Crappies: Seasonal Moves and location Course

Hi all, I’m the CEO here at Dominate Fishing and I’ll guide you through this execution plan. I started from scratch, so if that’s you… don’t worry. I began Crappie Fishing 11 years ago with hardly any knowledge of crappie behavior. Over the past 11 years I’ve learned how to find and catch crappie and the strategies that actually work, that I can’t wait to share with all of you inside this execution plan. In this Execution Plan, I’ll be going in depth within the word of crappie fishing from learning  how to find them, to the techniques to catch them. It will be up to you to “execute” on this Execution Plan. But if you do the hard work, the sky is the limit. Dan Meyer CEO Dominate Fishing

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Execution Plan Here's how to get the most out of the content in this Execution Plan,

1. Read the entire EP once - Read through this entire EP.  Don't execute on the steps until you have finished reading the entire EP.  This will help you understand the progression of the steps and put them into context.
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Crappie, like all fish, make seasonal moves. If you know what those moves are… catching crappie gets a whole lot easier! Catching crappie really boils down to knowing where crappie should be located at a given time of year, and then searching those spots until you find them.

Once you know where the crappie should be all you have to do is target that area until you find them, perfect your approach… and start putting crappie after crappie in the boat!

Here is an over view of crappie seasonal moves. We will look at each stage in-depth later.

In natural lakes, crappie winter in lake basins, (bottom of the lake), usually between 20 to 40 feet deep. The reason for this is because, in winter, that is where the warmest water is. When winter ends and spring comes, and the water starts to warm, crappie move up in the water column and suspend…

As the water warms they start to move toward their spawning grounds. This usually occurs within days of ice out (in the north where the lakes freeze). Crappie will usually move to weeds on the first drop-off adjacent to their spawning area and stage (congregate) until the water warms further.  

As the water warms the crappie will enter the back bays and enter the extreme shallows.

Note: During a cold front or unstable weather, crappie might drop back into a deeper hole, rather than go all the way back to the lake basin. 

As the water continues to warm crappie will begin to make nests, also called beds, and spawn.

After the spawn is complete crappie will move out to the deep weed edges of the lake and hunt bait fish. During summer, crappie will relate to the deep weed edge… sometimes they suspend, but it is in relation to the deep weed edge.

When fall approaches and the lakes begin to cool, crappie will migrate back to deep water where they will spend the winter.

This is a basic overview of crappie seasonal moves, now we will look at each season and location in-depth and talk about how to fish them.  

Spring can be the best time of the year to catch crappie, and one of the most fun! After spending winter in deep water crappie will move shallow as soon as the ice is off, (in the ice belt), and the water begins to warm.

In the spring, crappie are in shallow water… depths of 2 to 6 feet of water or less, because that is the first water to warm up. Don’t be afraid to get real shallow… I’ve seen crappie in water so shallow their backs are out of the water.

When the ice first goes off, (or first starts to warm up in lakes that don’t freeze), look on the north end of the lake because that side gets the afternoon sun and usually warms first.

Spring crappie fishing can be categorized into 3 events… the pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn.

Pre-spawn

When the ice goes off the lakes crappie start to head toward their spawning grounds. However, they don’t go straight to the spawning area… they move there progressively as the water warms.

 As crappie move into the shallows, food and cover are on the forefront of their minds, finding both are going to be their top priority. The best spot to find both is in weeds.

Weeds are a perfect spot. In early spring crappie are often in big schools. The schools of crappie are constantly swimming around looking for food. When you find a school… the action can be amazing… you can find spots where you catch a crappie almost every cast.

Why can the action be so good? Because, at this time of year, crappie are in big tightly packed schools… and on the right day, they are all biters.  

On the flip side… just as fast as you are piling them into the boat the school can move, and you must find them again. The good thing is once you have found them, they usually don’t move all that far, so getting back on them is not that hard... it just takes a little searching. Often, because crappie like thick weeds, all you have to do is move your boat to the next dense patch of weeds, and that could be as little as 25 yards away.

Fishing for crappie in early spring during pre-spawn can be tricky, you must be right on them or you won’t catch any fish. Sometimes they can be concentrated in a 10-20 foot area and if you’re not casting into that exact spot you won’t catch fish.

It takes some searching through prime spots to find crappie.

Don’t expect to find crappie right away when you try a new spot. You may get to a weed bed that looks good but when you start fishing, because the fish can be in a small area of a large weed bed, chances are you won’t find crappie right away.

You might go through a stretch where you’re not catching fish, you’ll probably wonder if you should move… (thinking there aren’t any fish in that area) then you catch one. That shows you where the school is and once you’re on them, it can be fantastic.  

The thing to know is not to give up… to find the small area that’s holding most of the fish, you have to keep searching and covering water.

The area can be so small, that unless you position the boat so both guys can cast into the same spot, only one guy in the boat will be catching fish and the other guy won’t get a bite.

Giving up too early is one very common mistake fishermen make during pre-spawn. If you aren’t catching fish it’s easy to suspect that the crappie have not moved up yet, but the thing to know is… that’s not usually the case. It’s more likely you haven’t found the spot where the crappie are located. So, most fishermen blame their lack of success on the absence of the crappie, when in reality the fish are there, but the angler has not yet found them.

As you fish pre-spawn crappie… and you find some, you will see what I mean when I say they can be in a very small area.

As you find schools of crappie you will build the confidence you need to keep searching until you find more schools.  

Be aware that a spot in which you found fish one day, may not have fish the next… yet, they might be there again, so it’s best start where you found them last and move on from there. Often, during early season, crappie move constantly. However, during spring fishing, it’s possible to find an area that holds fish for a few weeks. I find these spots frequently.

Keep in mind that while the fish will usually be in the same general area… they could be in a little different depth or within a couple hundred yards of where they were when you first found them.

When the water temperature in the lake bay areas reach 38 to 58 degrees, the crappie will be in pre-spawn activity.  

At the lower end of the range… around 40 degrees, crappie are usually in deep weeds at the mouth of bays.

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At this time crappie move around hunting for food. Because the water is still cold, they can be tougher to get to bite. So… sunny afternoons when the water is warmer can be your best bet for catching fish.

Secret: When the ice first goes off start looking for crappie on the north shorelines, those areas warm up first. Also, drive around and watch the temperature gage on your sonar unite… look for the warmest water… that is key to finding crappie at this time of year.

Ideal crappie locations are in the thickest part of weed beds. So… the key is to find where the weeds are thickest and tallest.

Often, the bite will pick up as the day goes on and temperatures rise.

A few warm days generally warms the water enough to push crappie from deeper weed beds into extreme shallows where they will relate to wood, like stumps, fallen trees, and beaver lodges. They can also be found in bull rushes and shallower weeds.

Crappie like to relate to vertical structure like the stumps in the image above.

When the water reaches 50 degrees, in preparation for the spawn, crappie start to shift to reed beds near the mouths of bays and in bays. Fish the reed beds, or the weeds right outside the reed beds with a jig and minnow under a float to catch these crappie.

Pre-spawn crappie can be relatively easy to catch. If the reed bed is big… move along the outside casting in and letting your bobber sit until a fish bites.

Casting lures into the reeds to catch these fish can be tricky because of the opportunity to get snagged. That is why a bobber, a jig and a minnow work best.

If the fish are there you should get a bite fairly quickly, so if you don’t catch anything within a few minutes move on.

 When the water temperature reaches 55 degrees, male crappie will begin making nests. When the water temperature gets to 60 degrees… crappie should be spawning. 

The male crappie are the first up… they make the spawning beds.

While the male crappie are making beds the female crappie are staging right outside of the spawning area. So… if you are finding small males on beds try fishing right outside the reeds in the weeds to catch bigger females.

In rivers crappie will act like crappie in lakes… they will move to back bays or flooded lowlands and look for wood for shelter.

During pre-spawn many baits will work. You can catch crappie on micro crank baits, soft plastic, or a jig and minnow.

A jig and minnow will almost always work… but for those of you who like the challenge of catching them on artificial… here are my most productive lures.

My favorite is a pink tube jig.

A chartreuse twister tail also works well.

Micro crank baits work best when it’s windy and/or overcast because fish will move longer distances to hit a bait.  

When it’s calm and sunny… use a 1/16 oz jig, tube jig or twister tail. If the fish are finicky use a plain hook and a tail hooked minnow below a bobber.

The best jigs to use are 1/16 or 1/32 oz jigs. The best colors are white, yellow, chartreuse, red, or pink.  

It’s important to have a rod with soft action, like an ultralight or light action so you don’t rip the hook out of the fish’s mouth when you set it. A medium light power rod will also work well.

Crappie can spawn in a variety of different structures. However, bull rushes, under logs and amongst sticks are their preferred habitat.

 When you try to locate spring crappie in bull rushes, a very effective technique is to drive around with your motor or trolling motor and just look for them… you will actually be able to visibly see them.

When you see them, drop a way point or marker so you can come back and fish after you have checked out the lake. If you spook the fish while you’re scouting… most of the time they will come back.

When you are fishing bull rush for crappie, probably the most effective technique is sight fishing… spot a crappie and then drop a jig in front of it. To do this use a long rod… (7-10 feet). Use tough line to pull the fish out of the reeds… (like 10 plus-pound braid), and then tighten your drag so the fish can’t pull line and tangle up in the bull rushes. The whole idea is to pull the fish right out of the bull rushes when it bites… bull rushes are very tough and you don’t want your fish getting snagged.    

Another effective technique for catching crappie in bull rushes is to cast a jig below a bobber into the holes and pockets in the reeds.

When fish are building or sitting on beds they generally won’t leave the bed for a bait… So, a moving bait may not work because the fish won’t chase it.

Your best bet in this scenario it to put a bobber above your bait so you can present your bait vertically right in front of the crappie’s face.

Crappie also spawn under and around brush… like downed trees, branches and logs or standing trees.

In areas with cypress trees, crappie like to spawn in the root structure of these trees. Each tree has roots and “knees” going in all directions with open spots underneath them. Fish each one slowly… fish each knee by putting your lure right next to it, hold your lure there for a seven count before moving to the next one.

Once crappie are done spawning they will move into cover on the first drop-off adjacent to their spawning grounds. Usually, this cover is a brush pile or weeds. There crappie will feed to recoup from the spawn.

To fish crappie at this time, locate where the crappie were spawning and then move out to the first drop-off and move around until you find weeds. That is where the crappie will be.

Baits

During this time, you can catch fish on grub and minnow profile baits. Use baits that are 1-3 inches long. The best colors will be pink, chartreuse, red and white.  My favorite bait for this time of year is a pink tube jig.

Jig or plain hook and a minnow, is another excellent presentation for this time of year.

During summer, most crappie congregate in weed beds… the best is cabbage.

The place to look for them is along the deep weed edges of the lake. Weeds need sunlight to grow. The sun can only penetrate so deep in a lake. Therefore, the weeds will grow from shallow water out towards the deeper water until it gets to a point where not enough sunlight gets down to the bottom for the weeds to grow. That forms the deep weed edge. The deep weed edge is where the weeds stop growing. Crappie like to relate to the deep weed edge.

Other predator fish will also congregate on the deep weed edges. When this happens it will push the crappie into the weeds or out to deep water where they will suspend.

Crappie are a suspending fish by nature and will spend a lot of time suspended out over deep water.

Here’s why…

In the summer crappie like to relate to structure like;

• underwater points (with weeds on it)
• humps (with weeds on it)
• inside turns (with weeds on it)
• flats with a steep drop-off (with weeds on it)

What else likes to relate to those structures?

Northern pike, musky, bass, walleye… basically all the predator fish relate to those structures. Therefore, crappie will suspend in deep water just off those structures during the day, where they are safe. Then, when they are ready to feed they will move up to the nearest weed bed because that is where the small baitfish live.

So, during the summer, some crappie will suspend over deep water near structure (with weeds on it) like an underwater point during the day. At that time, it will be harder to catch them… not that you can’t catch them, it will just be a little more difficult. As late evening approaches, the crappie will move up to the weed edge to feed. If there are a lot of predator fish on the weed edge, crappie may move into the weeds to feed.

I catch a lot of summer crappie in weed beds. I position the boat about half a cast past the weed edge and then cast my lure into the weeds and slowly work it back to the boat.

During the summer months, some crappie will never leave the weeds. They bury themselves in the weeds during the day and sit near the bottom. They become more difficult to catch at this time because it is hard to get them to come out for bait. As evening approaches, they will come out to feed which makes it a great time to catch them.  

Getting on the lake 2-3 hours before dark is perfect... position your boat just off the weeds so you can cast up to the weed edge or just inside the weeds. Then, slowly work your bait back to the boat. Micro crank baits, tube jigs, twister tails, beadle spins and live bait work great for this technique.  

Crappie are low light feeders, that means dusk, night and early morning are the best times to catch crappie (except during spawning or fall when they will bite all day). Once you get into dusk crappie will move into the weeds to feed.

During summer, you could fish crappie on the weed edge all day and catch a few fish here and there… then as dusk approaches (about 7:00 p.m.) you could catch more fish in a 2-hour period (7:00pm – 9:00pm) than you did all day. The reason for this is during the day, most of those fish were not there… they were out suspended over deep water or were buried in thick weeds. As evening approached those crappie moved in to feed.

Basically, all crappie movement in summer is in relation to the deep weed edge. They will either be on the weed edge, in the weeds or suspended in deep water off the weed edge.

The best weeds for holding crappie in summer are cabbage weeds.

In summer when crappie are suspended off the weeds it can be in 8-20 feet of water or deeper. Trolling a micro crank bait slowly behind the boat is a great technique for catching these fish. Use your fish finder to see at which depth the fish are suspended and run your lure just above them.

My best (and very effective) approach for finding crappie in summer is to look at a map for structures in which crappie relate, that are adjacent to deep water. Then drive your boat on and around those structures and look for cabbage weed beds… once you find a weed bed, fish it to see if it is holding crappie.

Continue this process on multiple high percentage spots, (weed beds on good structure adjacent to deep water), and you will find a lot of new spots to catch crappie during the summer months. 

If you find fish suspended off the weed edge, as mentioned before, a great tactic for catching them is trolling micro crank baits (obviously where trolling is legal). Keep in mind the water in which these fish suspend does not have to be super deep. Many people think when crappie suspend its over 20 plus feet of water… which they do. However, often the drop from the weed bed is only 8-12 feet and at that point the fish will be suspended 3 feet off the bottom.  

As previously mentioned the best place to start looking for crappie is on the edge of weed beds near a sharp drop into deep water. Crappie will be near the first weed bed as you come out of the deep water. They probably won’t be in weed beds deep within a bay (although they could be). They want to travel the shortest distance from deep water, (where they will be during the day), and the weeds in which they can feed.

Remember, during the summer, crappie will patrol back and forth down the deep weed edge.  

Some other top spots for locating summer crappie are on cribs, brush shelters or brush piles… however, for our purposes all are basically the same thing.

Crappie will hold tight to brush piles in summer because they offer a food source, as well as, shelter from predator fish. When crappie are not feeding they will hold tight to the brush. When they are feeding, they will most likely be suspended above the brush pile. You will be able to see this on your sonar.

There are two good techniques for catching crappie on brush piles.

1. If the brush pile is 10 feet deep or deeper and the water is a little darker, or there is a chop on the water you can put your boat right over the brush and vertical jig. Make sure your lure is staying above the brush to avoided snags.
2. Position your boat about a quarter to a half cast away from the crib and cast slip bobbers over the crib.

In fall, when the water starts to cool, many crappie start to head to deep water. Fishing at this time of year can be just as good as spring fishing… or better for catching a lot of crappie. In fall, crappie gather into big schools. Locate these schools, and you can literally catch a limit of crappie in no time.

This can be some of the most fun fishing of the year!

In natural lakes, when the water cools to 65 degrees, look for crappie to begin to set into the fall pattern. Crappie that have been in weeds all summer start to head to deeper water and hold on structure (a drop-off). Therefore, crappie that have been suspended in deep water will start to relate to structure... meaning instead of roaming out in the lake basin, they will move to the bottom edge of a drop-off.

So… crappie from all parts of the lake will school up along these key structures.  We will talk about the kinds of structures in a second…

In large lakes, the best spots in which to look for fish are in depths between 25-40 feet of water, in smaller lakes the deepest part of the lake may be 15-20 feet and the fish will go there. Look in bays, off points, or along shorelines with a steep drop-off, the fish will be on the bottom of the drop-off, or somewhere in the middle of it. These locations will hold fish if there is a mud flat. So… off the end of a point there needs to be hard bottom that transitions into a mud flat to hold crappie (again usually but not always). The same criteria apply within a bay… the bottom usually needs to be mud.

It is important to snake up and down the drop-off looking for fish because often, especially early, the fish will be in different spots on the drop-off. 

For example, the bottom or last contour of the drop could be 35 feet, but fish could be sitting in the middle of the drop-off in 20 feet.

Usually, fish will hold tight to the bottom, so fish that area… most days that will be two feet or less off the bottom.

Important: If you can find where the hard bottom transitions to soft, that will be a very high percentage spot for holding crappie.

Because often smaller lakes only have one or two deep basins finding fall crappie in these lakes can be much easier. Simply go to the deep spots and use your electronics to find the fish. It can be that simple.

Often, in small lakes, fish won’t be on the drop-off, they will be roaming the flat lake basin.

If you don’t have a fish finder, no problem! Most of the spots are small enough to fish by wind drifting and locate fish that way. Every time you catch one, throw out a marker buoy to identify the spot.

Typically, during the day fall crappie will be suspended (a few feet off the bottom) feeding on schools of minnows. During the evening, crappie will be on the bottom feeding on blood worms.

During fall, crappie feed heavily and can be caught just about any time of the day. It’s not like summer when crappie do most of their feeding during the evening, night or early morning. 

At this time of year, crappie won’t move much to hit a bait. Use a very slow presentation to entice a bite. A very effective approach is a slow drift across a deep flat. With this method you will drift in and out of schools of crappie, picking up a few from each school.

Tip: In the beginning of fall when crappie first set into the fall pattern and the water is at its warmest, crappie will be the most aggressive. As the water cools they become less and less aggressive. Right before freeze up you will have to fish crappie very slowly.

The above picture shows a shoreline that goes from 4 feet all the way down to 28 feet. When lakes turn over you would expect the crappie to be in the 28-foot area. However, in early fall, it is possible for them to be sitting anywhere from 10-feet to 28 feet deep.

How to Fish a Shoreline with a Steep Drop-off

During summer, crappie feed in weeds along shorelines with a steep drop-off. In the summer months the best spot to find crappie will be in the weeds on the top of the drop-off (at the shallow end). Then, when fall rolls around those crappie will drop down to the bottom, or the deep edge of the drop-off and school up.

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The above image shows a long shoreline with a steep drop-off from 10 feet to 40 feet. During the fall, crappie will stack up in schools along this shoreline.

When you’re fishing a shoreline like this, it’s important to note that there will not be crappie everywhere. They will be spread out in schools in different spots.

The best approach, if you have a good fish finder, is to drive along the drop-off and look for the schools. When you find them throw out a marker buoy or mark a waypoint on your GPS. Then go back and fish those spots.

It is also important to note sometimes crappie won’t be sitting directly on the edge of the drop-off, (the last contour), they may be sitting 30 to 50 feet off the drop in the lake basin, so it’s important to check the whole area.

How to Fish Underwater Points

One of the best structures for catching fall crappie are underwater points. Points are one of my favorite spots to fish for two main reasons.

1. They are easy to fish.
2. They can hold a TON of fish!

The most effective points have rocks on them.

In the above image you can see an underwater point with a nice drop-off into 25-30 feet of water. That is a prime spot for fall crappie. Anytime you see this on a map it is a must check for fall crappie.

To fish it, first graph the entire deep area off the point. Then, if it is deep on the sides of the point, graph there as well. In this example, the right side of the point is at least 20 feet deep or more, so you would check there for crappie.  It is not uncommon to check 100, 200, or 300 yards or more of water looking for fish. Don’t be afraid to look 50 to 100 feet or more off the point, if it is deep and flat crappie will probably be there.

Here is another example of an underwater point.

In this example, you can see that it is deep on all three sides of the underwater point, so you would check all sides for fish… the highest percentage spot is right off the tip in the 30-40 foot range… right off the tip of the point will almost always be the best spot and the first spot you should check.

Baits

A variety of baits work for catching fall crappie. Crappie jigs like tubes, hair jigs, and minnow profile baits work well. Use 1/8, 1/16/or 1/32-ounce jig heads.

Micro plastics like Berkley nymphs and wigglers can also work for fall crappie. These baits mimic bottom dwellers.

However, the most effective bait by far is a jig and a minnow. For fall crappie I like fat head minnows.

Hi there, my name is Dan Meyer and welcome to my Ice Fishing Crappie course!

I've been crappie fishing for almost 25 years and I'm thrilled to be your guide throughout your mission to catch more crappie.

I’ve personally caught hundreds of crappie through the ice on big and small lakes alike.

In this course, I'll share everything I know about locating crappie during the ice fishing season.

I’ve carefully designed this course so that even beginning ice fishermen will get tremendous value.  And, if you've been ice fishing a while and have had trouble catching fish, I’m certain this course will be eye opening! However, it will be up to you to "execute" the things you learn.

But if you do the hard work, the sky is the limit… and believe me, you’ll catch limits!

What this course is not

This course is not some boring book filled with fluff and waste of time BS. If you want a book of boring data and meaningless filler this course isn’t for you.

What this course is

My intention for this portion of the course is for it to be highly practical so you will be able to get through it, understand it, and apply it, in less than 30 minutes.

So… it will be short and to the point.

Getting Started

The first thing to understand is that catching crappie ice fishing is not going to be hard if you follow this course closely.

In winter, crappie school up… it is possible to find a lone fish but most of the time they will be in small pairs of twos or threes or in large groups of ten plus. Finding that bonanza can mean some fantastic fishing, so that is where we will start… locating winter crappie.

There are three stages of the ice fishing season, early ice, mid-winter and late ice. Crappie patterns vary depending on the season. However, in winter there are two main places to find crappie, in the lake basin or in weeds.

There is a third location that provides a unique opportunity... crib habitat. However, cribs are specialized situations because first, the lake must have cribs and then you need to know where they are. Its pretty strait forward catching those fish, so we are not going to cover that in this course (all you do is find the cribs and fish above and around them.)

During winter, large schools of crappie move to the lake basin. The lake basin is basically the bottom of the lake. The reason crappie flock to the basin is because the basin holds the warmest water and there is plenty of food.

Because the warmest water is in the basin, crappie that hang there will feed more often. The reason for that is the warmer water keeps the crappie’s metabolism high, which makes them need to feed more often.

In most lakes look for crappie in 25-37 feet of water. Rarely will crappie go deeper than 40 feet.

In lakes that don’t get that deep you just look for the deepest water available.

If a lake is very shallow and doesn’t have water deeper than 15 feet, there will probably be no basin bite and the crappie will be in the weeds.

Often, the best basin bites will be over a soft bottom… mud or silt.

Basin crappie are constantly on the move, swimming around looking for food. Most of the time the basin you will be fishing will be a big flat area. Therefore, there will be nothing to hold the crappie in one spot.

You’re going to have to be prepared to move with the crappie if you want to stay on them all day.

During the winter months fish frequently move a few feet shallower during early evening, night and early morning, and then move to the deep part of the basin during the sunny day light hours.

The easiest place to find crappie in the winter is a lake with one small basin.

This is a huge secret!

If you want to find an easy place to slam crappie… find a lake you know has a good crappie population and one or two small basin areas.

In image 1a you can see the lake has one main deep basin area, which bottoms out at 27 feet (there is an arrow there).

To fish this area, you would drill holes all over the 27-25-foot area completely covering it with holes. I like to make a grid… I’ll drill a line of holes strait across the center of the deepest basin hole.

In image 1a you can see the deepest part of the basin is represented by the 25-foot contour line forming a circle. My first series of holes would be a line straight through the circle. Then, I would move over 10 yards and cut another series of holes. I would continue doing this until I have the deep part of the basin drilled out.

Some guys like to start by drilling out the edge of the basin, in that case you would drill holes in a circle around the 25-foot contour line then fill in the middle. Both strategies work.

Next, I take my flasher and stick it down each hole looking for fish suspended at least a foot off the bottom… hopefully, 2 feet or more. These suspended fish are usually crappie that are feeding.

Fish on the bottom could be anything (usually little perch) but sometimes nice bluegills. Usually, crappie on the bottom are very hard to get to bite, and not worth targeting.

Once you mark suspended fish, you’ve probably found crappie.

Make sure you find more than a few in an area before you start to fish… occasionally, you will find “fool’s gold” (a few crappie, but not the school).

Usually, when you find 1 or 2 the school is nearby… find it and look out… a crappie biting frenzy could be in your near future.

If after drilling out the deepest part of the basin you don’t find fish, you need to keep searching and drilling holes.

Try drilling holes a little shallower on the edge of the deepest part of the basin… in this example the 24-25-foot range.

In image 1a, if you didn’t find crappie in the area bottoming out at 27 feet, and you tried the surrounding area up to 24 feet, try another area. In this example, there is another basin area at the top of the map that is between 20 and 24 feet of water that would be worth checking out.

You would fish it the same way. Drill out the 20-foot contour circle.

In lakes like the one in image 1b, where the deep basin is large, break the area into sections and fish out the sections. Crappie like to suspend in lake basins near structure like humps or points with rocks on it.

In image 1b, you can see a rock point that sticks out into the basin. I would start in 24 feet of water right off that rock point.

The key here (like most spots) is to keep drilling holes and checking them with your flasher until you mark fish.

Once you find that first fish, drill holes all around the area.

Many lakes, like the lake in image 1c have multiple deep basins. Chances are each one or most of them will hold schools of crappie.

To fish these lakes, you would start with the most likely spots. In image 1c the most likely spot would be the 22-foot hole, then the hole with the 20-foot contour, then the (2) 15-foot contour holes.

Fishing small lakes, or lakes with 1 or a few deep basins is relatively easy.

Big lakes are a little more intimidating /challenging. When you see a big lake with a lot of deep water it can be intimidating.

The key to finding crappie is to break the lake into sections. Each section will most likely have its own population of fish.

When fishing big lakes there are a few additional things about crappie behavior you need to know to locate the fish.

First… In deep lakes crappie don’t like to go deeper than about 37-40 feet of water so you can eliminate from your search any water deeper than 40 feet. In my experience, on most lakes, I eliminate water deeper than 35 feet.

One thing to quickly note… if you catch crappie deeper than 28 feet plan to keep all of them, because any fish caught and released at that depth will die. Even if the fish appears to swim away… it won’t make it… so if you plan on catching crappie deeper than 28 feet, plan on keeping them.

Know ahead of time how many you need for a meal, then quit fishing when you get to that number.

You can also eliminate water that is shallower than 25 feet, because that is too shallow. After eliminating those depths, a lot of the lake is eliminated from your search… there are a few more things to know. Keep in mind… it is possible for crappie to be shallower than 25 feet or deeper than 28 feet but these areas are not as likely to hold fish. On a big lake you need to target only the highest percentage water to find fish. These guidelines apply to big lakes and are less applicable on small lakes.

Second… I touched on this earlier, crappie like to be in the basin in relation to structure.

The most important structures are tips of points and around rock humps. Crappie will roam basins near rock humps and off the tips of points, so those are key spots.

In image 2a you can see the arrow is pointing to a gravel hump… a good spot for looking for crappie. You can see the water quickly drops off to 57 feet in front of the hump. That is too deep, so we can eliminate that entire area for holding crappie.

On image 2a, below the hump is a nice 30 foot flat, a perfect spot for checking for crappie. In fact, this is the exact spot I found crappie earlier this year…

Image 2b shows a nice 35-foot hole at the tip of a point. In this example, I would drill holes in a grid around the 30-35 feet depths… and cover the entire area.

Another key location for crappie is a deep basin at the mouth of a bay. If the lake features allow it, crappie like to spend the winter close to where they will spawn in the spring.

The other main place to find crappie during ice fishing season is in the weeds. Crappie can be found in a variety of types of weeds, but my favorite is cabbage or milfoil.

The strategy for finding crappie in the weeds depends on how the weed bed is laid out. No matter the type of structure, one thing remains the same… drilling a lot of holes.

A lot of anglers go to a weed bed, drill some holes, and wait for the crappie to come by… however, often they go home empty handed because the fish never appear.

To be successful fishing weeds, you must find the big schools. The way to do that is to drill multiple holes and then use an underwater camera to see if the weeds are holding fish.

An underwater camera is more useful for fishing weeds than a flasher, because in shallow water the cone area the flasher is reading is very small.

In contrast, an underwater camera can cover a lot of the depth range because it is relatively shallow. Also, you will be able to see if there are fish in the weeds and if there are, you will be able to see what type.

When you are fishing crappie in the weeds, often you will be fishing weed beds on points or weed beds that stretch down a shoreline. The weed beds can be big and run a long way.

In this scenario crappie could be anywhere…

Therefore, to locate them, you need to identify the depth of the weed edge, which is usually 5-11 feet. It could be more or less depending on water clarity.

Then, start drilling holes along the deep-edge of the weeds. Snake up to the middle of the weed bed and then back down to the edge.

Then, check each hole for crappie. You can use an underwater camera (most effective), flasher, or actually fish each hole quickly.

Once you find where the crappie are… drill out the are and enjoy catching fish.

The most important thing is to keep drilling until you find them.

Note: When using this approach there will be days you won’t find any crappie… it will be a long hard day of searching, but you have to put in days like that to have days when you find the motherload. This is how you find fish on your own… this is also true for finding crappie in the basin.

When you are looking for crappie on a large bar, flat or bay the same general strategy applies. However, you may not be close to the edge, it’s possible you could just be covering a large flat weedy area. In this situation I just drill and drill covering as much ice as possible.

The key is you can’t drill 20 holes and expect to find fish… sometimes you will, but more often you’re going to drill closer to 50 -100 holes.

If you know where they are, (you have caught them there before), then 20 holes can be all you need.

My approach to catching crappie is simple… drill holes and check them with a flasher or camera until I find the fish.

This is where a lot of anglers go wrong, they don’t realize how many holes you might have to drill to find fish.

On a scouting mission to find crappie, 100 plus hole days are not uncommon… (Tip: it helps if you are fishing with another angler and both of you can drill holes.)

Once you find them, the next time you go back it will take a lot less hole drilling because you already know the general area that holds crappie. Finding them the first time is the hardest.

Once you find the crappie there are a few things to note. First, when you mark fish in a hole realize they won’t be there long. The fish in basins are constantly moving. Therefore, it is a race to get your lure down before the fish leave.

Once a fish sees your lure… you’ve got his attention, at least for a while… now its time to coax him into biting.

Another trick is to know that your odds of catching a crappie increase the more fish you have in your hole. The reason for this is the fish become competitive. Each will try to eat the lure before another one does, competition between fish is key.

Another secret is that the best times to catch crappie are the low light periods of morning and evening. During late ice it doesn’t matter all that much, but on most days the morning and evening bite will be the best.

I spend a lot of time looking at lake maps, identifying where crappie are likely to be, (I just talked about what I look for above) going to the spots that look like good crappie environments, and checking for fish.

I think one of the most helpful things I can tell you that you don’t see on TV shows and YouTube video’s is all the time spent not catching fish.  All you see are the times fish are caught… but you don’t see all the work that goes into finding those fish.

On the flip side, a lot of the spots you check will have good crappie fishing.

So… your goal is to weed through the unproductive spots to find the goldmines.

That’s how you do it…

…trial and error.

You want to add as many spots to your arsenal as you can… so if one gets discovered by other fishermen, crowded and fished out you have other spots to go to.

Also, you want to respect the resource and target other bodies of water if you are keeping the fish. When crappie are schooled up, like they are in winter, it doesn’t take long to deplete the population.

Once you find fish the next step is to get them to bite. Some days crappie are aggressive and will hit anything you through at them. Other days you need more finesse.

I usually have crappie marked on my flasher before I send down my lure.

I usually start my jigging presentation as follows:

If I am fishing without visible marks on the screen, I’ll drop the lure to the level where I last saw crappie and slowly lower it through the water column trying to attract fish.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll jig my lure up and down fast to see if that will bring them in.

Once I have a fish on my screen, I start by placing my lure about a foot above the crappie, I want the crappie to come up to my lure.

I start shaking the rod tip to get the lure to quiver. I want the lure to move aggressively but stay in place. The limbs and or tail should be wiggling all over quickly.

If the fish won’t swim up to this presentation, I will slowly lower the lure to the fish. As I lower the lure, I will continue the shaking/quivering motion.

Most of the time, crappie want constant movement on the lure, so that is how I start.

Occasionally, that doesn’t work. At that point I add pauses to the presentation, so the lure remains still in case it is a day when the fish don’t respond to movement.

When you are jigging, the trick is to watch how the fish respond to your presentation. If they won’t bite or even worse get scared away, you know you need to try something different.

If you find crappie but they aren’t biting, another effective presentation is to fish with tip-downs. When fishing with tip-downs I like to put a minnow on a single gold hook.

Some guys like to use small #14 or #16 treble hooks.

Hook on a crappie minnow and put it in the water 3-5 feet off the bottom or higher depending on how high the fish are swimming through the column.

My standard is 3-5 feet. The problem is if the fish are swimming through higher, they won’t see your bait.

It helps to have a flasher to see what level in the water column the fish are coming through.

The benefit to tip-downs is you can put more lines in the water and it is an easy way to fish, all you have to do is watch them and run and catch the fish when one goes down… it’s a lot like fishing with tip-ups for walleyes or northern pike.

Early ice crappie are fun to fish because they are relatively aggressive and willing to bite. During early ice you can find crappie in both the basin and in the weeds.

The key to finding crappie in the weeds is finding green weeds. A trick for doing that is to use your boat late fall and find the good green weed patches adjacent to deep water.

The basin bite is also good. Fish the basin bite using the technique discussed earlier in this course. The crappie are usually pretty aggressive and willing to hit a variety of lures. Crappie in the basin will be in the same spots they were late fall so using your boat and electronics is a great way to find spots for ice fishing.

The mid-winter crappie bite can be tough. During mid-winter you will run into a lot of days when the crappie just don’t want to bite. The keys to mid-winter are to use very small lure, I like larva imitating lures. Like a VMC wax tail jig, VMC nymph or 13 fishing bamf.

The thick ice along with deep snow pile up on the ice and cut out light that penetrates the water. Because of that the weeds begin to die. Dying weeds suck up all the oxygen and give off carbon monoxide. This forces most of the crappie out of the weeds and into the basin.

For this reason, the basin is great for mid-winter crappie fishing. I am not saying someone won’t catch crappie in the weeds (I still do), but on most lakes the best spot is in the basin.

During late ice crappie are at their most aggressive state of the winter. During late ice some fish will still be in the basin where you caught them mid-winter and some will have moved into the weeds.

During late ice the weather warms, snow melts and water begins to run down holes in the ice which bring fresh oxygen and nutrients into the lake.

With less snow and ice, as well as, a more direct sun angle the sunrays are able to penetrate the water.

At this time finding green weeds can be key for some fantastic late ice fishing.

The best way to find late ice crappie is to check for them in the basin where they lived all winter. If they are not there, draw a line on the lake map from the basin to where the crappie will spawn in the spring.

Those locations will be in bull rush, downed timber or weeds… in a bay, channel, or river mouth. Often during late ice you will find fish in the mid-range depths of 20-25 feet of water… they won’t be all the way up in the weeds, but they won’t be in the deepest section either.

The biggest key is if you know where they will spawn in the spring, they will be near there during late ice.

The other spot to find late ice crappie is in 5-10 feet of water near any remaining green weeds. To find an abundance of crappie, sometimes all it takes is drilling holes till you find green weeds.

As far as crappie rods go I like a long rod with a sensitive tip… noodle rods are great. I like a 27-32 inch rod. Ultra-light, light or medium light rods work… if you are not using a noodle rod you might want to consider a spring bobber on your rod tip to detect light bites.

An additional consideration is the rod backbone. It should be strong enough to set the hook on a big crappie in deep water. A lot of the new noodle rods have a sensitive tip with a shaft that gradually stiffens as it gets closer to the bottom of the rod.

My top 10 lures in no particular order are:

1. #2 jigging rapala
2. VMC waxtail jig
3. VMC Nymph
4. 13 Fishing Bamf
5. Trigger x waxtail jig
6. VMC Tumbler Spoon
7. Rapala ultra-light rippin rap #4
8. Clam maki plastics Jamel
9. Clam speed spoon
10. Rocker jig with a grub

Step 1. Get lake maps.

Step 2. Identify area to fish (basins or weeds).

Step 3. Look for lakes that are conducive to either basin or weed fishing.

Step 4. Identify the top one, two, or three spots on the lake.

Step 5. Check the lakes… drill holes and drop your transducer down the holes. Thoroughly cover the area so you can positively identify the presence of fish.

Example… If you drill holes all over half of a deep hole and find no fish, you would not be able to positively conclude there are no fish because you only covered half the hole and the fish could be in the other half.

Step 6. When you find fish, continue to try different lures and presentations till you get them to bite.

Step 7.  Only keep what you need for a fish fry… don’t let anyone make you feel bad about keeping fish, but also respect the resource and don’t over fish it… leave some for tomorrow…

Step 8. Repeat this process on other lakes until you have a collection of spots to fish.

In summer, when crappie leave the deep weed-edge and suspend over deeper water, trolling is a great technique for catching them. Very often crappie will be right off the last contour of the drop-off. So, drive your boat along the drop-off and look for suspended crappie.

Once you find them cast a small crank bait off the back of the boat and troll with it. Play with your speed a little… 1.7-1.8 mph is good or sometimes even going up to 2.0 mph.

It’s important to vary your path so as not to go in a straight line… make an “S” pattern. Then, when the boat turns, it creates slack in the line which causes the bait to pause and the fish to bite.

Also, keep changing lure colors… crappie are sight feeders and color makes a big difference. Not all crappie will hit on the same color, so changing colors can get more fish to hit. 

Lindy rigging is a very effective way for catching fall crappie. Lindy rigging is a technique you can use to catch crappie that are sitting near the bottom in deep water… a classic fall setup. A lindy rig drags a heavy weight along the lake floor and keeps your bait near the bottom. A floating jig is placed a few feet off the bottom where the fish are. To tie a lindy rig you need a snap swivel, bell sinker, (usually a ¼ oz or ½ oz.) and a floating jig head.

Start by tying your main line to the swivel, make sure that after you tie the knot there is about 2 feet of leftover line. Then, tie the floating jig head onto the end of the remaining 2 feet of line. Clip the bell sinker to the swivel and you are ready to go. Bait the floating jig head with a crappie or fathead minnow.

To lindy rig use the information in the fall crappie section to locate the fish. Then, wind drift (let the wind blow your boat) while pulling your lindy rig across the basin holding fish. Once the drift is over, reel up and drive back to the starting spot and repeat the process.   

Vertical jigging is a classic crappie technique in which you place your boat directly over the crappie and fish straight up and down (vertically) in the water column. Listed below are a few scenarios in which vertical jigging works well.  

1. Late summer and early fall crappie make their seasonal move into the lake basin where they will spend the winter. During this time, crappie are schooled up in deep water. This is a great time to tie on a #2 or #3 jigging Rapala and vertical jig those crappie. 

This is a very effective technique for catching a lot of crappie… and big ones. To fish this technique, it is important to keep your boat moving slowly… preferably with a trolling motor. If it’s windy, move into the wind so you can keep a slow speed. Use the information under the fall crappie section of this course to find exactly where to locate schools of crappie. Once you have found fish, let your bait fall to the bottom of the lake. Then, reel it up about 3 feet. This is one of the few times you can fish relatively aggressively for crappie. Snap your jigging rap up about a foot and let it fall back down… leave a 3-5 second pause on the bottom.

When fishing this technique, it’s important to use your fish finder to locate the schools of fish. Run your boat right through the school and prepare for bites.  This technique will really pick up when the water temp falls to 50 degrees.

2. Another scenario where vertical jigging excels is over deep cribs. The best way to vertical jig deep cribs is to motor around with your boat until you get right over the crib, then drop a marker buoy so you know exactly where the crib is. Back off the crib and drop in your trolling motor and fish around your buoy.

Slip bobber rigging is a technique that works all season. Listed below are three scenarios in which slip bobbers really excel.

1. Fishing heavy cover for pre-spawn crappie – In natural lakes, during spring when crappie penetrate back bays, they take shelter in heavy cover like downed trees. These crappie won’t move far from cover to hit a bait, so catching them with a slip bobber is a very effective approach.

Start out by placing your bobber stop so your bait is halfway down in the water column… you may have to adjust it up or down to finetune exactly where your bait needs to be… cast your bobber as close to the cover as possible. You need to be close… gaps between tree limbs are ideal locations. Expect to get a few snags. It helps to position your boat close to the downed tree to keep the casting distance short. If the water is stained or darker in color it’s possible to get right onto the tree and just drop your bobber into place. 

2. Fishing bull rushes for spring crappie – Fishing slip bobbers in spring, during spawning, is as classic a presentation as they come. To do this, set your bobber stop just above the depth at which the fish are sitting. So… if the fish are sitting in 3 feet of water… set your bobber stop at 2-2.5 feet which will place the lure right above the fishes’ head. Let the lure sit there until a fish bites. Occasionally jiggle your bobber to entice bites. Tie a plain hook tipped with a minnow, a 1/32 or 1/16 oz. jig with a minnow, or soft plastic (like a tube jig), below your bobber.

 Fishing weed edges for summer crappie – During summer months, weeds are a great place to catch crappie. A very effective technique for catching them is with slip bobbers. Position your boat a short casting distance away from the weed bed. You’re going to be casting on the weed edge but also into the weeds so set your bobber stop so you are fishing just over the weed tops… you’re going to need to play with your bobber depth till you find the depth at which the fish want the lure presented. On your average day, during low light hours, the fish will be higher in the water column. Therefore, your bait might only be down a foot or two. During high sun hours the fish will be closer to the bottom, so you might have to lower your bait to get bites.

  Fishing cribs – Cribs are great spots to catch crappie. However, due to the likelihood of getting snagged it can be a difficult task. That’s why slip bobber rigging is perfect for crib fishing… you can set your depth to be right above the crib and stay snag free while catching fish.

To crib fish with slip bobbers simply place your bobber stop so your bait is a few feet above the crib. Fish the sides and center of the crib.

 HINT: During low light periods, crappie will often suspend above the crib to feed… this is the best time to target them. First, because they are feeding and second, because they are out of the heavy cover of the crib.

5. Fishing suspended crappie - During summer, crappie will often suspend in deep water. Catching these fish can be tricky…. unless you have a slip bobber rig. Use your boat and sonar to find the school of crappie. You do that by driving back and forth in a tight pattern until you drive right over them. Pay attention to how high in the water column the highest fish are resting. Set your bobber stop so your bait is presented a little higher than that depth. Cast a spread of slip bobber rigs and catch fish.

I’m not sure where the name came from, but noodling is a crappie fishing technique that is very effective. This technique is used in spring when crappie are on spawning beds. Slowly move through the bull rushes with your trolling motor. Use a pair of polarized sun glasses to spot crappie on beds. Then, use a 7 foot or longer rod to drop your bait right in front of the fish. Continue to move through the bull rush bed picking off crappie as you go. One trick is to make sure your drag is cranked up… you don’t want the fish to pull drag and get caught on the bull rush. Six, eight or 10-pound test line works well for this technique. If you get snagged, the lighter the line the more break off’s you will have.  

In some scenarios, casting and retrieving is a great technique for catching crappie. Listed below are a few times when this approach really works well.

Locating pre-spawn crappie – During early spring, crappie are often spread out in weed beds adjacent to their spawning grounds. Usually, they are schooled up tight in relatively small areas. To find those areas use your trolling motor to slowly work down the weed bed casting micro crank baits, beadle spins or jigs into the weeds and slowly reeling them back to the boat. Do not make an erratic retrieve, use a steady retrieve with some twitches to entice bites.

I like to use a bobber, so I can make a very slow retrieve yet keep the bait above the weeds. If I’m fishing water that is 5 feet deep or less, I’ll set the bobber so my bait is one and a half to two feet below the surface.  

Catching summer crappie in weeds – This technique is probably my favorite for catching summer crappie. And it is very simple… All you do is locate weed beds near deep water and cast lures up to them. Weed beds on humps and points are some of the best spots.  The best way to find the weeds is by sight. These weeds are easy to find because during summer they come to the surface.

It’s important to be patient and fish slowly, so I use a bobber to keep my bait from constantly snagging weeds. Set your bobber so it is just above the largest weed section… and place your bait one to two feet below your bobber.

Then, slowly retrieve the lure twitching it the whole way back. Crappie don’t like fast erratic movement, but they do like a constant twitching.

I like to use a pink or chartreuse tube jig for this approach. You can also use a jig or hook and crappie minnow.  

Three-way rigging is a technique used to keep your lure near the bottom while trolling. If you are fishing deep water and you want to troll micro crank baits, it’s hard to keep your lure near the bottom… that’s when a 3-way rig is a great option. Three-way rigging works well for crappie in the fall when they are schooling up on deep water structure. It is too hard to wind drift along structure because you constantly get blown off. It’s also hard to do traditional trolling because your lure doesn’t get down to the fish… so 3-way rigging becomes the best choice.

To tie a 3-way rig you are going to need a 3-way swivel, a weight, a micro crank bait, and two pieces of line, (one 1 foot and one 2 feet).

Start by tying your main line coming from your rod to the 3-way swivel.  Then tie the 1-foot piece of line to the 3-way swivel. On the other end of that line tie the weight. Then, tie the 2-foot piece of line to the 3-way swivel and tie the crank bait to the other end of the 3-way swivel.

Use the information under fall crappie to find where to locate the fish. Look for schools of fish scattered along a drop-off. Troll your 3-way rig up and down the drop catching fish as you go through the schools of fish.

When it comes to crappie fishing almost any rod will work… but, there are some rods that work better than others. I like to fish with either a light, or medium light power rod. There is a case for each.

The most important thing is that you have a fast action rod… that means it has a nice sensitive tip, but it quickly tapers into the backbone of the rod. The flex and sensitivity are in the tip. That way you have the sensitivity to detect light bites, and the power to set the hook.

I like a medium light rod because it has enough backbone to get a good hook set but not too much so as to rip the lure out of the crappies’ mouth. Crappie have paper thin mouths, so it is easy to rip the hook right out of their mouth. Other great techniques require a little stiffer rod (like a medium light) to have proper lure control… like wind drifting lindy rigs, drop shot, or trolling micro crank baits.

Ultra-lights have their place too. They have great sensitivity for feeling the softest of bites and they really enhance the fight of the fish. Also, with an ultra-light, it’s harder to rip the bait out of the fishes’ mouth. 

As far as rod length… I like longer rods 6.6 feet to 7 feet is my preference. There are some situations where an even longer rod is advantageous.  When you are fishing bull rush or timber for spawning crappie the extra reach of a 9ft rod is ideal… however, you can catch plenty of fish with a 7ft rod.

When it comes to choosing line for fishing crappie, it’s important to not over think it. You can catch crappie on a variety of line tests and types.

I fish with 6-pound mono most of the time. If I am fishing heavy cover, occasionally I will go up to eight pounds to try to get some of the snags back.

Some times fishing with 2-4 pound line will get more bites when the fish are real finicky...

Braid line has its place. You can cast braid much farther. So, if you are fishing a situation where long casts are advantageous braid is the way to go. You can also get braid if a higher pound test with a lower diameter is needed. For example, you can get 10-pound braid with a 4-pound diameter.  When you fish with braid sometimes it is important to tie on a 2-foot mono leader.

Crappie can be very finicky fish. One of the biggest reasons people fail to catch crappie is they use improper technique.

Crappie do not like erratic movements. Many fishermen like to jerk their lure through the water like you would for walleyes, bass, musky’s or pike.

This does not work for crappie.

Crappie like a slow steady retrieve. If you have ever watched crappie feed in a tank or on an underwater camera or TV, you’ll notice that, most of the time, crappie swim to the bait, sit right under it, look at it and then hit it.

Generally, excessive lure action scares the fish away.

So, the key to catching crappie is a slow steady retrieve, or a slow and steady jigging motion where the bait does not move more than a foot up or down. If your jigging stroke is too big you will pull the lure out of the strike zone.

When you are jigging for crappie hold your bait on the top and bottom of the jigging motion. When it is there just twitch it a little so the bait wiggles but does not move. Most of the time the crappie will hit on the pause.

Although crappie don’t like erratic movements, they do like action on the bait. Often, you will find you catch more fish if you are constantly jiggling your lure.  However, this is more significant with artificial lures… it’s not as important with live bait.

How to Know When the Best Bites Will Be On

Each year there are times when fishing is easy, and it seems like you can’t do anything wrong… the fish just bite. This checklist outlines how to know when the best times to fish will be.

When attempting to predict the best time to fish look for the clues…

You can never know for sure exactly when the fish will bite… but the following formula will increase your chances of getting on some of the best bites!

The first thing to consider is the time of year… where should the crappie be located based on their seasonal movements? Often, the best bites happen in spring during pre-spawn, in fall, and during the winter months… throughout these times crappie school up and become easy to catch.

In addition to the time of year, other factors influence the predictability of catching crappie. Current weather is probably the biggest factor for predicting good bites… but moon phase, barometric pressure, light penetration, and wind also play a part.

Weather

It’s no secret that weather can affect fish all year long. There are times of the year when watching the weather can help predict when the fish will bite aggressively.

For example; in spring watch for warm stable weather for a few days in a row… that is almost certainly going to set up a “hot bite.”

Cooling weather in the fall also congregate crappie and set the stage for good fishing.

Cold fronts are a form of adverse weather. During spring and summer cold fronts can shut the fish down for a few days.

Barometer

Crappie bite best with a stable or slowly falling barometric pressure. A barometric reading of 29 and 30.30 is best. If the weather is forecasted to become unstable, the barometer rises, or the temperature drops significantly (cold front) the best bite usually happens about a day before the event (24 hours.)

Water temp

Water temperature can really get the fish going. Warm weather in the spring and cool weather in the fall are great examples.

A lot of crappie seasonal moves are based off temperature so checking the water temperature is always important in predicting good fishing.

Light penetration

Light penetration can affect the bite… When the sun is high, the best bite might come early in the morning and then again at dusk, but on a cloudy day crappie might bite great all day long.  

Moon phase

 Moon phase can play a role in predicting crappie bites. During the full moon phases crappie tend to feed heavy at night . during dark moon phases crappie tend to feed most heavily in morning and evening.

Social media

The internet and social media have made finding good crappie lakes easier than ever.

Look on sites like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for lakes and areas that are producing quality fish.

Year class and creel reports from biologists

For many major lakes and state fisheries biologists have information on creel reports, as well as, how each year class is doing. You can contact them for helpful information on how the health of the crappie population.

It is hard to get information on smaller, less popular lakes that biologists don’t cover. On these lakes you have to make your own estimations. To help with that look at information on other lakes in the area to see how well they are doing. If the weather was good and those lakes had a successful spawn, chances are most of the lakes in the area had similar results. You can also look at past weather to estimate how well spawning went in preceding years.

The best lakes usually have low angler harvest, successful spawning for most of the previous 4-10 years, and a healthy forage supply.

Bug hatches

Bug hatches can influence crappie bites. During mayfly hatches, crappie can school up over mud flats and feed exclusively on mayflies for a week or longer.

Bug hatches can have an effect on where crappie are located, what they are feeding on, and how aggressive the will be.

Crappie that have been gorging on bugs might be difficult to get to bite.   

Forage availability projections. In some area’s biologists keep track of key forage species because they are important to bass, pike, walleye, musky, and crappie. You can contact your local fishery office for information on the status of the forage base (if they have it.)

In lakes where there is a great hatch of baitfish, it can be hard to get on good bites because of the abundance of food for the crappie.

In contrast, in lakes that typically have a lot of bait, if there is a bad hatch and a forage shortage… the crappie bite can be fantastic. Under a bait shortage, however, crappie generally spread out looking for food, in those cases you won’t find as big of schools.

Ideal conditions are a normal hatch.