Crappie Location Question

[HighLife100]

I'll be fishing a small west central lake this weekend and will be looking for the crappies. The lake is basically a bowl with a max depth of 30 feet, water is clear with the weedline starting at 16' then really thick at about 12-13'. There is a bay on the SW corner that gets down to 18' and one small sunken island in the main lake that peaks at 12'. The best spring bite was in the shallows on the NW side of the main lake but that ended a couple of weeks ago.

Now what do I do??? I've never had any luck catching crappies once they move out of the shallows and I really don't even know where to start. How do I go about locating a school and what would be the best technique to fish for them? What depths should I look for them?

Thanks for any help.

[Matt Johnson]

I would think that the crappies can still be found shallow. Have you tried right smack dab in the middle of the weeds? I've been finding lately that the crappies and panfish are holding in amongst the thick weeds and you need vertical jig little pockets in the weeds, this might be the case for your lake. Depths from 6-10 feet seem to be key for those areas.

I would also look on both the inside and outside weedline. The crappies that were at one time shallow will move right up into the weeds and scurry out to feed. Being that the lake you fish is so clear it wouldn't be out of the question to find those crappies roaming the deeper edge with more light penetration and deeper weeds.

Have you spotted any spawning beds in the shallows anywhere? What kind of pike/muskie population does the lake have? What kind of structure/bottom content is the sunken island, are there weeds on or around it? Have you checked the mouth of the NW bay?

The way you explained the conditions sounds like a couple other lakes in the Metro at this time, and in those lakes the crappies will be holding in the thick weeds just on the first drop. And if you have weeds down to 16 feet than I would be willing to bet thats where they will be. Might even be as deep as 15-16 feet, but I would say they are relating to the weeds.

Fishing a very clear lake can be tough once those crappies begin to move, but they are still hunger and will eat.

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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[HighLife100]

I have never noticed any spawning beds, they were biting in just a few feet of water a couple of weeks ago and the bottom was mud. There are no Muskies in the lake and it has a few Northerns but not much, mostly a Bass lake. The sunken island is very small (maybe 20 x 30 yards) and is FULL of weeds. The edges of the island are very steep and drop into 30' of water in a hurry.

Does this help???

[Matt Johnson]

No muskies and limited pike is a good thing if you are trying to find spooked crappies. Some of the lakes that experience panfish relating heavily and deep into the weeds is due to the fact that they are hiding from the bigger gamefish like the muskie and pike.

The sunken island might be an option, but with all the deep surrounding water and the time of year I would hit the weeds first, and than maybe search the shallows again or first drop-off.

See if you can find the spawning beds, the fish will be in that area. Look for small circles in the bottom, sand/patchy weeds are good areas to look for. Do you have those types of bottom? And in what depths? I've been seeing a lot of bluegill beds lately in the shallows, and they are eager to attack anything that is put in front them, the crappies will be the same way. I've found the crappies spawning a little deeper than the gills.

What size were the crappies you found a couple weeks ago in the mud bottom areas?

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

------------------
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[united jigsticker]

You are in good shape for some Crappies since you knew where they were a few weeks back. You at least have a vicinity now to search.

Like Matt said, 6-10 feet of water in lakes with that clarity is a pretty common depth to find the Crappies at right now.

However, there can be alot of that territory to cover, making it difficult to pin point some fish.

For high sky periods (mid day), I'd try that thicker deeper weedline that you described, on both the deep side, and shallow side.

I'd try fishing parallel un depth with the weed tops, and even perhaps free casting a jig now to quickly locate some of the more active fish. Once you've found them, you can fine tune your presentation to pick out some numbers.

Evening time and early morning are the best times for finding fish in lakes with clear water, however keep in mind that Crappies may migrate to different depths during feeding times, typically either being to shallower water, or simply suspending higher in the water column.

Surface feeders are also a dead give away at this time of year on a calm evening, so surface action is certainly something worth keeping an eye open for.

How shallow does the sunken island get? I am betting there will definatly be Crappies there sooner or later, if not already, if it providing some spawning habitat. Otherwise, look for the Crappies on the dead edge of it, in about 8-12 feet of water.

Good luck.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[This message has been edited by united jigsticker (edited 06-18-2004).]

[HighLife100]

The size of the crappies we were catching were mostly small with the occasional 10 - 12"er. I've only fished the mud bottoms areas of the lake but on the E side the shoreline is much sandier. Would they move across the lake to spawn in a sandy area? Otherwise I'll try the 6 - 10ft areas right out from where they were before like you suggested.

For fan casting a jig how long do you give a certain area? Do you try a few different color jigs at each spot? Would trolling be an option?

Thanks for all of the help.

[mnrstrider]

Me I'd try to sight fish them first, see if you can see them, if not, find a suspected spawning area, or a place you caught them before, and start shallow and more deeper, a lot of times I'm finding these fish that were shallow a week ago, in a bit deeper water straight out from their previous spot. I like tube jigs for finding fish, cast, and move, cast and move til you find them, once you found one or a couple then you can zero in on them, both in depth and with different jigs and set-ups to find what's working best.
Sunday I found most of my crappies in about 6-8 fow, all the way out to 22 fow, the shallower ones were more agressive. The biggest key is to find your first fish, and work from there.

Sandy areas have been good to me, and I keep my trolling motor on a low speed like 3 (out of 10) moving all the time, I don't sit til I really, really get into the fish, casting shallower, casting deeper until I find a great spot. I no longer sit anywhere for longer than 45 minutes or so, and only if I'm catching fish, and even then after 45 I'm moving anyways. Maybe it "A.d.d" or something, but I just don't anchor too much anymore Good luck

Nick

[This message has been edited by mnrstrider (edited 06-18-2004).]

[Matt Johnson]

I would use a jig and plastic or a small Beetle Spin style spinner as a search lure for these areas. It sounds like you had a good batch of crappies in the dark bottom shallows, so I would expect those fish to still be close by in the nearby weeds. Any thick weeds in the mouth of that shallow NW bay?

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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[HighLife100]

I started out Saturday searching the shallows with a small roadrunner and looking with polarized glasses but couldn't find any crappies. I did find some nice schools of bluegills and a few bass though so I still had a good time. I moved out to the deeper weed edge but by that time the water skiers were out in full force so I called it a day.

The bay is actually in the SW corner, I was catching crappies earlier in the NW corner of the lake but that is part of the main lake. Next time I'm going to get out earlier in the morning to avoid the rec boating, does time of day make a difference in crappie location during the summer months?

[Beef46]

Not so much time of day but light conditions. Low light conditions they tend tend to be shallower, higher on the structure or out away from structure (but nearby). High light conditions go deeper or within the structure.

[This message has been edited by Beef46 (edited 06-21-2004).]

[Beef46]

Great advise guys. I was just watching a Crappie video by In-Fisherman just this last weekend and for this time of year, they taught exactly what you have stated.

One other thing, if you are fishing a little deeper water, say 15-20 FOW, cast a small jighead with a tube or curly tail in your search efforts and vary your drops. By that I mean, one time cast out and let it drop to a 5 count before you begin to reel in slowly. Next time cast out and count to 7 and so on and so forth. This allows you to pinpoint the depth that suspended fish are over deeper water.

Just my .02 cents.

[united jigsticker]

Good advice Beef, and you can also detect these suspended fish on the Vex.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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