Locating Larger Crappies in Good Crappie Lakes

[CycloneFisherman]

I fish a small SW Metro lake and catch a large number of 7-9 inch crappie. This lake definately has a lot of crappie in it. If you have already caught 25 fish (released all) and would like to try and locate some of the larger fish what do you try.

I had thought that I might just be cathing males and the females were deeper. Also you might try a larger tube/twistertail. Would you recommend going deeper?

Another thing I had thought of is this lake may just have a large population but they are all small and thats just the way it is.

For you experienced guys what are your thoughts?

[The Grebe]

Personally speaking, I would try going to red Lake!

[Matt Johnson]

I would head out deeper and see if you can find the crappies relating to a deep weed line or a midlake hump. We found some crappies suspending in about 16-18 feet this past weekend right off a midlake hump that came up into 5 feet.

Seems like a lot of large crappies have moved out of their aggressive, shallow feeding areas and relocated towards deeper structure. Some fish are also holding to the pencil-reeds on mainlake structure. Others are holding to the pencil-reeds on shoreline structure. Both would be good bets...

[Bobb-o]

i have always seemed to catch larger crappies while bass fishing, I dont know if this is because they like the larger lures or just that they will hold to different structure than the normal crappies.

[united jigsticker]

The more lakes I fish, the more I learn that it is almost impossible to put blanket theorys on where Crappies will be and why.

So many factors can and do influence large Crappie location, yet at other certain times those same factors are non-issues!

Will a cold front drive the fish deep?

Will turnover make the fish impossible to catch?

Does water temps of 65 degrees mean the Crappies are spawning?

Does clear water mean a twighlight bite?

Yes....And No!

I always set onto the water with a pre-detirmined general location that I believe the fish to be in.

Once I launch, I look at water temperature, vegetation growth, weather, wind speed and direction, water clarity, just to name a few.

These things may or may not affect where I want to try first.

I pick spots to try, but I always have my eye on the electronics.

This could tell me of schooling fish that are deeper or shallower of where I intended to target, or it can also indicate where the weedline starts and stops, and also the firmness of the bottom and help locate transition areas.

I am a deep water fisherman by nature; that is, I fish Crappies as deep as I possibly can.

If I had it my way, I'd be vertical jigging, or jig casting in 17 feet of water every single day of the year. This can detour me from fishing shallower, and guide me deeper if I don't hook up with fish where I anticipate. And that is not always the right way to go.

I tried a new lake a couple weeks agao. I found fish right away on the bottom in 20 feet of water. They were small Crappies.

I moved to 3-5 feet of water, and didn't catch anything. So I went deeper, and located schooling fish in 14-17 feet on the secondary breakline.

The first Crappie I caught was 11", and of course, I assumed this to be my target depth range.

WRONG!

I couldn't buy another fish from this school, so I went shallow...Shallower then before, into 1-2 feet of water.

WHOALLA! Crappies! But they were smaller then the 20 foot feeders.

Now what?

I went between the depths, and found the larger active Crappies in 6 feet of water.

However, on Memorial weekend, I figured on the Crappies being anywhere from 3-6 feet of water.

But I didn't get a bite.

I caught small fish in 10 feet of water, so I actually went shallow, into 1 foot of water, and located the larger Crappies.

The old folks had it...They are either in the shallows, the deeps, or somewhere inbetween.

This time of year can be tricky.

I've seen post spawn do some wild things. You'll find fish relating to deep water, maybe to 25 feet, perhaps to recover from the rigors of spawning, and then a week later, they are back in 6-10 feet on the weed edge.

Other times, the fish will stay in 3 feet of water until August, no matter what the weather does.

I apologize, because I find that the more lakes I fish, and the more I learn, the less I am able to help people with regards to saying "GO THERE...YOU'LL BE SURE TO GET EM'"

It's all trial and error, and there are so many variables that can interfere with solid Crappie theory.

But then again, if fishing wasn't a challenge, would it still be fun?

[Matt Johnson]

Great post Jeff. My deep water crappie skills definitely need some fine-tuning. Once they hit their mid-summer haunts, I find myself targeting them less and less...

Now I know who I'm going to call once July hits