Sizeable Migration

[united jigsticker]

All the talk about migration patterns leads me to ask a question of the rest of you Crappie enthusiasts.

During spring transition and fall transition, I find that the smallest dinky Crappies are the very first to suspend over the deep water in the fall, and the last to leave the deep water in the spring.

This pattern has held true as a rule for me, and is one that has helped me get to bigger Crappies quicker on new waters.

Has anyone else found this to hold true, and if so, what is your theory?

I thought smaller fish suspending alone like that would only be more suseptable to large Pike cruising or other predators.

Any takes on this?

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[united jigsticker]

Nobody has any banter on this subject???

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[Kidd]

jigsticker, I also find the larger crappies seem to hit the spring spawning areas before the smaller ones. In some cases I catch my biggest crappies while I still need to bust ice with my boat. When I'm lucky enough to be on Leach Lake the day ice goes out I'll kill the monster crappies. OK kill is a little strong, but I have gotten my biggest at that time.
As for the smaller fish being the first on winter holding areas, I haven’t noticed that pattern, but I'll be looking at it this year, thanks for the tip.

[CrappieJohn]

Kidd....good observations. Remember, crappies have a definite pecking order that always puts the best fish in the prime spots with lesser and lesser fish radiating away from that area whether it is vertically or horizontally in the water column. The largest crappies I have ever taken were pre-spawn and some in water that, according to the "rule", that should not even had crappies in it yet!

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[united jigsticker]

It helps me to find bigger fish because if I find a school of smaller Crappies suspending over deep water, I will seek out shallower schools rather then different schools ont he same depth of water.

It may just be helping me to get on more sizeable fish quicker, but it is a pattern I find that holds true and has assisted me in producing a more siazable catch over the period of a day.

AS far as where to look first, I try to make a generalized pattern of the water I'm fishing based on weather, time of year, water clarity, and the lakes basic structure such as maximum and average depth.

I will then target the depth range that I think the Crappies will most likely be at, and in areas such as bays, points, humps, inside turns, eyc, that typically hold Crappies.

Plenty of times have the fish been in a depth or area that I didn't expect, and it makes it hard to set rules, because as Tom said, sometimes you find Crappies in places they simply shouldn't be.

I have certain mental depth ranges that I pursue, and work my way up or down from there if I dont find fish.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[This message has been edited by united jigsticker (edited 10-05-2004).]

[Kidd]

Let me ask you guy's something. During late ice do you start drilling holes in typical spawning bed depths and work out to deeper water? With ice on the lake I never go in that close. Am I missing out on some of the earlier, and bigger, fish?

[This message has been edited by Kidd (edited 10-05-2004).]

[Matt Johnson]

Kidd,
Typically you won't find a lot of crappies near their bedding areas at late ice. They are still in migration routes, even though the crappies might be shallow. I find the slabs off the initial breaks when they spawn, and not so much up in the shallows. You will find crappies spawning shallow, but they are normally smaller fish mixed in with bluegills.

During late ice I'll focus on edges and mid-depth flats. Crappies have been roaming deeper areas and mainlake structure all mid winter, so they will slide up towards shallow water as ice melts and oxygen begins to shift. You can start to focus on the larger bays this time of year too, especially if those bays have relatively deep water. Small, shallower lakes are good and might have crappies roaming up off the deeper holes at late ice. I find a lot of bigger crappies in the 8-15 foot depths at late ice on a majority of average size lakes in MN. Larger and smaller lakes might be a different story, and you might spend some more time trying to find fewer fish. Once that ice gets soft and you see a lot of runoff from melting snow, the bite can really pick up. Bluegills excel at this time too.

So to answer your question, I normally worker "deeper" and move shallower at late ice. Crappies move shallow at early ice, than move deep, than move back shallow again, but that last shallow movement, atleast with larger fish, doesn't typically happen until the ice is actually clearing the lakes or is off. Not uncommon to find slabs still holding deeper once the ice is off the lake either.

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Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson
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[This message has been edited by Matt Johnson (edited 10-05-2004).]

[united jigsticker]

I will say that while I have not seen Crappies in "spawning" depths at last ice, that they will at times roam in "shallow" water, that being 6-10 feet deep at times.

However, on certain lakes, a bit of success has been had on Bull Bluegills in 2-4 feet of water when the ice is honeycombed, typically in old bull rush or reed beds.

These fish are super spooky, and the way to get them is to go swiss cheese an area of bull rushes or reeds, and then wait a period of time for things to calm, and sneak back into the holes.

Sometimes it will be as simple as seeing them down there if visibilty permits, other times they will come in from the side as your lure drops.

But be aware...Any amount of noise once on fish can spook off the fish and the bite for lengthy periods of time.

For Crappies at last ice, some lakes I know the Crappies will typically be at a certain depth, and I will start there because it has worked in the past.

If its a new lake, I will either cheat and ask the local bait shop, or if thats not an option, I will do as matt said.

Start at the brim of the deep water and work shallower until you find fish.

I like to start on the northern edges of the hole as a rule, looking for some type of underwater point, turn, flat, or something to attract a number of fish. If not, then I will work the northeast or northwest rim that leads closest to staging springtime areas.

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Good fishing,
UJ
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[Yellow Dog]

Curious...how does that knowledge help you locate the bigger fish? Where do you look first?

[Kidd]

Crappie Tom, UJ and Matt. Thanks fella's for taking the time to post. I'm glad to find out that I wasn't missing out on some bigger fish by staying in deeper water on late ice.
Rest assured I'll be trying some of your suggestions.
Kidd

[This message has been edited by Kidd (edited 10-06-2004).]