Small crappie syndrome

[sliles]

Why are we catching so many small crappie, When we have been use to the big bite on truman?

[INGrandad]

'Bout gotta be one of two things; overpopulated or the food source has dwindled.

[Eager Beaver]

It is a natural process I think that everywhere goes thru. It is that way here also. We will have several good years of about every Crappie is a keeper and then will have 1 or 2 years that it takes 10 Crappie to get a legal keeper. We are in a down year (as I call it) here also. We caught quite a few the last time I was out and only had 12 keepers. Most are just short of legal size so next year will be better. It is still fun being on the water and out in nature. Try to find new structure that you haven't fished before. Something that is out of the way that not many people would be fishing. EB

[CrappiePappy]

or it could just be that you are fishing the areas/depth that the smaller ones are using. Sometimes the smaller ones prefer to stay closer to the bank, to cover, and even in shallower water ... while the larger ones roam the open water, following baitfish schools, or relating to deep structure & cover (even though they may be suspended well above it).

If there's a thermocline that develops in your lake ... don't fish below it, whatever depth it's at. Look for cover that comes up thru that depth level, and fish slightly above that depth and close to that cover (whatever it may be ... standing tree, bridge pillar, etc).

Summertime daylight lasts about 15hrs ... with the Sun being directly overhead about midway thru those hours. That roughly translates to the hottest part of the day being around the 1-2PM timeframe. By then, most of the shade on banks (and cover on those banks) have disappeared. Usually, it will have disappeared even earlier than that, unless you have banks with close and tall tree lines. Around here, shaded banks are all but gone by 11AM (depending on their orientation, how high the banks are and how high the trees on those banks are). I usually try and hit the water by first light, stay on the shaded banks with cover and depth, and expect to head home or fish for another species by 11AM. Others may troll crankbaits, or slow troll deep water with minnow or jig rigs, during the midday hours. Some may even shoot deep water docks, when the Sun is high.

Crappie like shade, because it provides them with cooler water & camoflauge ... while also lighting up their surroundings, making it easier for them to see better/farther (just like being in a darkened room and looking into a well lighted one). They will utilize shade, whether it's caused by the out of water obstacles or underwater obstacles, or by simply going to deeper depths. Sunny or bright days, and even calm days ... Crappie will relate to cover very closely, and be more tightly schooled up. Cloudy/overcast, windy, &/or drizzling rain days ... Crappie will relate to cover more loosely, and be scattered farther out from cover.

You can sometimes tell the mood & location of the Crappie, by the actions of the baitfish schools. However deep the baitfish are, the Crappie are usually a couple of feet deeper ... and not always directly below them, but in close proximity. If the baitfish are on the move, Crappie are usually closely following (or they're already at a ambush spot, waiting to intercept them). If baitfish are tightly schooled up and circling in one spot, I've found that you have to fish the heaviest cover ... very, very slowly and methodically ... and almost have to tap them on the nose with your bait.

... cp

[jimmydee1]

Dang, pappy, I was gonna try to add something, but you pretty much said it all.

You're right about the thermocline. Absent a thermometer, I generally find it by taking a minner down about four feet and bring him back up after a minute or so. If he's dead, I'm below the thermocline. If not, drop him 5 feet, and re check. When you bring him back up dead, fish about 18-24" above it and you'll find crappie if they are in the area.

[Redy2Fish]

That's a great post, CP!

[CrappiePappy]

You're right about the thermocline. Absent a thermometer, I generally find it by taking a minner down about four feet and bring him back up after a minute or so. If he's dead, I'm below the thermocline. If not, drop him 5 feet, and re check. When you bring him back up dead, fish about 18-24" above it and you'll find crappie if they are in the area.

... that's what I call my "poor man's temperature probe" :D

One can also find the depth of the thermocline, by using a Depth Finder ... by turning up the sensitivity until a cloudy line appears across the screen. Temp probes, whether they're battery operated units ... or weighted thermometers ... will also tell you the depth of the thermocline. All a thermocline is, is the dividing line between the warmer (lighter weight) water .. and the deeper (heavier) cooler water. On lakes that do not have alot of current generated, the water stratifies ... colder water sinks and loses it's oxygen, while the warmer water floats on top of the heavier, cooler water. Warm water loses it's oxygen, too ... but, oxygen is also being created in those warm levels, so it doesn't get completely depleted. The level at which the warm water meets the cooler water, where there may be a little mixing of the two, is the thermocline. And since it has the coolest portion of the warm water, it retains it's oxygen longer ... which is why the fish seem to like to stay close to it. It affords them the comfort level of the coolest available temp, darkness of depth, and a viable oxygen level.

Thermoclines can be found with temperature probes, by taking temp readings thru the water column, until you find a depth where a significant temp drop takes place. If your readings are only a degree or two different, for the first several feet of depth .... then quickly drops several degrees, once you go below that depth ... you've found the thermocline boundry.


... cp

[2yrsnluvinit]

this is why i ike this site so much, for someone like me who has only fished for a short while i can get a wealth of information from you guys who know your crappie and how and where to find them, i had heard about this thermocline before and fished at Salimonie at the depth i was told and caught some crappie just last night not many and not very big but i use the knowledge i gain from reading this site, thanks to all of you who know your fishing.

[INGrandad]

Youse guys are good. Thanks for the info .