Thread: south eastern crappies

first time post, great site, very informative. i am pretty new to crappie fishing but want to know if anyone has any input on any lakes in se pa that i could caught some crappies from shore or wading. i know crappie move deep in the summer months , however was wondering when they strat to move in shallow ? any info would be great thanks

Schillins, welcome to the crappie.com. You can catch crappie shallow or with in casting distance of shore pretty much all year. If you have structure around that will hold them. In the spring and fall is when you will find them concentrated in the shallows. You can use jigs, minnows, any combination of the two, crankbaits, bobber and minnow all these and more will catch crappie it is a matter of being where the fish are.
Check around the message board you will find alot of very usefull and informative information.
Again welcome,
Bob G

I used to live in Chester cty PA, but I'm now up in the N.E., Susquehanna cty. Whereabouts in the S.E. are you, and I might be able to help you with some lakes. One that comes to mind is the Octorora reservior which is in southern Lancaster cty near the Chester cty line.

Welcome shillins24, to Crappie.com, and the Pa boards. I agree, that there is a lot of very well knowledged crappie fisherman here, both on the main board and on the state boards. Keith

hey thanks guys, shellback i live in delaware county (springfield). i never fished octarora, but iv had some limited sucess at springton and green lane res. for crappie in the spring.

If you don't have a copy of the PA fishing and boating map, you should get one as it has all the public fishing waters on it. Just see your state legislators office for a copy. Octoraro I believe is owned by Chester Water Authority and there is a concession there that sells bait and tackle, and also rents boats. You can call there for fishing reports and directions. It's Jim Neary's and the Phone # is 717-529-2488 and I think he's open from April 1st to Oct 31th. Octoraro should be a straight shot down Rt 1 for you. Good fishing!

shellback thanks for the info. I hit octarora last thursday. fished mostly for bass but i throw some grub jigs into wood and had a lot of sucess for a beginner. a total of 13 crappie with the largest @10 inches . thanks aagain

Glad to hear you had some success there. Up here in the north we've gotten hammered by Ivan. The Army Corps lake I crappie fish on is now at 32 feet above normal pool level! I can't imagine what it's like, it's a four hour round trip or I'd take a ride over to check it out. Well it's a flood control reservior, so I gues it's done it's job.