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 Let's
look at some tips offered by expert anglers. They can help you catch
crappie when things get tough.
Problem:
The lake you're fishing is extremely muddy. On a scale of 1 to
10, fishing hardly rates a 4.
Solution:
When fishing muddy water, look for places where water is less
turbid -- up in creeks, the backs of coves, around green vegetation,
places like that. Crappie are sight feeders, and the slightest bit
of clearer water improves the chance they'll see your bait.
Crappie hold tighter to cover when water's muddy. Most of us fish
an area quickly, then move to the next spot. In muddy water, work slow.
Cover 360 degrees around that stump or treetop. Work your bait close to
the cover, and be thorough."
Problem:
Your crappie lake is clear. Crappie seem spooky, and you've
caught few fish.
Solution:
When fishing clear water, go to light line, it's more difficult
for crappie to detect. Try eight-pound line in stained water, but in
clear, try six or four. Think small in clear water -- light
line, light float, small
jigs.
To avoid spooking fish, back off some and cast your jigs. Use a float
with a light jig, cast past the cover and gently jig it back or let the
wind carry it over the top.
Problem:
After heavy rainfall, the lake is rising fast. New cover is
flooded, and fishing your favorite brushpiles and treetops is
unproductive.
Solution:
A fast rise scatters fish, and they don't stay concentrated and
holding around cover. Most are suspended and moving like nomads.
Spider-rigging lets you cover more water, and that's what you must do to
locate scattered fish during a fast rise. Rig your poles with different
color jigs set at different depths, then troll slowly, making large
zigzagging sweeps. Troll over structure going to and from spawning
areas. If you're patient and cover lots of water, sooner or later you'll
catch fish.
Problem:
Spring rains ended, and water is falling fast. You've fished
shoreline areas that produced crappie last week, but now they've
vanished. Nothing seems to work.
Solution:
Most oxbows flood each spring, then the water drops quickly
until conditions stabilize. When this happens, crappie leave shallow
water. Their instinct tells them to move to deeper water until
everything settles. Most are suspended, holding tight to cover in the
lake's midsection. These crappie are persnickety, and you must
fish slow, working each bit of cover thoroughly. Drop to smaller jigs.
Instead of 1/32-ounce, drop to 1/48th or even 1/64th. These lures fall
slower, enticing finicky fish.
Problem:
A storm front hits. Wind picks up, and it starts raining.
Abruptly, crappie quit biting.
Solution:
If there's lightning or high waves, leave immediately. If it's
safe to stay, you'll probably find crappie in the thickest cover
available -- buckbrush, willow thickets, etc. Position your boat so the
wind blows you against the cover. Use a long pole to work a jig into the
brush, then fish little pockets most folks miss. Work the jig with a
slow bounce, and work each hole thoroughly. Fishing is toughest
after fronts pass.
Problem:
It's that "in-between" time. The worst of winter is
behind, but warm spring days are several weeks away. One day crappie are
shallow; the next they're deep. What should you do?
Solution:
As water warms toward 62 degrees, crappie prepare to find their
spawning beds, and they move from the main river channel up on the
dropoffs. That's where you want to start fishing. When they leave deep
water for shallows along the bank, start fishing shallow. Unfortunately,
before actual spawning begins, they may move between shallow and deep
water several times as weather changes. Smart fishermen move back and
forth with them."
Problem:
You tried your six favorite jig colors but crappie refused the
offerings. Is it time to give up?
Solution:
Always check at the bait shop to find out what's been working
best.
Problem:
The fish are there; your sonar unit indicates as much. But they
refuse to bite. What now?
Solution:
Most crappie anglers use jigs or minnows and nothing else, then
there are times, though, when other baits worked, and jigs and minnows
didn't. On some lakes they seem to hit small spinners or spoons
better than jigs or minnows. On certain lakes at certain times of the
year, you can catch crappie using small shad-imitation
crankbaits. The key is versatility. If one bait or lure or
color doesn't work, be prepared to try something different."
Problem:
Crappie are hitting so lightly, their bites go undetected. How
can this problem be overcome?
Solution:
It pays to be a line watcher. A crappie may rush a bait,
then just flare its gills and inhale it. The only indication of a bite
may be a slight slackening of your line or a tiny, almost imperceptible
twitch. You must be watching to see it and react. When using a
bobber, be sure it's not too large. A bobber the size of a grape detects
strikes better than one the size of a golf ball.
Problem:
Your crappie lake has dozens of sunken brush piles to attract
crappie, but you can't hook anything but snags.
Solution:
Brush piles are magnets for crappie, use a graph to find the
brush pile, and mark it with a buoy. Then take your boat a cast away
from your buoy, and using 4-pound-test line and a 1/16-ounce jig head,
cast to the buoy. Count the jig down until you get a strike or hit
brush. If you get a strike, use the same count next cast. If you hit
brush, use a shorter count. The key to catching crappie on fish
attractors is positive depth control. Crappie don't feed down,
they bite up. So don't fish under them. You establish that the fish are
at a certain depth, then boom, boom, boom, you're putting them in the
boat.
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