As spring begins to roll in, and water temperatures slowly climb, boat launches will be packed with excited anglers who are dunking their boats for the first spring trip, likely targeting the normal perch, bluegill, and bass fishery. Those who move away from the crowded norm, and target those beautiful paper-mouth specs are in for a real spring treat. Here are 5 proven tactics to help you catch more spring crappie.
1. Fish Weed Edges and Points- While crappie might take the shape of bluegill, they definitely impersonate the predator mentality of a bass. They hold in weed edges and ambush their prey as it swims by.
While a crappie might have a preferred vegetation to hold in, that can vary from state to state and lake to lake. What is consistent, is during the spring, when water temperatures are still rising, they will hold in deeper water. So finding those thick grass mats in 12-15 foot of water is essential.
2. Wood and Deadfall– Like any predatory fish, crappie find an array of bait fish from the comfort of sunken logs, tree stumps, and general dead fall timber that finds its way below the water’s surface. As water temperatures slowly climb from the high 50’s to low 60’s these areas will begin to collect larger schools looking for bedding locations for the spring spawn.
Similar to Bluegill, a crappie’s spawning behavior can change from lake to lake. In one lake they may bed in as little as one foot of water, while in other lakes they might find their spawning grounds in 15 foot flats. Regardless of the lake, and their spawning behavior, crappie are slaves to their stomach, and submerged timber is a great location to pinpoint feeding spring crappie.
3. Finding Staging Areas- Between the time the ice (in the northern regions) begins to melt and the time when Spring Crappie begin to spawn, they can be very difficult to find, sometimes almost disappearing all together. During this period, the new weed beds have yet to form, and sunken timber in the shallower water are avoided due to cooler water temperatures.
Being able to locate the previous year’s weed beds are often a good place to begin. Fishing on the deep side of old weeded structure and drifting out into deeper waters, will often yield suspended schools of crappie waiting for those water temperatures to rise.
4. Use a Bobber – Despite the perception that only children and inexperienced anglers use bobbers, having a bobber to suspend bait just a few feet from the lake’s bottom can be the difference between filling your limit, and coming up empty handed. Crappie, similar to almost all other predatory fish, feed up. Meaning if the bait is below them, they will swim over top of it without ever giving it a look. This is simply a biological affect of the placement of their eyes on the top portion of their head.
Using a bobber and adjusting the depth of the presentation, until you find the right depth, is not only simple, but extremely effective. And if using a bobber makes you self conscience about your skills as a fisherman, you can always take a page from our fly flinging friends, and refer to it as a strike indicator.
5.Trolling- Spider rigging has become the hot method of crappie fishing over the last few years. Its an elaborate setup to maximize the amount of line in the water, while combining the techniques of trolling and vertical fishing. While it is very effective, the average angler who is just looking to capitalize on the spring crappie bite can be successful simply trolling ¼ ounce lipless crank baits or beetlespins. Target the same areas you would using traditional panfish methods, such as weed mats, large flats and drop offs.
Trolling will allow you to cover more water in a shorter amount of time in search for those suspended fish. Once you locate them, you can either continue to troll through those staging areas, or switch back to a more targeted approach such as a suspended minnow, or drifting pinki’s.
Which ever method you choose, make sure to take some time this spring and get after some rod bending crappie action.
To learn more about choosing the correct fishing line, make sure you check out Fishing Basics.