Crappie Rhetoric

[united jigsticker]

Find the fish, fish the fish, catch the fish.

Seems pretty straightforward.

How many of us here are more about finding new spots and key presentations then we are just about catching fish?

That's a trick question; don't answer it. Obviously, finding new spots is also about catching fish.

However, it may be more then that. It could be about size over quantity, or you may be all about the numbers, or a combo of both.

When I go fishing, everything is about that 1st fish.

But why is one fish so important?

Because with Crappies, where there's one, there are certainly bound to be more...At least in most cases.

So that first fish tells you that you are in the right vicinity, using an edible lure, and you can begin to fine tune your approach from there.

(That first fish also means you didn't get skunked, which is almost more important to our pride then boating a limit of slabs...but then again, who here gets skunked...)

Anyways, you've caught your first fish.

If it happens to be a slab, a little signal in your brain tells you that you are about to embark upon a slab-fest, and every fish there-after will be a dandy. (at least that's what we all hope for)

If the first fish is a runt, we chalk it up as the 1st fish of the day, and there's plenty of light to burn still (unless your first fish is your last fish, and you are already sunburnt, in which case, read on my friend, things will get better)

Now, as I stated, in many cases, one Crappie means more Crappies, and can usually be done with little or minimal adjustments to presentation or location.

However, there are those freak times where luck has played a bigger role in that first fish then our pride staked skills, and you may spend hours scouring the area and come up empty handed.

While unlikely with Crappies, it is so certainly possible, and has occured to myself more times then even I would care to admit to.

Now, if you are like me, when you catch that first fish, you make a mental note of where you caught it, how deep you caught it, and how you were jigging your lure.

You race to release that fish (or keep it if you are so inclined) and cast back to the same vecinity that your first fish came from.

Naturally, you hope for the line to twitch, tug, and your drag to peel once again, but often times that may not be the case.

But the mental note you made may be the best key in introducing your lure with the mouth of more finish in the hours that follow.

It's called patterning.

Now, I do realize that this could shoot you in the foot as well.

What do I mean by that?

Well, suppose you caught a 12" Crappie in 9 ft of water on the edge of a weedbed that's adjacent to deeper water.

Let's suppose this catching of the fish, even against all Crappie fishing odds, was a fluke, and you don't catch another one in the area.

So you spend the rest of the day scouring breaklines and weed edges, holding your efforts to 8-10 feet, only to find out when you return to the landing that everyone else slayed fish in 5 feet of water the entire day while you came away mostly empty handed.

It is very possible to come across straglers, or even one active biter amongst a group of fish, which is a very common occurence.

However, it is more common for fish to school by pattern, only having differing activity periods throughout the day.

And I don't mean lake-body wise either.

Sure, there are the lakes where you may only encounter the active fish during a certain period of the day, and come away smelling like deer attractant the rest.

But there are so many times that I have found different spots within a certain lake body that have there own unique characteristic in respect to timed activity.

So, touching back on the 9 foot lone biter:

You spend 15 minutes scouring for another fish and come away with nothing but a Bass and small Perch.

I'd say it's time to move on. But use 9 feet as a starting place, and travel at least 3 feet in vertical depth range either way during your searching.

A big thing I have noticed in my Crappie experience (if you call it that) is that fish seem to character by compass.

That means, the east side will hold fish similarly as the rest of the east side fish, and the west side fish will do the same as themselves. North and south can hold there own unique character as well.

That could mean depth of fish, or timed activity as well.

So if you were fishing the east side and caught fish in 8 feet of water, but the spot went dead, you could move up or down the lake, find a similar area, and be successful there very quickly in the 8 foot depth range.

However, while the east side may produce numbers in that depth range, the west side could potentially be holding fish in a totally different range in the water column.

Does this make sense?

Well, since most fishermen agree that light has a great influence on fish's feeding activity, then it stands to reason that east to west patterning within a givin lake body has just as must bearing seeing as no matter what lake you fish, the sun dawns in the east and dusks in the west.

I could throw out blanket statements that I have found to be accurate in many situations, such as east side fish tend to stay shallower longer then west side fish, however, there would be many instances that the folks reading the post could counter and say "Yeah, maybe for you, but not on the lakes I fish"

But dare I confuse us all more when I say that patterning fish has its own limitations.

That is, maybe the fish on the west side will hold in 8-10 feet from 1-3 in the afternoon, quit feeding until 7 pm, and then migrate slightly before the dusk bite that takes place suspending over 15 feet of water.

I mean, it's all a game of cat and mouse, but in the end, we take pride in the seek, the catch, and slime on our pants.

So, I ask: Was it about catching 50 fish in one spot?

Or catching one fish in 50 spots?

[Matt Johnson]

Good stuff Jeff! Very fun to read!