Thread: I'm struggling to find crappie through all the bluegill

I'm not sure the average depth of your lake, bottom compositions (hard, soft), weed types and distribution, water clarity, time of year and day you fish for crappie, type of weather you prefer (though maybe not the fish's), mid-lake structure (humps, weed patches) and other information that the contributors on Crappie.com could fine tune your presentation.

Like any predator fish, crappie follow the food source much of the time. Find the small fish and crappie should be pretty close up to 10 yd.s away. Sonar finds those fish and the bottom type they are swimming over. Sonar is important regarding deeper fish holding depth after the spawn. Bluegill typically are bank fish; crappie are typically school fish and school much of the time by size in open water.

Get away from live bait and for good reasons:
1. you can search far more open water with lures, whether they be soft plastic, hair or others.
2. speed of retrieve and variations in retrieve can make all the difference along with depth of retrieve - a factor of major importance. Live bait has one speed - dead in the water. The only lateral motion is zero which is fine for ice fishing but a waste of time searching large areas far from and around the boat.
3. lures provoke a strike of pure aggression versus live bait which provokes a feeding strike. I say this because many times a fish will hit three or four times on one retrieve and then hook itself in the same place on the second cast.
4. less time consuming to find fish depth. Try different depths in an area using the lure's weight to reach the most productive one and then stay at the depth until you move the boat. Much of the time I've found fish at a certain depth range and over the same bottom types everywhere in the lake. KNOW BOTTOM HARDNESS VIA YOUR SONAR!
5. finesse action lures are usually better than those without the type of action that provoke the bully in fish. Besides, finesse action lures can be fished at most speeds, allowing time for a neutral fish to become instantly aggressive before it goes back to just swimming along minding its own business, .

Line test can make a difference in lure performance. GO LIGHT AS POSSIBLE, though not because fish are line-shy, a fallacy IMO, but because lures should appear and act on their own as if not connected to anything. Heavier line can impede that action and the action an angler imparts. 4-6# are good tests for most species - even bass - and allow better lure action at all depths.

I hope your using a light action rod; too heavy a rod action and you'll miss most strikes and hook sets. Jig size can be important. I like 1/8 oz or less - less being for the shallow bite either near shore or over deeper water nearer the surface.

All bodies of water are different and once you've surveyed shallow to deep and caught fish in those areas (depending on season and water temperature), patterns can be found that hold year after year. It's always a good idea to take someone fishing so as to locate fish faster as well as get an idea of what is working. One size rarely fits all but it happens.

Just some opinions of an old timer that averages over 40 crappie and other species per outing on most lakes that have a good population of fish.....

Dude, listen to bluenoteben! He has a grip on it. a word about bait. I usually fish bobby garland plastic the little skinny tail minnow like lures in cajun cricket or bluegrass. If they're finicky tip it with a live minnow. I try to use a #2hook in 1/32 or1/16 oz. very seldom you have to go to 1/8th. Youre better off lighter than heavier. Plan on losing jigs its the cost of doing business with crappie.