Help me find where the Crappie have gone in my river!

[Bacarat]

Hi Everyone,
Im new to the site and this is my first season of serious fishing, ive been trying to learn as much as I can and have been fishing like crazy for the past year or so. I had a question about the Crappie location in my river and was hoping some of you more experienced anglers could help me out.

I live in Coalinga,Ca and we have a small river (The Kings River) that runs about 30 minutes from my house and this is where I fish most of the time, the past few months have been pretty good and I was finally learning where the crappie are usually at in this river, there are a bunch of regulars that I learned a few spots from, basically we have 4 or 5 areas that most people fish and sometimes there are fish sometimes not. One particular spot being under a bridge in about 6 or 7 foot of water.

This is where I got my first crappie on a jig and usually in an 8 hour day I can get 3 crappies here on jigs if im lucky (which is good for me ) If they aren’t at the bridge ill go from spot to spot until I find where they are but I only know the spots most people fish and im limited to shore angling as I don’t have a boat yet.

I want to point out also that this river is stained water, at max about 9 feet deep and the current varies but its usually pretty slow in most parts. Also, ALL of the structures people seem to fish around here are leftover bridge piling and bits of concrete that are on the sides of the bank and into the shoreline. There is a dam with some trees overhanging the short with tunbleweeds on the bottom but all I ever seem to see here is carp tho I may not be fishing it right.

Most days I was pretty confident I could catch at least one slab under the bridge, and thing where going well until all of the sudden last weekend it started to get really hot here all of the sudden, its now about 80-85 here. Now the crappie seem to have vanished?? I cannot find them in ANY of my old spots despite fishing for long times there, im assuming they are spawning? And ive been told this is the BEST time of the year to find crappie but for the life of me I don’t know where to look, we have some weedy shorlines but the bottom is muddy.

So, If any of you more experienced anglers could give me some tips or ideas that might help me find some crappie during this time of the year or even just point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks Again for listening! 

[GCD]

Chad, you need to move to Alabama so we can show you what Crappie fishin' is really like!

Crappie usually spawn when the water temps hit the low to upper 60's. you should carry a pool or aquarium thermometer with you and monitor the water temp. If your ambient temp is 80-85* i'd say the Crappie have already spawned and are hanging out in the deepest water they can find, look for deep cool water and shade. They may be hiding under the aquatic vegetation during the day, you may want to try night fishing for them in your good spots now.

Crappie can be nomadic and will seek their comfort zone.

[Bacarat]

That's good to know, ill check the temps next time I am out on the river. I had a feeling they might have gone deeper. Thanks for the tip!

[PBUG2009]

check out the creek channels and go up the creeks alittle

[Oregon slabman]

Good advice from GCD. Try night fishing around those pilings. If you can get a lantern out there close to the water it might draw them in.

[Kman]

I would have to agree with the others. But another thing to think about is that IF they HAVE spawned, you are now fishing post spawn conditions. Just in case ya dont know, those conditions suck!

But they are fishable. In these conditions, it is ALMOST impossible to find them without sonar. I know, I know, I used to do it too without a sonar, but after using one for so long now, I wonder how I ever did it without one. Matter of fact, anyone that uses one "religiously" would tell you they might as well not go without it. Get a cheap one if you dont have one. They gottem that will do the trick for the $100 range now. Ofcourse the more you spend the better it will be.

I fish a river system here too. They ARE different than lake systems. Your key is going to be trolling along that bank watching the depth finder and searching for non visible structure in 6-9ft of water. Old trees laid down, rock piles, whatever, just SOMETHING down there that will block current and hold baitfish. Mark that spot with a marker bouy and fish it as hard as you fish that bridge. Remove the marker when you leave and GPS the spot if you can. If you dont have a GPS, triangulate the spot the best you can and then search for it again with the finder the next time you come back. Get you about 25 or 30 of these and your worries will be over. SOME of them WILL hold crappie. Best part is, no one else knows they are there but you!

Good luck.

[slickwater1]

put in some condos and make your own honey holes. lots of information on the structure board.

[Kman]

He can try that. I did. Its just that in a river system, even if it has NO visible current at all (which he said his did have some current) they wont stay. I have sunk stuff and weighted it down, tied it to the bank, everything you can think of over the years to keep it down there. When it rains and that river swells a little...gone.

I have no clue how the natural trees that fall over get wedged in and stay, but thank God they do!:D

Wonder if anyone has any good ideas (for him AND ME) to make some of these structures STAY put in a river system?

[slickwater1]

put in creeks that are gaurded from main river current. I have put several stake mats in over the years and just driven them into the mud, still there and very productive.

[slickwater1]

there are also youtube videos that show how to do some of these things if a visual is better for you than reading it on here.