crappie location?

[slurpie]

Me and my brother went out and drilled a ton of holes on a lake where we know the crappies spawn in the spring. We drilled from 5 to 45 feet and only found very small perch anywhere from 12 to 20 feet and no crappies. THis hole we were drilling is a straight drop off on all sides and a small flat in one corner.Question is will the crappies follow the perch and eat them or we gotta drill elsewhere in the hole.

[DHanson]

This is a tough question. This time of the year we are in a transition period. Some lakes the crappies are still suspended in the deep basins of the lake, other lakes have started the transition to shallow water. This is where it gets tricky. If I was to fish shallow water crappies, I would look for green weeds or a muddy bottom, or both if that's possible. If their not in shallow, look to the nearby shelf from shallow water to the deeper water. They may be staging in that 18-25 FOW. If that doesn't work, start drilling the deep basins. When I say drilling, I mean one guy drilling the whole time while another guy follows behind with the electronics looking for suspended fish. If you've drilled a buch of holes already with no luck, at least you know where the fish are not located at. Don't give up.

[Neighbor_guy]

Drill and look, drill and look, repeat, agian and again. It helps if there are more than one of you.

[jigglestick]

not to discourage you, but keep in mind often times during the day, the crappies ball up.

they can pack in so tight in one area you can't see through them.

hundreds if not more, depending on the lake you are on can group up in these pods.

then , come evening they disperse and that's when what we call the "crappie bite" begins.

now that is not to say that they won't bite during the day, in fact if you land on top of that ball of fish, you will most likely have some of the best crappie fishing you have ever had.

it is very possible that you have drilled right around them, thinking you have drilled so many holes they have to be somewhere else, when in fact they could have been in between your holes.

holes spaced 30 or even 20 feet apart leave a lot of room untouched.

to drill them closer, say every ten feet will be exhausting, but if you want to effectively cover an area, that is more likely going to do the trick.

now yes, you can go out, drill one hole and land right on top of them, but if you are trying new lakes, or even old lakes that you have fished all of your life, you can still miss them.

ever get on that great daytime bite on red lake?

we have several times. one hole pounding the snot out of the crappies all day long, but another house 20 feet away, nothing.

sometimes, one hole in a house will be doing well, and on the other side of the house, nothing.

this is more than jig color my friend.

the moral of this story is drill carefully placed holes, especially if you have confidence in the area you are drilling.

and 2, don't write an area off unless you have fished through the evening bite.

still lots of time to chase those slabs!!

[Shack]

We got them last night (right before sunset and right after) in a shallow break line 4'-7' feet. They came in hard around sunset and pettered off in the late hours. My biggest fish was caught around 9:00pm hour though.

[Mike Stark]

would you say the night bite is the best???

[jigglestick]

I'm not sure who that question was directed to, but in my opinion, a general answer would be yes.

I know of a couple lakes where there seems to be no night bite, then again I would have to say that they are in the minority.

on the same note I would say your best odds on any given lake come during the first light hours of a day and at dusk, about the time the sun hits the tree tops, into dark.

like I said earlier, I believe you can catch crappies on any given lake during the day time, if you can find them.

they become much easier to find in the evening, when they disperse, often coming right by where ever it is you decided to set up.

they cover ground when they are feeding.

[NCLaker]

dusk + 2-3 hours after tend to be my most productive crappie bite times. I have had spots during the day, all I will catch is small pearch and an occasional sunny. Then staring at dusk/early evening my vex will be filled with signal from crappies coming in at various depths.

Do all your drilling before peak time. Then be prepared to do some hole hopping. If one hole slows it is not uncommon to move to another 10 yards away with more action.

Definitely use glow lures this time of the day. Have best luck on glow plastics. Demon, spoons, and jiggin raps also have been good.

[mr_jman]

I agree with NClaker. The night bite is usually the best (early mornings are good too) But I've fished holes that had crappies early on then completely shut down midday but get back there about an hour before dusk and get all set up and ready to go. Glow jigs work well and Definitely have those holes drilled before "prime time!" I also agree with moving around if something dies. Don't sit on a dead hole... there should be active fish going at dusk so be ready to move!