail and it disappears I set the hook more often than not I catch a fish.

The key to success is drill a few holes and jump around from hole to hole until you find fish. If there are fish there you will see them within a couple of minutes or less. Polarized sunglasses are very helpful when peering down the hole.

You would be surprised at how successful this technique can be. You will catch many different types of fish. It can be exciting!

Jason Erlandson

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Dave's Sportland Bait and Tackle
Sportland Guide Service Hwy 371 & Cty Rd 13
Nisswa MN

218-963-2401

[eats]

Jason,

Every spring I read the posts by CrappieTom and Matt Johnson about site fishing. Every spring I go to my local puddle and drill holes till it hurts. Every spring I fail to see fish.

I hit a shallow bay last weekend and checked weed beds, deep (relatively) holes w/in the bay, all along the breakline leading to the main lake basin and for suspended fish over the main basin. Nadda.

Am I in the right place at the wrong time here or in the wrong place?

Brandon

[Matt Johnson]

First off, make sure the water clarity is decent, stained water with clarity less then 3 feet might not be the best choice. Second, the fish need to be located back in shallows, assuming you are sight fishing shallow weedlines or flats. Clear lakes don't necessarily mean that you have to be shallow, but a good majority of sight fishing happens in water of 8 feet or less. 4-8 feet seems to be my normal depth for sight fishing. I typically don't try and sight fish suspended fish, because most of the suspended fish I target only fully suspend at dusk and after dark, making it hard to sight fish. I try to pinpoint crappies and gills in shallow bays when I sight fish at late ice. Areas where I can see bottom is key in my opinion, but not always needed. I like to view the bottom, that lets me know what I'm fishing and areas I need to target. Finding pockets in the weeds are a lot easier that way too. Scarce weed patches can hold fish for sight fishing too, the mouths of shallow bays might not be as weed choked as the bay itself, and sight fishing can be great in those areas. Light penetration can also play a role, if there is not enough light below the ice then the clarity might appear worse as well. I like to bring my one man portable and flip it over me, that way I block out any reflections, making it easier to focus on whats in the water.

So, find a lake with decent water clarity, then search out areas where you think would hold fish in 5-10 feet of water. Then begin punching holes, if you can find the weedline or a weed flat with open patches, then those are good areas to target. Sometimes it takes time to locate some of these areas, but once you sight fish once, you will want to do it again and again.

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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First Choice Guide Service

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Iceleaders
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[early007]

Nice job Matt. I missed a couple of things. Eats I hope he cleared this up for you. Water clarity is important for success in this style of fishing. Also a flip over shelter can be be very beneficial. The same as Matt, I prefer to fish areas with scattered weeds. I prefer scattered bullrushes and weed patches. I haven't had as much success in areas with soft bottom. Another area I've done well is on top of sunkin islands. Hope you get them this spring!
Jason Erlandson

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Dave's Sportland Bait and Tackle
Sportland Guide Service Hwy 371 & Cty Rd 13
Nisswa MN

218-963-2401

[eats]

Water clarity is not an issue here. I think its location.

Bluegills and bass use the bay for spawning but only occasionaly do I see crappies in there. They relate to wood in the lake during the spawn. The prime areas with wood are all located along sharp breaks with little shallow water area. I'm talking about only a few feet of shallow water then sharply into 45-50 feet. There are weeds along the break, the inside starts at 5' and the outside is around 25-28'. Will the crappies come shallow in these areas or will they use the shallow bay until spawning time?

I'll be checking both spots from now until unsafe ice. Hopefully there will be something to report. I'll also be checking out some of those sunken islands.

Thanks guys.
Brandon

[CrappieJohn]

Your craps are most likely using the deep water yet where there is the breakline you mentioned. At this time of year the fish are disposing of their vertcal agenda and are beginning to move more in a lateral way where the water gradually drops off. You have something different here. If you move along the breakline, try to find some small "minor" breakline on the big one...sort of like a stair step. Try concentrating on this sort of deviation from that which is consistant. Try to find some deep wood and fish the deepest edge of that. Another thing...try to fish when the weather is stable and has been for a couple days. This can be a tough time of year in some waters. If you are familiar with the water you speak of in general, go back there with a boat this summer and run a locator over the area and seek out the minor breaks and deep water wood. When your locator shows some mark the spot on a map or key the gps. I think it is way too early to be looking for crappies up at those 5 foot weeds. They may rise up for a visit, but their security blanket is deeper than that. And just about any change in the weather will only push them deep again. I fished craps at our lake a couple years ago that had to be chased into the thick of wood found at the mid column point in the water. My best luck came from fishing the outside one third of that wood towards the lower reaches of it. This fishing can be tackle testing too.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom
[email protected]

[deeky]

A little help here. Being fairly new to serious crappie fishing, I have gleaned quite a bit of useful information from this site. Among that, and from fishing my lake, I have had the attitude that crappie only bite before dawn and after dark. Sight fishing obviously requires light, so am I in the wrong spot? I'm fishing shallow breaks in 12-18 feet of water and consistently bringing home a meal of fish. But the time window I have been fishing is fairly small. Am I catching them in transit? Am I just totally off? Are the fish just off in this lake? More help would be appreciated if it can increase my fishing time. Thanks.

[Matt Johnson]

The bite you are experiencing is perfectly normal. A majority of your hot crappie bites are at dusk and after dark, and sometimes the window of opportunity is small. Take Red Lake for example, there are days where the bite is non-stop for an hour, and then just like a light switch the fish are still there but they quite biting. The magical time can be different on certain lakes and its never really a constant time. Somedays you will catch the majority of your fish right before dark, and some days you will catch the majority of your fish right after dark, and then there are those days where the fish bite the whole time.

I would have to agree with you 100% when saying that you need light and clarity to properly sight fish, and sight fishing at dusk can be quite difficult. But catching crappies during the day is also possible, and can happen quite often too. I'm not saying that you are going to have your hot bites during the day for crappies, but you will often times pick up a few crappies while sight fishing for gills. Those shallow breaks you are fishing are where the crappies are feeding on your certain lake, and the time they are feeding is the magic hour. It may change, it may not. If you are on the fish and have a pattern down for catching them then I would stick with it. Sight fishing is just another opportunity for you to try, but I would stick with whats working for you. It sounds like you are in the right place and have the knack for catching those crappies. Those fish are not necessarily off, that could very well be the way those crappies act in the lake you are fishing, and sometimes thats what those crappies will do. Sometimes the window of opportunity is small, you just have to be ready to rock-n-roll once the fish move through.

One other thing that I would suggest trying is to punch a series of holes both along the break line and perpendicular to the break line, that way you can hole hop to locate the fish after you hot bite is done. You might find those fish in a different area. But then there is also a chance that those fish are only feeding heavily during the time you have the hot bite, then the fish turn negative and don't want to eat. But I've typically picked up a few more fish hole hopping after the bite dies down. Just another option for you.

Feel free to ask anymore questions. And good luck!

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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First Choice Guide Service

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Iceleaders
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[can it be luck?]

That is weird about fish turning on and off like a light switch. Not some, but all species of fish in a given body of water seem to bite, sometimes franticly for a short period of time....Then nothing. They all can't be hungry at exactly the same time, that would be too much of a coincedence. I've often wondered how fish feel and react to subtle changes and forces in the environment, weather, and who knows what else. Things humans could never sense or feel, these so called "dumb" fish can. Oh well, unless I turn into Mr. Limpet, the guy that turned into a fish in that Don Knotts movie....I'll never know. I made a post about fish "disappearing" from electronics once. Then like a "switch" fish all over the fish finder and all over the baits as well! Unlocking the mystery of the fish's mind.....That's what we're here for as fisherman!!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[schr0563]

Here are a couple of thoughts on this...

It was mentioned that humans can't sense the changes in the weather and environment, but there are certainly instances where they can. My mother experiences sinus headaches anytime a low pressure system moves in. Interestingly, my sister has the same response to high pressure systems. I have come to believe that a fishes response to weather is similar to this. The signs are there, we just don't pay attention to them.

This also illustrates another point, that even though some fish may act a certain way, it doesn't mean that all of the fish will be affected. Just like the difference between my mom and sister's sinuses, there are always fish that are willing to bite. If you think about it, it really is difficult to go fishing and catch absolutely nothing. Sure there are bad days, but getting skunked is a rare occurance. The key is simply knowing the right lakes and right locations of where the fish are at.

This brings me to my second observation. I have spent over forty days this winter on a lake where I strictly sight fish. Pulling in beautiful sunfish and crappies from less than 5 feet of water is expected, even in the middle of the afternoon. This bite is not a recent event either, I have been getting fish this shallow since before the new year. The thing is, just because I catch fish like this here, it doesn't mean I fish in the same manner when I go to another body of water. Every lake is different. In some lakes, the fish will avoid the shallow water regions until after ice out. Sight fishing is definitely worth trying, but if you don't see fish, they aren't there, and you need to look elsewhere, and possibly use a different fishing method. Just keep this in mind when you give sight fishing a try.

[Matt Johnson]

Well put schr0563

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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First Choice Guide Service

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Iceleaders
Catch-N Tackle and Bio Bait
MarCum
Stone Legacy
JR's Tackle

[steve schmidt]

You are absolutely right.....although we had a tough time catching fish today......especially the female specie....can they have PMS too???

[johnnyC]

I've never tried this method of fishing, but would like to try it. I fish a small panfish lake 80 acres and it has one area of depth that is 23 ft the majority of the lake is 12-17 ft. the edges come up slowly.
I am new to this lake but I know that in the spring, we slaughter em up in the shallows on anything you offer. Would you be trying this sight fishing in those shallow areas next to weedline/shoreline?

Any other info would be helpful, this sounds like fun.

[johnnyC]

Wow,

I just got back from fishing. I drilled a series of holes near the edge of the lake starting in 15ft. From there I drilled 6 holes, 1 every 10 yrds toward the shore. With each hole the depth dropped 1 ft the last was 10ft.

Waited for the bite with the clam set up in 15 ft. Well, I put my line down and immediatly I was graphing fish 4-5 ft down, suspended. I looked down the hole and saw it ... 3 sunnies (with the biggest I guessed being a 10 plus inch sunny) looking at my wax worm. He bit and I missed. They were gone...

A few minutes later, the crappies came in, lost the first one in the hole like an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly, then they moved through and were gone with only two in the bucket.

Next, I ran outside from hole to hole like a kid in a candy store. Fish were stacked in every hole, and they were hungry.

Well, the night gave up 8 craps and 3 pannies. Craps went from 10 -13". 4 -(13")
2 pannies were 10" and one 8.

Thanks for the tips.... many holes to run around to paid off big time.

[This message has been edited by johnnyC (edited 03-12-2004).]

[early007]

I would try searching in between where you are getting them in the winter and where you get them in shallow. Search depths less than 10 feet. You'll get them!

Jason Erlandson

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Dave's Sportland Bait and Tackle
Sportland Guide Service Hwy 371 & Cty Rd 13
Nisswa MN

218-963-2401

[early007]

Nice Job Johnny sounds like you hit the jackpot. Its really a fun way to fish isn't it. You should be able to get them like that all the way till ice out.

Jason Erlandson

------------------
Dave's Sportland Bait and Tackle
Sportland Guide Service Hwy 371 & Cty Rd 13
Nisswa MN

218-963-2401