fall crappies

[fisherdog19]

With not a lot of fall crappie fishing under my belt (actually none), what is a typical fall pattern for fall slabs.

Thanks,
Fisherdog

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Quality Bait & Tackle
Detroit Lakes, MN

[Matt Johnson]

Hey Pete,

Fall patterns...ahh yes, the turn-over period This is when the thermocline diminishes and the cool and warm water start to mix. The typically deeper water crappies patterns of the hot summer months will turn into shallower water patterns. (Keep in mind that rivers will be different and not every lake will experience the same effects either, every body of water may be different from the next) When the water mixes you will typically find the crappies in some sort of migration stage (in lakes) and they will start to slide to the initial breaks and suspend off shallow water edges instead of constantly roaming the deeper depths. The turn-over period might not last too long (especially with the weather we've experienced this year ) Once the water turns over and the temps drop more and more, you will begin to find fish staging in their early ice locations. Summer and late-summer crappies will stage, often times, suspended in deeper water at the same level of the top of the initital breakline (flat). So if you have the top of your break at say 10 feet, and you drop into about 25 feet at the basin, you will find crappies suspened 15 feet off the bottom out on the basin. These fish will roam and you will often times mistake them for baitfish or when you try to pinpoint them they just keep moving (thats part of the reason it can be tough to find the big slabs in the hot summer months) These fish will begin staging for the winter once fall approaches and WILL feed on what is in front of them if the opportunity presents iteslf, but intercepting these fish can be tough on lakes with large basins and limited structure. I don't typically heavily follow the crappie movements during the hot summer months since they are so sporadic, but once they begin moving into winter patterns thats when they get my attention (I'm an ice fishing geek ) Learning the fall (turn-over period and into early ice) patterns has a lot to do with finding the slabs at early ice. Smaller crappies will stack up in obvious shallow(er) spots at early ice, but you will still find some of your larger fish off the "so called" prime hotspots of early ice. Call me crazy, but I'll spend all day trying to catch two 14-15 inch crappies instead of sitting and pounding the 8-11 inchers at early ice. Early ice crappies will relate to the weeds, atleast as long as they provide oxygen (which may last quite a ways into winter or even throughout winter in some cases) I personally don't think that the larger crappies need to relate to those weeds, I'm not saying that you won't catch slabs in the weeds at early ice, but I'm just saying that those weed areas tend to draw in more smaller fish as well as potato chip bluegills and hungry roaming pike. The larger crappies (concentration of fish) that I do typically find in the weeds are located in lakes where the weedline pushes out into deeper water, say 12-15 feet of even more, and I find the slabs right out on the deeper portions at early ice. Ok, enough with early ice, back to fall ...

Once the thermocline does a flip-flop (and dissapears) and you complete the turn-over you will notice that the crappies adjusted to a whole new area. During this time you won't find the crappies suspended over the deeper water 24 hours a day, or even at all anymore. They will somehow relate to shallower water, whether its off the break, or along the deep weededge. Once they move up into the weeds they will relate to the shallower weeds until they die off (assuming that they do in a typical lake situation), then they will cling to the oxygen-rich (slightly deeper) weeds until those are gone. Now, this is a general crappie pattern, and not true for every lake and not always true for all the larger fish. This is, how should we call it... "crappie intuition"

So, right now I would still look for crappies roaming out in deeper water, but once we see the water temps drop more into the 50s you will want to start pinpointing when the crappies begin their fall migration patterns. Once they move you can find them off shallow breaks or structure, as well as along the deeper weedline. This is where they will hold until the water temps drop to near freezing and the weeds drop rapidly, than you can find them holding on to whatever weed growth is left as the ice forms above them.

Here's how I pattern the crappies throughout all of this (slightly different than normal )...

Deep water pattens
Your summer to late-summer pattern. Crappies roaming deeper water. This is when I don't like to fish crappies, carp can be fun

Turn-over (thermocline dies)
Crappies move from deeper water and stage off shallower water. Keep an eye on areas where you know the crappies are at early ice and move out from there.

(inbetween these two is where I find my larger crappies at early ice)

Thermocline is dead...full turn-over
Crappies are holding off shallow structure, more tight though. Weeds are dying and fish gradually slide deeper.

Early Ice......for another day...

This is my view of a typical crappie movement from late summer to early ice for you typical lake. I have some lakes where the pattern is very different, and some lakes where you catch your early ice crappies in deeper holes. Keep in my that these crappies that are found the deeper holes at early ice might have already migrated shallow and already moved back out (crappies will move back out as ice thickens and light penetration gets worse.....now we are into ice fishing patterns)

A lot of this is just a general discription of how crappies move in an average lake with moderate weed growth and available deep/shallow water.

I hope some of this helps. Sorry if I repeated some things, if something doesn't make sense feel free to ask. The only reason I really focus heavily on fall patterns is for ice fishing, like I said...ice geek

Check out the Fall Migration here...
Fall Migration...Crappies

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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Matt Johnson Outdoors
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[Paul Waldowski]

Matt,

Great stuff as always. You never cease to amaze me.

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[ivegottabite]

yeah matt,
your information is great!! i have never fished for crappies before but i can't wait to get the chance to fish them on the hardwater! i'll be watching to see when your tips for hardwater come out. it's great to have guys like you on the forum to help the less knowledgable out.

[CrappieJohn]

Great piece of work Matt! Congrats!

As Matt has stated, there are differences in any two waters and definite differences between lakes/ ponds and rivers. I just returned from a morning's fishing in the Mississippi River backwaters near Kellogg, Minnesota and can say that those fish were definitely NOT deep. We caught htem over seven to 14 feet of water at 2.5 feet down. They were not tight to cover and were not relating to anything much other than the shade-line on the water. What we found was that the further we got from cover, the larger the general size became...from small to 8 inches near the cover to fish approaching 14 inches only twenty feet away from the cover in open water, but right on a shade line that was on the water from trees behind us.

I don't mean to sound as though I am contradictory here.....I am not. Rather, I am adding to the pot yet another twist to the fall crappie saga. If I could add anything to what Matt has offered up here, it would be to be willing to stray a little from tried and true if the fish are dealing you fits. If all that makes the difference is tewnty feet and some shade, imagine how many other challenges these fish could throw your way.

......but by the way....these fish were targeting tons of small minnows that were schooled into the backwaters. As the small minnows ( about an inch long) approached the shade, these bigger crappies would have at them freely. Almost every hit was upward and defintely the bulk of the hits came from the shade to the sun-lit water. Gotta love these animals, don't you?

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

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[Corey Bechtold]

Great replies, the only things missing are top presentations for Crappies prior to and after the turnover. Also what works right before ice over, or how water temps shift Crappie activity and feeding patterns.

I'm sure we will see some top notch replies about that.

Corey Bechtold

[united jigsticker]

I've been on some differing bites before ice over. I guess to me it pends more on the weather and lake you're fishing.

I've found Crappies shallower right before ice over, (actually was some ice around parts of the shoreline) then where they were staged during late October. These fish were on the bottom in the same depth as where they were suspended at over the deep water (30 + feet) being down 18-20 feet.

I have been on some aggressive bites in late fall over deep water on plain artificials, taking Crappies on the "drop" (freefalling jig)

I have also had to go slow and small, with maggots or waxies, on 1/64 oz tackle, suspending the lure inches above the tops of the schools, underneath a slip float.

So for me to put a science and rule to the season, I guess I'd throw my hands in the air. It does what it does in my book.

I have journals to try and keep patterns on the fish year after year, and it stays consistent right up to the point of that week of ice-up.

After ice up, same year after year.

After turn-over but a week before ice-up, same, year after year.

But that one week, it's all over the board. Shallow, deep, flats, breaklines, suspended, belly in the mud, aggressive, lip-locked.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[fisherdog19]

Thanks for the replies, had a general idea, but was unsure. The answers given solidified what I was thinking. Have had luck on the eyes already up here, fall bite is on for us.

Thanks,
Fisherdog

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Quality Bait & Tackle
Detroit Lakes, MN