Crappie.com - How to catch crappie off standing timber By Brad Wiegmann

Standing timber may not be exciting or challenging ways to catch crappie, however, it consistently fills an angler’s livewell during the cold winter months. Crappie migrate and hold to standing timber for its shade, protection and provides an ambush point. Lucky for anglers standing timber is easy to find and even easier to fish.

Beaver Lake crappie guide and Bobby Garland Crappie Baits pro staffer Greg Robinson will also migrate to standing timber following the crappie in the winter. “Once the water temperature reaches 55- to 45-degrees crappie just seem to be aggressive in standing timber during that time. I like to fish vertically for them using a two jig to catch them,” said Robinson.

Robinson’s may fish the easy located tall standing timber any angler can see, but his favorite is to fish the standing timber just under the surface. Normally, Robinson focuses on keeping his lures in the 10- to 12-feet deep as close as possible to the standing timber. During the day, Robinson may change the depth he is fishing, but usually crappie will be near that depth during the winter months on standing timber.

To keep his double jig rig in the productive strike zone, Robinson utilizes a 12 foot B’n’M Poles Sam Heaton Super Sensitive fishing rod (www.bnmpoles.com) rigged up with a baitcasting reel with high-vis 6-pound monofilament fishing line. He noted any baitcast reel will do as it is mostly just holding fishing line. The long, 12 foot rod allows Robinson to dip or flip the double jig rig instead of casting making for a better presentation.

He noted the key was finding standing timber in the right depth. Normally, Robinson will fish deeper trees the colder the water temperature gets. Main lake or the mouth of feeder creeks having standing timber is always productive if it has standing timber.

His double jig rig consists of a 1/16-ounce Bobby Garland Crappie Baits (www.bobbygarlandcrappie.com) Mo’Glo jig head separated by around 16-inches of line to a 1/8-ounce Mo’Glo jig head for the bottom jig. Robinson will rig a shad pattern Bobby Garland Crappie Baits Minnow Mind’R on the lighter jig on top. On the bottom jig head, Robinson will rig a chartreuse jig head with a cicada colored Minnow Mind’R.

Shad color patterns are the main forage for crappie on Beaver Lake and other highland reservoirs during the winter time. “That’s all the crappie have this time of year to feed on. So, I will always have a shad color pattern lure like the Minnow Mind’R Blue Glacier in my double crappie rig,” said Robinson.

“I usually don’t move the jigs much once it gets down to the depth crappie are biting. If the water temperature starts warming up during the day, I might not drop the double rig as deep since crappie will be moving up in the water column. The key is to get a bite so you know how deep to fish,” said Robinson.

To locate standing timber holding crappie, Robinson will drive his boat near the tree and utilize his Lowrance depth finder to see if it has crappie around it. “I will have the Lowrance unit open to mapping, SideScan and DownScan so it gives me the most information possible when searching the trees. Once I see the crappie, I will go to those trees and start dropping a double jig rig next to those trees,” said Robinson.

It may not be the most exciting way to catch crappie, but standing timber is easy to locate and fish in the winter. Plus multiple trees in close proximity will normally hold schools of crappie making it easier to catch a limit of fish.