Report... 5/6

[Matt Johnson]

Corey Bechtold, BDR and myself hit a Wright County lake in search of pannies. We fished from 4pm until about 10pm. The crappies were pretty much non-existent until sundown, all we found were small sunfish prior to the crappie flurry. Once the sun hit the trees the crappie activity really picked up. We fished the backside of a mainlake island leading into a channel. The fish were shallow, 2-4 feet and holding amongst a pile of brush. As the evening wore on, the crappies moved out from the brush and were feeding more aggressively in the open water. We pitched a variety of plastics, no live-bait, both under a float and tight-lining. A variety of color patterns worked as well. They were eager to hit larger baits too, 2-2.5 inch profiles worked just fine. Water temps hit just about 60 degrees and the weeds are really starting to take form. I'd expect the bite to only get better as this warm weather continues. A few cooler temps are ahead, 50s, along with some rain. When this weather hits, I'd look for the fish on the edge of the shallow water areas and weededges. The initial break off the shallow holding areas will hold fish right now too, as well as during the upcoming weather patterns. The bigger fish will want to be next to deeper water. The sunfish will more than likely stay in the shallows regardless, but those bigger crappies will either hold tight to structure or slide out towards deeper water if the temps drop and we see a change in pressure. With all the awkward weather we've experienced this year so far, the pannies are in a weird transition, and they are sliding back and forth. The water temps have changed quite a bit in the last week and the fish are starting to become more stable and are beginning to slide back on track. Late May and into June should see some excellent fishing for pannies.

Here's a few shots from the other night...

BDR with a nice slab taken on a Stub Grub

Another Stub Grub crappie

A crappie with a mouth full of algae

Stub Grub crappie

Several different techniques and presentations were working for us. Here are a few different plastics that produced and have been producing as of late...

Pearl/Pink Stub Grub on a silver 1/64oz collar-less jig

Chartruese/Orange Stub Grub on a 1/32oz collar-less orange jighead

Purple/Chartruese Stub Grub on a 1/32oz collar-less Chartruese jighead

Orange/Pink Rat Grub on a 1/32oz collar-less pink jighead

Clear/blue-sparkle tube on a 1/32oz orange jighead

Clear/gold-speckle 2-inch minnow on a 1/32oz Chartruese jighead

White/Chartruese Stinger on a 1/32oz pink/white jighead

These are a just a few of the options that will work. I prefer baits with a slower fall right now. The fish are not at the peak of their aggressiveness just yet, and they like the baits to have a slow-fall, where they can easily snatch it up. Most of the hits are coming on the fall or glide. The Stub Grub and Rat Grub are perfect for a slow-fall approach. The ringed body really incorporates a perfect action needed this time of year, and they've proven deadly on the panfish so far. Don't be afraid to throw some larger baits at the fish either. The clear/gold-speckled minnow in combination with a jighead shown above, gives off a 2.5 inch profile, and the crappies were more than eager to devour it.

Also pick your times to hit the likely spots. The spot we fished was a dead sea until about 7pm, so there is no sense in knocking on the door if no one is home. The fish might be there holding tight to the structure, but a good majority of the fish are holding just outside the channel in deeper water during daytime. It's a short move to slide up into the shallows to feed. Right now is the time of year when those small moves are made by the crappies, and it will continue for a couple more weeks until they actually begin to stage in certain areas. Food is first and foremost for these fish right now.

So many options, and so little time

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[fishingmike0770]

Sounds like you guys had a blast!

[mnrstrider]

Hey matt just a quick question, Last couple times I've been out I have not seen any crappies in the shallows, Have you seen lakes that have started showing crappies in the shallow areas yet, or did I miss them by now? I've been working way too much lately, and my whole season is messed up right now. I'm finding fish suspended in the 14-20 fow range, but they are not taking much of anything right now, I suspect it shortly before they'll head in to spawn. Of course this would depend on the lake. I was limited on time the other night so I ended up not being able to staying out for the low light night bite it appears you hit.

-Nick

[Matt Johnson]

Most of the shallow water crappie action I've seen lately has been after dark. During the day it's been tough to pinpoint a lot of crappies in the shallows. That should change soon though, and some lakes have already experienced the shallow flurry. Deeper (relative) areas are where you'll find the crappies during the day. Areas that are adjacent to where they will slide up on to feed. I like deeper water just out from creeks or channels, or else just out from a shallow bay. Dark bottom areas where there is an abundant of life (weeds, algae, insects, etc) are areas to check out. They will draw in fish, and right now you need to locate the crappies forage. The misconception that "shallow crappies = spawning crappies" right now is still common, but the fish you are finding in the shallows right now are not staging for the spawn just yet, they are feeding. Now, I'm not saying that those fish are not going to eventually be spawners, they are just not initializing for it. And to add onto that, I don't typically find my larger spawning slabs in shallow water, they're usually just of the first break where there is a change in transition.

I know Tonka is seeing a shallow water, midday crappie bite right now, as are a few other lakes. So, there are some options out there for a shallow water day bite. I've just noticed on the lakes that I've been fishing that the deeper water day bite is still where the slabs are holding. The change in location will happen quick if the temps continue though. In the last week I've seen a big difference on where the fish are relating, in referrence to shallow vs deep. Fish are moving more towards a shallow frame of mind. Lets just hope this weather system we're going to see doesn't throw that off again...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[united jigsticker]

Yeah...

Like Matt said, this misconception that the Crappies "move in and spawn" right after ice-out is as bunk as the bed my kid sleeps on.

Crappies don't spawn until water temps reach about 64, 66...Give or take.

Keep in mind that wind conditions, etc, affect the difference in water temp. For instance, a couple sunny calm days may show a surface temp of 60 degrees. But the wind will whip up and miz the water up, and the temp could drop to 55 degrees. The deeper you go, the colde the water gets.

I got a kick out of the guy 3 weeks ago that told me the Crappies had moved in, spawned , and moved out already.

Guess he missed the big cold front that came through and knocked the fish back out deep.

Shallow is perspective to the body of water you fish. Some lakes, shallow is 2 feet of water, while other bodies of water, shallow means 10 feet of water.

Yesterday I found Crappies in 6 feet of water. 2 weeks ago before the cold snap, I found Crappies in 8-10 feet of water with a surface temp of 62 degrees during that 90 degree day we had.

Keep in mind that water clarity has a major influence on what depth the Crappies will be in, and furthermore, what depth they will spawn.

In lakes with dark or stained water, 2 feet of water may be the depth where Crappies setup their beds.

In lakes with very transparent water and deep weed growth, Crappies can spawn in 10 feet of water.

So there ya have it.

On another note, Matt, how come you didn't try any hussie jigs?

[Matt Johnson]

UJ... LOL

The hussie jigs were too aggressive and I need to find a few new ones

Drop me an email, we need to go chase some slabs...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Matt Breuer]

Great report and info Matt! I'd like to add my report, as well as my take on the shallow water bite.

As for the bite, and in response to daytime crappies, I think it's going well right now. On some lakes you can't buy a fish in shallow until dark, on others you can pick up pannies all day long in less than 3 feet. Here's what I mean, and my last three days of findings...

5-5-05

Fished a small local lake that is notorious for having a tremendous early Spring shallow bite for monster 'gills and keeper crappies. Found water temps. anywhere from 52.5 degrees up to 55.7 degrees. Worked the shallows as well as the deep water. Found one bass for our efforts. Poor windy fishless day!

5-6-05

Traveled to a smaller area lake with the wifey and was fishing the breaks, deep suspended fish, as well as the shallows. No fish to speak of for the first 40 minutes. Suddenly a bald eagle flew over a shallow area on the other side of the lake and a dead weedbed erupted with top swirls. I snuck over and began throwing a smoke puddle jumper on a pink jig head and we ended up catching a ton of crappies and 'gills, as well as some bass, pike, and perch, all in less than 4 feet of water. We caught fish constantly from 3-8 pm. Non-stop action throughout the day, and no time of day was better than another. Nothing was huge, but fun anyway!

5-7-05

I fished Red Lake with two guys from the surrounding areas and found a good pile of crappies in 4-6 feet, as well as great numbers of walleye, roughly 80 or more, as well as 1 perch and 3 drum. Puddle jumper again prevailed for me as far as plastics go, and the Flu Flu was great with a crappie minnow, and they were using a yellow tube jig and a red/chartreuse tube, among other things.

The fish were all shallow, and putting on the feedbags awaiting the ideal spawning temps and conditions. From now until the 1st week of June is usually the prime! Get out and have some fun with the pannies!

[mnrstrider]

Great, thanks a ton guys you reinforcing everything I was thinking, I was thinking the crappies were still staging in the deeper water, I could find groups of suspended fish, which in the past have been crappies (I didn't catch one to know I was 100% correct), last year I worked them and was able to catch a few nice ones, I just figured we were still prespawn, but it's been so long since I've been out, I was having some doubts wither I missed it or not.

I actually was thinking about crappie spawning season, then I remembered someone once told me it's around the time lilacs bloom, which I remembered when I seen some lilac bushes the other day.

Thanks a ton guys, top notch info once again.

[Matt Breuer]

mnstrider, we are still in pre-spawn, some of the fish on many lakes are still staging up here, you are correct, those are them on your locator suspended most of the time!

Every lake is different, and time of year changes every year as well, but generally I find the spawn to be very close to Memorial Day. When that water in 2 feet reaches 60-65 for a few days straight they're usually going to try and get 'er done!

A reminder that not all fish are able to spawn due to odd weather patterns and such, many females absorb their eggs and no offspring are produced. Prey for stable weather!!

[muskybuck]

Hey Matt,

Didn't anyone call the tip's line on you for using such large plastics??????? Better be careful.

[Matt Johnson]

They're plastics that are designed for crappies, and are fished with 1/32oz jig with an ultra-lite rod and 2-4 pound test line...

The 2-inch Power Minnow is the largest plastic I've been using for pannies and it's designed especially for them. I'm not too worried. It comes down to ethics and what a person is ACTUALLY targeting. I have no intentions of targeting anything but crappies and sunfish. Panfish (and bigger panfish I might add) will take a 2 inch bait, and with consistency, it's called up-sizing when fish want a bigger meal.

I've sat down and talked with numerous CO's throughout several different areas/regions about such topics, with no hindrance.

Some people are out there to bend and break rules, I'm not one of those people...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Deitz Dittrich]

I will stand up for matt on this one.. He is one of the most tallented and most ethical anglers I know. Taking a cheep shot at Matt, is not ever warrented.

[Dan Thiem]

Nice pictures Breuer, the guy with the Aqua Vu hat has a couple of beauties!

If I ever catch any pigs like those I'm gonna need some new drawers.

Way too go!

[Tonka Boy]

Quote:

---

Hey Matt,

Didn't anyone call the tip's line on you for using such large plastics??????? Better be careful.

---

I know Matt is first and formost a panfish guy. If he was throwing a suick I'd have to assume he's chasing BIG SLAB crappies!

Seriously though, I use everything from the standard minnow under a float to rapalas. When those crops are active a bigger bait sometimes is the way to go. Last week on the river for instance, 4" ring worms were the ticket so you never know.

[Dan Thiem]

Johnson must have some pretty little hands if those plastics look big.

[Yellow Dog]

Matt -

Thanks for the info! But I am wondering...how do you successfully fish late into the dark? Lantern? How do you rig lights?

[Matt Johnson]

Yellow Dog,

There are a few options here...

You could use a light-bobber. However, one of the biggest problems with a light-bobber is that it's typically too heavy for panfish, and the fish feels too much resistance in order to pull it down. There is a solution to this though, and that is to use a light-stick of some sort on the float you were already using. You can find light-sticks (glow-sticks) at a variety of different tackle stores. Todays Tackle uses a system that incorporates a light-stick that works very well for these types of situations...

You can order the light-sticks from their site as well...

Todays Tackle Wave Busters and Light-Sticks

Another option would be to just cast a plastic/jig without a bobber. When I was out the other night chasing these crappies I went without a bobber. I would work a jig/plastic off a retrieve and let the plastic glide while bouncing it off the bottom. Most of the hits would come on the glide/slow-fall phase. By using this technique you are feeling for the bite instead of visually watching the bite happen. Really helps in dark conditions.

A head-lamp can help you see to tie knots and un-hook fish if needed. It also helps provide a little extra light in the boat. A cell phone will work to help tie knots too, as we found out the other night

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[muskybuck]

Hey Dietz,

That was not a cheap shot at Matt. Is is a good shot against all the posts the last few weeks about the people who are screaming "call the tip line" because they have seen people using large spinners and plastics while they were fishing so people assume they are beaking the law. As I stated a few times in previous posts there is way too many people saying to call the tip line for pretty poor and unsure purposes. But then I imagine you read those posts also.

[Deitz Dittrich]

My Fault MB... Please except my appology. Thought it was a dig.. and in the defence of those other posts.. there are a lot of people that are not as stand up and ethical as Matt and yourself.

[united jigsticker]

"large spinners"

If I see someone using a "large spinner" this time of year, one of 2 things come to mind.

They are either targeting out of season species, or they don't know "Jack Doo-doo" about Crappies.

The plastics in the photo's above look small enough to target wintertime Crappies...I don't understand why you said that.....

[muskybuck]

The latest issue of Crappie magazine has a good article in it about large spinners for large crappies. There are guides down South that consistantly catch two hundred crappies a year over 2 and one half pounds each. Think about how large a 2 and one half pound crappies mouth is. Besides, I think I will stick to Jimmy Houstons opinion on large spinners taking large crappies over yours, until I see you on TV that is.

[hanson]

I too have seen this argument posted a number of times and on a few different threads. The Jimmy Houston Crappie Magazine article has been mentioned a couple of times so I pulled out my latest issue to see what I misread.

p.48- "Spinnerbaits tempt crappie the same way they tempt largemouths, only on a smaller scale." OK, I agree with that.

p.50- "...anglers specifically targeting crappie might stick with smaller temptations. If you are wanting more bites, you should probably throw 1/32oz to 1/8 oz spinnerbaits. For targeting big crappie, those in the 2 to 3 pound range, use 1/4 oz baits." I see no problem with this either.

The way I interpret this, my Blakemore Road Runners, Beetle Spins, Mepps spinners, and smaller safety pin style spinnerbaits (which happen to be sold in the crappie/panfish section of the sporting goods store) are all acceptable ways of chasing crappie in the spring or at any time of year. This isn't a new technique, my dad has been fishing panfish with these small spinners for years.

I don't think there is a CO out there that will argue with you when using this tackle either. Now if you tie on a larger bass-sized spinnerbait, you might have a tough time winning the argument.

My biggest problem with applying the techniques of this article to the waters of MN are that our crappie just don't normally grow as large as the crappies down south. Now if we had lakes full of 2 1/2 pounders, why not?

[Matt Johnson]

muskybuck,

No offense taken on your comment, it was just a little confusion...

Large spinners will catch large crappies, however, you need to keep in mind the region/area they are fishing (in referrence to what Jimmy Houston is talking about). Tossing a larger tandom system spinner like we commonly use for bass and pike in Minnesota will more than likely not catch you a crappie. But, toss that same spinner down south where Jimmy Houston fishes and you might have yourself a productive crappie technique for certain conditions and for certain times of the year. The only spinners I use to target crappies in the Midwest are Beetle Spin or Betts style spinners in those sizes. The original Beetle Spin is about as large as I'll go. There are other options as well that will have about the same size and profile.

I think united jigsticker was referring to anglers in Minnesota throwing large spinners and not anglers down south.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[lars0926]

I just had to put my two cents in. I'm a huge fan of the blakemore roadrunners. In fact, I've done wonderful with them this spring. I use a white 1/16 size with the flat blade (vs. the round blade). I tip it with a 1" power nymph. My buddy and I hit a south metro lake last week and the action was endless. With some experimenting we were definately outfishing any other spinner combos. Anyway, to test the parameters of what a crappie will take, I have tossed some bigger spinners their way in the past. The biggest spinner I've ever successfully caught a crappie on was a Mepps #5 red/white with bucktail. And this was only a 9" specimen. However, I would think that this size of a lure would be ridiculous to throw prior to the opener.

[united jigsticker]

For clarification:

Yes, as Matt has said, that is what I was refering to.

Conditions are alot different in the south then they are here in the Upper Midwest, and I think that needs recognition.

Water conditions, eco systems, fish sizes, etc. are very different from places like Kentucky and Alabama to up here in Minnesota.

Also, the predominant species down there is White Crappies. Obviously, we have a majority of Black Crappies.

I was also refering to spinners such as large tandems commonly used for Bass and Pike, as you had stated in your post "large spinners"; I did not realize you were talking about the small spinners such as Beetle Spins and Mepps.

Furthermore, I was refering to prespawn coldwater conditions where fish are seldom that aggresive to chase baits that are moving that quickly or are that large.

I have caught Crappies in July using the smaller spinners such as Mepps in the right circumstances and conditons as well, and agree they can be very effective at putting alot of fish in the boat.

But I'd have a hard time going that agressive this time of year with all the drastic changing weather fronts rolling through so often.

If it works for you, more power to ya!

I always say, fish with what you're most comfortable with. I don't have confidence in those types of baits just yet, and that alone would be enough to get me outfished.

Good info guys!!!!