Crappies...am or pm?

[eyepatrol]

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are regarding which time of day would be better for going after hardwater crappies....early in the morning around sunrise or later in the day around dusk? I've always targeted them at dusk and into the night, but I wonder if I'm missing out on something?

thanks in advance

bc

[CrappieJohn]

Go back to the soft water season and find out when the bite was. If the bite was a definitely late evening or very early morning bit, plan on adding an hour to the daylight side of those summer hours.

Some waters are not prone to a solid night bite. Crappies might turn on for a brief period thru the night hours on certain waters, but without any real definite timetable and the bite might only last a half an hour.

Each body of water is unique unto itself. The fish in one lake might behave one way while a lake almost identical in every way on the other side of the road could have fish that are completely in reverse of the first lake's patterns.

Water depth and clarity will play a large part of when the fish hit, but so will available daylight and moon phases. The available light from the sun and moon are what drives the insect hatches in the lakes' bottoms, so ice thickness and transparency will also come into play.

When I approach a new water, one of the first questions I will ask is when (time of day) the bite was happening just prior to ice up. The second most informative question in my opinion is where that late season hit took place. Then I either buy a map or look at one to see what structural elements and water depths I am working with. Any good map will have a legend in one corner to tell you what the bottom content is for most areas. Knowing, or finding out, the fishs' habits will be a part of the puzzle. The map will help determine where to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

[Matt Johnson]

I agree with Tom, each lake is different. Some lakes will even experience a flurry of activity during the middle of the day.

For me, I prefer the morning bite just because the lakes are usually less crowded, but the evening bite can be just as good if not better on some lakes...