How to Catch Crappie Around Bridges by Brad Wiegmann

Crappie anglers often overlook one of the most productive areas to fish on the water. They are intent on rushing to a secret honey hole and will drive past bridges. Neglecting and abandoning bridges for most anglers is based on years of unproductive time spent aimlessly casting around piles.

However, more and more crappie anglers are having success fishing around bridges. It's not because there are more crappie around bridges, but a direct result of advancements in marine electronics. Crappie anglers have also upped their game when fishing around bridges using long, lightweight rods and braid fishing line.

B'n'M' Poles pros Kyle Schoenherr and Rodney Neuhaus never overlook an opportunity to fish bridges for crappie. "Most of the time when we are fishing bridges it's more of a numbers game. There's always lots of crappie somewhere around bridges. You just have to move around to find the schools," said Schoenherr.

"Absolutely, bridges hold crappie. All of them will at sometime have schools of crappie feeding or suspending close by. The question is which one and timing is everything," said Neuhaus.

"Bites around bridges can also be sporadic. Crappie might bite for a couple hours than seemingly disappear. The best bridges will have some structure around it or close by," said Schoenherr.

Both anglers agree bridges rarely get any attention in crappie tournaments when it comes to areas to fish. "Typically, they just don't have the size you need to win a crappie tournament. However, when it comes to numbers and actively feeding crappie, bridges are great places to fish especially during the fall and winter months," said Schoenherr.



Schoenherr and Neuhaus also head to the nearest bridge when strong winds are creating rolling waves or white caps. "When it's impossible to fish out in the middle of the lake, we head right for bridges because there will be current and shad will follow. We usually fish the side of a bridge with the least amount of wind," said Neuhaus.

"Maybe the biggest reason why we fish the downwind side is current. Crappie like to stay out of strong currents. So, we will fish current free areas first before moving and exploring structure or cover around the bridge," said Schoenherr.



Schoenherr and Neuhaus are quick to move around looking for schools of crappie once the bite stops. Using a Lowrance Gen2 Touch unit they move looking for obvious productive areas and not so obvious areas. Schools of crappie normally appear as closely grouped arches on Lowrance traditional high-definition sonar or dashes on DownScan or SideScan.

They don't reach for their poles to fish around schools of shad instead wait to see crappie on the fish finder before fishing. "Fish finders with advance technology like DownScan and SideScan have made it easier to see schools of baitfish and crappie especially around bridges. It's truly amazing because you can see if there are crappie around piles and abutments before you even fish them," said Schoenherr.
Bridge piles are columns driven into the ground often in a row with a pile cap on them to hold in place and support the foundation or substructure. While an abutment is the retaining wall used to support the end of bridges. Piles and abutments are often located on shore, but at times will have crappie on them if covered with water.

Being successful crappie fishing around bridges starts with getting the lure or lures into the right zone along with water clarity. "Most crappie we catch are around the bottom. We try and keep our lure around a foot off the bottom," said Schoenherr.
Keeping a lure so close to the bottom results in numerous snags during a day of fishing. It's probably the reason why so many crappie anglers despise fishing around bridges. To eliminate losing lures when getting snagged, Schoenherr and Neuhaus use lures with fine wire hooks that can be bent out and back into shape after getting the lure free.
Over the years, Schoenherr and Neuhaus have polished a technique they call double jigging with one pole or two poles, one in each hand for crappie. The technique is extremely productive when fishing around bridges.

When double jigging the duo rely on B'n'M' Poles model BBULBS12 (www.bnmpoles.com), Buck's Best Ultra-Lite with Bottom Seat and Touch System. "We feel our rods are more balanced with the bottom seat. There's no handle space wasted on this rod. We also like having a 12-foot rod because it keeps the rod farther away from the boat when fishing," said Schoenherr.

Lure selection plays a critical role in how successful they are around bridges. "Our double jig set up has two Road Runner Lure heads. The top Road Runner head (www.ttiblakemore.com) will be a 1/16-ounce and bottom Road Runner head 1/8-ounce. We always put the heavier Road Runner on the bottom and space the two Road Runners 12- to 16-inches apart," said Neuhaus.

Schoenherr, a guide on Rend Lake in Illinois (www.allseasonscrappiefishing.com), uses the same set up for clients, but utilizes two of the Road Runner Pro Series 2 instead. "The Pro Series 2 has a bigger barb, more flash and action. It's like the head swims through the water making it more attractive so clients get more bites," said Schoenherr.

As for lures and color patterns, the duo work together by using different color patterns until one color starts to produce more crappie. "We use Muddy Water baits or Mid-South tubes. Every day it seems like they want a different color, but glow color patterns are always productive," said Neuhaus.

For fishing line, they use hi-vis braid 15/4 line. The no stretch line is super sensitive and rarely breaks saving them money and time it would take to retie a lure.

To present the double rig, the duo lets line out until it hits the bottom and reels in about one foot of line. This keeps it off the bottom and from getting snagged, but if that doesn't get any strikes they will change depths until the crappie start biting. They don't shake or move the rod tip much once it's in the strike zone.

Love them or hate them, crappie anglers need to fish bridges more. They may not have the biggest crappie in the lake, but the crappie around them are usually active and easy to catch.