Persistance pays off.
As for your question. Water temp is surface temp. Most, if not all, fish finders have a temp sensor, taht sensro sits on the bottom of your boat, so it is measuring water surface temp.
The deeper you go the colder the water gets. Fish cant regulate body temp, they find a comfort zone and stayt there. Knowing thier preferred temp zone will help you find them. Find that depth in one spot on the lake and generally you will find them at that depth all over the lake, barring any climate changes. Such as feeder creeks dumping hot/cold water.
The three keys to finding crappie is structure, structure, and structure. Crappie relate/hide in and around structure. They are like hunters, they set up in tree stands and wait for their pray to come by. Instead of standing above their prey, they fish up. Crappie look up to eat/hunt. Bait fish need warmer water, so they swim above the crappie.
When you mark fish, you need to figure out how deep they are. Your fish finder will show a depth. Remember that depth is from teh sensor, not the top of the water. If your sensor is 3 feet under water you will need to add 3 feet to your depth. If your sensor is 1 foot under water you will need to add 1 foot to your depth. That is assuming your slip bobber fishing and your bobber is on teh surface. I find the best depth is 1-2' above teh depth of the fish. IF your marking fish at 10' down fish 8-9' feet down. That will put your bait 1-2' above them. I am fortunate in that my sensor is 1 1/2-2' below the surface. I set my slip bobber at the depth on the fishifinder. Make sthe math simple.
Last edited by Hanr3; 06-28-2009 at 09:46 PM.
HOI Crappie Club
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