I’m really struggling with crappie. I’ve been an avid fisherman my whole life, and grew up in the south, so crappie is huge here. Despite all of this I only recently (last spring) went fishing for them. I didn’t know much at all about crappie fishing but luckily by chance went dead in the middle of spawn. Was slinging them out of the water every cast and landed some trophy fish. After spawn ended, it’s dead… and I mean DEAD. I bass fish the same pond, and throw for at least an hour for crappie every time I go. I’ve fished shallow, deep, off the bottom, free lining, and at 1, 3, 6, and 9 feet respectively. Different jigs, different rigs… and not a single fish. I gave up for a while but figured I’d ask here as I’m pretty lost. I know the place I’m fishing is stacked to the brim with them (no pun intended), I’ve tried depths repetitively, and at least a dozen different jigs. Forgot to mention too I’ve paid close attention to water temp and time of day as well and tried just about every time of day as well. It’s like these fish just disappeared on me. Any ideas?
Posted by Clandestine901
4 Comments
An old head got me into tiny red/white tube jigs under an African porcupine quill. When they take the jig they will swim back to the school and the quill will point you right to them. They aren’t as skittish of the quill as it resembles a stick in the water. I’m curious what other people will say for tips as we are trying to dial them in more as well.
Are you fishing open water or focusing on structure?
If you’re fishing structure, have you tried varying it up between logs, rocks, and (if available) manmade structure like docks and bridges? Vertical and horizontal features, e.g. log jams and walls?
If you’re already fishing at different depths, do you know what the bottom is like? Is it sloped or flat? Sandy, rocky, slimy, etc?
I’m not an expert at catching crappie, but I’ve caught a few and watched a whole lotta Richard Gene. Just spitballing some ideas to experiment with.
I’m in the south too and I don’t really catch them throughout the year other than early spring around rock structure. The best chance we have is running a live scope, and we usually find them in around 20-25ft waters near vegetation and sunken trees. We use soft plastic minnows and get hits, but it’s not that consistent. The bass and bream take the bait most of the time. Good luck though, I’d throw a natural colored/shad minnow around some structure and pop it a few times
Crappie tend to go deep after spawning ends where I am from. Structure oriented but much deeper structure, nowhere near the shore