Crappies and the Walleye Opener

[Fishook]

Would anyone be willing to share what they find to be a good crappie pattern about the time the walleye opener takes place? I am learning a great deal about the early ice out patterns but I won't get a chance to try them until the walleye opener. I suspect the ice out patterns will have changed by then? Thanks for any suggestions.

[CrappieJohn]

You are from Iowa....where will you be fishing during the time in question? Further north?

[Fishook]

I will be in the Park Rapids area. Primary target will be a Walleye but I would like to experiment on the Crappie as well. I have had good luck for Crappie with a slip bobber and tube jig combination over cabbage weed in the summer months but not sure how to approach it in the early spring.

[CrappieJohn]

You will likely find them quite close to their traditional spawning areas. Check with the local bait shops for good crappie areas when you get there to fish. With so many weather variables to speed up or slow down the spawning process it is hard to accurately say where they will be. I would concentrate on shoreline with some structure in less than eight feet of water.

[Yellow Dog]

I fish walleye in the morning on some lakes just north of Aitkin and then I take my wife crappie fishing in the afternoon / evening. Whenever I try a new lake at that time of year, I look for bullrushes. This gives me a starting point and I usually look for small channels or bays within the bullrushes for crappies. Last year we caught--not kept--about thirty and not another boat was in sight--not good walleye territory, I guess.

[Fishook]

Thanks for the updates. Can't wait to get back up north.

[koWALLEYEski]

crappie tom---

got a question about river crappies for ya

I fish some back water by 2 culverts. The water is moving pretty fast through there. Past years we would just absolutely hammer some SLABS. But now it seems like all we catch is walleyes which isnt a bad thing until opener! What do you think I should do to catch more crappies? I have been using just a 1/8 jig twistertail/paddletail/fuzzy grub and even tipped with a minnow. We havent caught a dang thing besides wallys.