Help me find crappie on this lake.

[Oldtyme]

Hi. First time poster. Also a Hoosier(hope they're welcome here?)
Anyways, I come seeking assistance. I've had an "OK" year this year when it comes to crappie but think I could be doing much better.
The lake I go to definitely has good crappie in it but sometimes they're hard to find.
I am posting a link to an image of the lake I go to. The areas I highlighted are the areas I fish. I use a beetle type spinner called a fish-n-spin (google it). I mainly use a black head & green sparkle tail tube tipped with a crappie nibble.
Anyways. Can anyone point me to the fish? It's quickly becoming fall like here in Indiana so take that into consideration.
Thanks for your time.
Fish Lake

[CrappieJohn]

Oldtyme...First, I'd like to extend to you a welcome to FishingMinnesota.com. Welcome aboard!

I could see no clear indication of how deep the lake is, but it does not appear to to be too much so. There are a couple places to look right now and a couple for later on.

Now I'd begin looking at those weedbeds, somewhere between the underwater weeds and the lilies when the weather has been warm and consistant. Get a cold front, I'd move straight out from the lilies to the very outside edge of that submergent stuff. A serious cold front may force the fish right into those deep weeds. One of lesser intensity may simply put the fish into the deep pads.

As fall moves along, look for those fish to migrate ever so slowly toward the deeper water shorelines, like those on the NW and SE shores, especially if there is some deep wood or cribbing. These shores have the most radical drop and will set the fish up for their deeper winter digs. Look for fish movement to be less horizontal and more vertical in nature. You should soon see the relationship between the fish and deeper water as things get cooler (water temp, that is)and available light is becoming shorter.

I guess from the standpoint of what you are using for lures, I'd suggest you dump the speed if you are having trouble getting into fish at this time of year. While the crappies may hit a spin- type of presentation while the water is warm or after a prolonged fall heatwave, you will do much better with as near a vertical presentation as possible. If the water is clear, use a float to do this with a s small a jig as you can cast. If you need a slip for added depth, keep the jig small and add a splitshot a foot up.

Start looking at downsizing your baits when the water has cooled to about 58 degrees. The PowerBait 1" panfish twisters are a good choice on a 1/32 head when fished under a float. Culprit Paddletails and flicktails fished on the same size head are excellent "profile" plastics with reduced action. Southern Pro makes a panfish stinger stinger which can be hot for finessing these late season birds. And if the nibbles help, by all means use them!

The key is to go back in the archived material in this forum and read what has been written about transitional fish, those between the summer and winter seasons.

Again, Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com!

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle Pro Staff
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[This message has been edited by CrappieTom (edited 09-01-2004).]

[delmuts]

hey Tom ? have you ever thought about writing a book on panfishing ? if you take your very informative post from here , you would have a good start! as always! we appreciate all of the info ! del

[Oldtyme]

Thanks Crappie Tom.
I have been reading up on the fall pattern.
I even bought Slab Crappie Secrets from In-Fisherman.
I'm going to try the verticle jig approach this coming weekend, (something I should of been doing more of this summer) and trolling around.
I bought a few rod holders & will basically be doing a spider rig techinque(3 lines max in Indiana)
I have stocked up on crappie jigs this summer, but never used them. Too dependent on what I was catching them with to try other techniques.

One more thing. So I want to be fishing in the areas that drop the deepest the fastest?
Like you said, the max depth on that lake is 24 feet. I see a lot of people fishing around that little island in the middle.(but who knows what they're fishing for, see lots of bobbers though )
I could probably ask a million other questions, but I will take my time & go through the forum. Surely there will be great info.
(and for sure, I will be buying some green sparkle 1" powerbait twisters)

One more thing. That little 12 foot deep extension off the lake, would that be worth a venture into? I never knew it was there till I seen the map, so it must be a weedy path...

[This message has been edited by Oldtyme (edited 09-01-2004).]

[CrappieJohn]

Right now I'd concentrate my efforts on the weed edges, getting deeper when fronts come through. When we begin getting much cooler in the evenings and water temps begin a serious decline, then start looking at the radical shoreline drops nearer the deep water. A good way to approach this is to look at how the progression of things comes about in the spring....how the fish move from the deeper water haunts up and along those steep breaklines until they eventually reach their pre-spawning habitat. Now....reverse the process, beginning with that pre-spawn habitat and work your way backwards to when they just came out of the winter doldrums. The crappies will likely be found in the same areas (structure-wise) that they occupied in the spring with similar water temperatures.

I don't think that that shallow area you mentioned would hold much at this time of year, but it would certainly be worth checking in the spring.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle Pro Staff
[email protected]