Fall Crappies

[Mr. Pike1]

I am for the most part a Walleye, smallie, and pike fisherman. I have however enjoyed catching large crappies as well. My question is related to the fall crappie pattern. I have a little lake by my house that has a channel that connects to another body of water. This spring this location was chock full of crappies in the 7-11" class. I know the reason they were there in the sprin was most likely due to the fact that this was the warmest water and good mud bottom with all types of bug hatch. My question is do crappie migrate from the deep and hit this spring locations prior to first ice?

[Oldtyme]

Hey Mr. Pike.
This was recently brought up with some great answers.

Link

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

[Mr. Pike1]

I stuck with plastics today and had great success. My choice bait was a berkly 2" power minnow. I also used some tubes. Overall my father and I boated well over 100 crappie. Unfortunatly not many exceeded the 8-9" mark. Still a good time and beautiful fall colors all around this west metro lake

[CrappieJohn]

Mr.Pike....You don't mention any sort of structure...weeds, wood, drop-off, etc. If this channel is holding a bit of deeper water, say eight feet, adjecent to the shallower section, you may see a showing of these fish off and on thru the fall. Without something there to really give them something to relate to though, their showing will likely be only in passing thru. You'll know if that is the case by catching a couple here and there, then having a definite lull in the action before getting a few more.

I am assuing that there is current there. I fish a lake with a similar water/current situation and find the crappies there in quite cold water (spring and fall) but only on days with cloud cover. It maybe worthwhile for you to take a trip on the next dirty day we have. I know I have been generously rewarded at the spot mentioned on such days.

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

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[dlskills]

i have a ? have any of you tried the new *** bait for crappies and if so using just like you would use them on the ice?

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Dwight Skillings
dlskills@mchsi dot com

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

[Mr. Pike1]

Crappie Tom, This body of water is actually a body of water that holds a good supply of large Pike which is why we went. I have gotten many double digit pike here over the years. It is really a very very muddy shallow lake with floating bogs. The pike action was slow and the water calm. I began to see fish hitting the surface to feed and assumed they were crappie and they were. The plastics or live bait my father was tossing only needed to go about 12-18" under the surface to get hit. The deepest water I found was 18 feet. I started in this depth and drifted into 8 feet. They were for the most part all over the lake and very very aggressive. Just an unbelievable population of crappies...I would not have been surprised that if I would have tossed a bare hook that they would not have hit that as well

[The Grebe]

Crappie T....I know exactly what you are talking about in that last post...it's the reason I have only been getting a few here and there in the last couple of weeks.

For once I can really relate to a described situation and understand it....some of the hypothetical situations are to involved for me...I must have ADD because sometimes I can't hold on until the end of some of the really long senarios? To much like work!

At any rate, I'm going to use that idea when I get the boat out for a final run, to get the Stabile through the system...was gonna do it today, but I had a mountain of work to get done...maybe tommarrow?

[Mr. Pike1]

Crappie Tom. I have continued to work the plastics this year for crappies. I have had success on all of the following Berkley products:

- 2" power minnow
- The micro nympth
- The power tubes
- The power wigglers
- Gulp red angle worms
- Gulp maggots
- Crappie niblets. Sometimes I just jam this inside an unsented tube to assist in sent when jigging

My question to is two fold.

1. Do you see any difference in the success rate in Berkley power bait vs Berkley power bait with *** salt vs. the new gulp product? I am curious as the 3" minnows and some other Berkley products I can only find in *** salt formula. The actual scent appears the same and perhaps the extra salt helps.

2. Have you fished the plastics much while ice fishing and if so with what success. I have used the power wigglers and had good panfish success. Not as good as the old waxie but good. I saw on the berkley site they have a new grub worm for ice fishing that I will try as I am certain in imitates the old reliable waxie and if productive nice to have in the old box.

[This message has been edited by Mr. Pike1 (edited 10-10-2004).]

[CrappieJohn]

Pike....

I don't see much difference between salted and unsalted baits, but I am certain that there are those who do. I see a huge difference between the PowerBait products and the Gulp products....the Gulp being on the losing end. I like the 2" stuff for crappies , but the 3" Powerbait has taken some "surprise" fish for me in the dead of winter while fishing below the dams on the Mississippi for walleye/sauger. And those baits are both salted and unsalted, at least those that I have. I just haven't paid much whatever to the salt issue.

Another product that works very well when the fish are on the plastics which come scented are the Exude twisters. 2" plastics are the best for the crappies until the water drops under 45 degrees, then I go to 1"ers. Like the PowerBait, these lures have a cooked in scent and at times will out-produce PowerBait!

Plastics in the winter are very usable, but you have got to tone down the size and the profile. I prefer using plastics with a "rat tail". These have a body just large enough to hook up on a jig and the tail looks exactly what I mentioned.....a rat's tail. There are lots of products of this design out there and several can be found right on site here at the tackle store. Often times I will modify the length of the body, but never do I mess with the tail on these jewels. Most of the winter bites can be had without any tipping, but don't exclude that as an option when the fish have tight chops. I like to drop the jig down to the level the fish are at, hold it there and just tap on the rod about a third of the way up from ahead of the reel. Sets that tail on fire and makes the fish crazy. The Falls Flick Tail is another super plastic when fished as described for the rat tails.

What I have found over the last two years is that fish are much more agreeable to hitting plastic in cold water than once thought. My winter fishing through the ice starts with plastic now instead "trying" it at the end of the day as a last resort.

Anyone of a dozen astute plastics users on the forum will tell you that the key to plastics is patience and confidence. These two elements run hand in hand. You will never find any confidence in using plastics unless you set out to find confidence in plastics. That takes a tremendous amount of patience. I can tell you though, that if you do put the time in with plastic, you'll be richly rewarded.

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

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Pro Staff Coordinator

[Mr. Pike1]

Tom, I do have the Excude product in white. pink, and green. I also have the basix non-Exude Mr. twister tails in same color all in the 1" version. My favorite is the white on small pink jig head under a float. I still always add a crappie minnow to this presentation....I say favorite as this is the only combo I have actually tried. I need to experiment more. Now if I chase panfish I have 6-7 different combo's ready to go...I usually start with live bait and once I know they are there continue to mix it up to see if the bite increases or decreases and adjust or stick with the best technique...I was planning on using the exude tails through the ice as I like the action, the small profile, and that they are scented.