Thread: How deep

How deep is everybody catching there fish, my father and I are catching some at least 10 to 15 foot deep nothing from 1 to 5 foot deep. Is it me or should they start getting a little more shallow. Some of the questions may sound dumb but I am trying to learn how to fish for crappie better in the fall/winter months.

Can differ a lot from lake to lake. Where are you talking about and what is the water temp. Water color, fall turnover and temps will give ya best idea. I usually catch em real shallow in the river (1-2ft) but they can be 30 ft up to 2 ft at cave run after turnover.

We found the fish at Watts Bar Lake, in East Tenn, to be holding at around 18 feet deep in 20-22ft of water. I've heard reports of people finding them just a couple of feet off the bottom, in some other lakes. This is generally true and normal for White Crappie ... as they tend to stay deep from late Summer thru the Winter months. Black Crappie, on the other hand, do tend to make a return to the major creeks ... generally following the Shad, on their Fall migration route. But, while the Black Crappie may be found shallower than their White Crappie cousins, they still tend to stay in deep water ... they're just usually not suspended just off the bottom, but are more likely found in the top 1/3-1/2 of the water depth column. But, this is just from my observations, and isn't always the case (as evidenced by my trip report).

When I used to fish Taylorsville regularly ... I found November Crappie to be suspended in tree tops, usually no more than 8-10ft deep, even in tops that were standing in 20-30ft of water depth. (which bears out what ekySlabber mentioned ... it depends on the body of water, water temps/conditions )

Fall is a transition period, so it can be bust or boom. Your best bet is to concentrate on where the baitfish are, how deep they are, and factor in where the Crappie should be located in order to intercept them, as they make their way into and out of the creeks/bays.

... cp

It is a private lake in owen county, water has a decent green color, deepest part of the lake is 25 feet. The lake is in perry park ky it was on kyafield of the episode on tim fishing with a fella on tville lake spider rigging, it was on before the crappie fishing, tim and the other fella were bass fishing.