Article Contest "Fishing in the heat of the summer, TIPS and TECHNIQUES"

[Slab]

A little something to get rid of the summer doldrums. This will maybe provide some people incentive to go out there and fish a new technique!

Post your Article here in this thread, and the best one will get the following prize. Pictures are not necessary, but would be nice. Length does not matter, content does. And how well you tell a story, readability, counts as well.



Includes 12 ft BnM Brushcutter Rod
2 packages Roadrunners,
1 Package Slab Daddys
2 Packages Lindy Spider Rig,
1 Package Lindy Exchange Jig,
Plus our own Liquid Minnow, and Slab Sauce, and the new Bait Batter (not pictured).


Same rules apply to this crappie.com contest as do all. Rules subject to change without notice, all decisions are final. And the judging will be performed by my family. You all know, I'm just trying to give away stuff as fairly as possible.


Thanks, and let the games begin.

[Eager Beaver]

I love fishing in the heat! My ideal fishing in the summer time is around 100 degrees with a slight 5-10 mph wind from the south, and plenty of sunshine. I fish the shade or at least 15-20 ft or deeper of water, with trees or brush piles, with deeper water near by. I keep moving and don't anchor because it seems to spoke the Crappie if you sit in one spot very long.
The main thing is safety first. If I am by myself I will stay out in the deeper water and enjoy the sun. I fish a little slower with a jig when it is this warm. If I drop a jig down in a tree or brush pile and get a quick hard hit I know there are a lot of fish in the area so will fish the spot for a longer period of time. Fish tend to bunch up in the piles when the sun is shining bright and hit harder. When I have other people with me I will usually fish in the more shaded spots on the lake. I have a Bimini top on my boat and will put it up around 10:00 in the morning. The people with me can sit under it but I am running the trolling motor from the front and sit out in the sun. Every so often I will let the boat drift and sit under the shade and drink a bottle of water or Gator aide and cool down and then go back out and troll again. I am not trying to be macho but the warm sun makes the old bones feel better. I always have plenty of water, gator aide or coffee on the boat. Nothing will spoil a fishing trip faster than someone getting to much sun. EB

[gabowman]

I was turned on by a fellow CDCer and also a great friend to longlining back in the late winter/early spring month of Feb this year. Even that early in the year we pulled lines AND caught a decent mess of fish. So with that, I set my boat up with rod holders, rods and reels, and a new trolling motor (I-pilot). I began longlining learning what did/did not work and couldnt get enough. I followed the crappie from deep water to the banks and now back out to deep water.

The thing about my experience of longlining is that nobody told me exactly what you could do and couldnt do (the rules of longlining). Therefore I started in the deeper water pulling double 1/16th jigs on each line and continued doing this into the spawn. Once the fish got into a couple feet of water I changed to single jigs. Until then I was still fishing the two jigs per line but I didnt have them more than a rods length out the back of the boat to keep 'em shallow.

As the spawn ended the fish started moving back off the banks, first towards the 5'-10' depths which the single 1/16ths did great at. Later on as the water warmed I started adding splitshot to the lines and putting longer lines off the back of the boat to get the jigs deeper and even today I'm still catching ALOT of crappie with this technique. Fish are holding in the lake I'm fishing in the 20' depths. During the early morning hours I troll at faster speeds with less line out the reel (to run the jigs shallower) in the 8'-10' range and after the sun rises and the fish moves to within a foot or so off the bottom I slow the troll some and feed out more line until I'm dragging bottom. I reel back in a few feet or speed up slightly to keep the jigs just off the bottom in the flats and am still catching limits of fish. My last two trips (this week...as I am retired) have produced a limit of 30 crappie each day. And that was fishing the cool morning hours from daylight until 10:3AM of the latest.

As most longliners know, you can catch ALOT of fish pulling jigs. And as far as I am concerned this method has worked far better than any other way I have ever fished for crappie. Fellows, I'm telling ya, if you want to catch fish...and alot of them...talk it up with fellow crappie.commers and learn the art of longlining. Experiment with your equipment and try things slap off the wall. There are no written rules....just do what works. This time of the year you practically have the whole lake to yourself. I guess the majority of the local crappie fishermen thinks crappie fishing is either night time only during the hotter months or spring time only (during the spawn) but I'm telling ya...theyre still out there and still biting almost as good as ever. Now...quit making excuses and get out there and fill some coolers. Especially now during the summer months, the morning hours are the best times of the day!

["G"]

July fishing...I try to beat the heat by taking plenty of water and Gatoraid with me. Always use a good sun screen. I have my boat rigged with two 64 inch golf umbrellas to keep some of the suns rays off of me. I like to push crankbaits on some of the lakes near me that are too small to pull crankbaits on. I run them off the front of the boat like a spider rig. I rig up with one ounce weights with the swivel and crankbait 30 inches below it. I normally run them from 12 to 15 ft. deep in 20-25 FOW. This method makes it a lot easier to control the lines and also give you the opportunity to make tighter turns than you can make pulling. This is a great method of crappie fishing and as Forest Gump says.....ya never know what your gonna get....and this is true because you can catch about anything this way. I like to keep the trolling motor set on number three and the movement of the boat has a cooling effect if there is not any breeze blowing. Remember to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and Gatoraid even if you do not feel thirsty. Take advantage of fishing in the shade when you can and just take care not to overheat....a few fish is not worth it. Have fun and stay safe....hope to see you on the water.

["G"]

Forgot to post the pic, LOL.

[jeepguyjames]

We are fairly new to the whole summer fishing for crappie thing to be honest, but thanks to a little trial and error and a lot of reading on crappie.com were getting the hang of it.

When I say we I am referring to my fishing partner and my best friend, my 10 year old son Luke. Last year one of our best days came on a 90 plus degree day long lining crankbaits and roadrunners in August. Close to one year later we still talk about it like it was just yesterday, its a memory that will last a lifetime. We stopped counting at 100 crappie pulled in and had enough in the cooler in a short amount of time for several good meals. Another one of our best memories happened earlier that summer, June to be honest, I had the thrill of watching Luke land his biggest crappie to date while once again trolling crankbaits and roadrunners, he caught a beautiful 15 inch white crappie on a 200 series bandit. Now I have netted a lot of fish in my life, but none more memorable than his crappie, the look of Joy and excitement that ran across his face, and the high fives that spontaneously happened when we boated that fish will forever be burnt in to my memory.

We have learned a lot about crappie fishing in the summer months thanks in big part to a lot of helpful people on this very web site, but more importantly we have learned a lot about each other thanks in huge part to our time together crappie fishing. The thing we have learned about crappie fishing in the summer months is that it pays to be versatile in your techniques. in the summer months we have had success long line trolling crankbaits, roadrunner crappie thunders, tubes, and twisty tail grubs. Slow vertical trolling double minnow/jig rigs. Casting jigs, counting them down to a certain depth and reeling them back at a steady pace. even dead sticking stingers or slip floating minnows right on top of brush piles or structure has produced for us. We aren't professionals at all of these methods, or any of them to be honest, but we are willing to listen to advice from anyone who chases crappie in the summer months and apply it to our summer fishing trips.

We are willing to search the threads of crappie.com, and any other information we can get our hands on. in short we are willing to be versatile, willing to listen, willing to share anything we can, and willing to learn. Learn about not only summer time crappie fishing, but learn about the important things in life through the time we spend together pursuing crappie.

If you are reading this I want to encourage you to take any and every opportunity that presents its self to take your child, father, or any other loved one that's important to you and spend some time together on the water. Yes if you take your young one, it may cost you some fish, and yes you may spend time un-tangling amazing messes made out of fishing line. You may even have to take them some toys and let them play until you hook one then let them reel it in. It may not be a hard core day of slab chasing, but I assure the memories you have the potential to make together far outweigh any crappie that you may not catch because your busy un-tangling a mess, or digging a hook out of your boat carpet.

My son and I always wear our swiming trunks during our summer trips, once a trip, we pull all the lines in and head over to the beach, beach the boat and do some swiming together. Yea I would much rather be out chasing the crappie than swiming, espically when the bites real good. But its not all about me, its about having fun and making memories with my son, and if it takes swiming for an hour while we could be fishing than that's what I will do. I have learned that there is nothing more rewarding than watching my son have a good time, and being blessed enough to share it with him. By doing little things like the beach my son has found a great love for crappie fishing and the outdoors in general. I don't say this to toot my own horn, or boast about being a good dad, I say it to encourage you, the reader to take the time and make some memories with your loved ones through your passion of fishing.

Some of the best conversations my son and I have ever had has been on the boat trolling around for crappie. When we are out there its like the whole world stands still, it doesent matter what's going on at my job, or what bill is due when, or what major news event is going on, right at that moment its him and I in a boat sharing quality time.

Now I would be lying if I said its all a benefit to him. Its very much a rewarding and memorable experience every time out for me also. I gain an insight as to who my son really is. What he likes, what he doesent like. We share stories. He teaches me things, and I get the privilege of teaching him somthing from time to time. Most importantly we bond as a father and a child, and as friends. When I'm gone from this world he will always have the memories that we make out there. Like priceless treasures he will always have a part of me and I will always have a part of him all because we took the time to catch a few crappie together.

Don't miss your chance to do the same with the ones you love, and what better time than a nice summer day to do it? So I guess my best advice I can come up with when it comes to summer time crappie fishing is take your children or a loved one out and make it more about the time together than the fish you pursue.

Below are a few pictures of some of our summer time adventures. I can honestly close my eyes with out even looking at them and see them in my mind plain as day, even relive the moments we shared together those days. Do your self a favor and get out there and make some memories, they are priceless treasures that you will always hold dear. Thank you for taking the time to read this, God bless.

Luke and his biggest crappie to date from 6/8/09




Luke at the ramp after the 100 plus fish day in august last year 8/7/09


A funny moment from a few weeks ago, we snagged this near the tail while trolling crank baits, the rest of the day Luke would say now remember dad we are crappie fishing, not carp fishing....then just laugh. 7/2/2010


Luke and his biggest bluegill to date from this year 6/5/2010


Luke from just a few weeks ago after a fun day of trolling (same day as the carp battle royal) 7/2/10

[Chadku]

Summer Doldrums ?! I don't think so! Summer is my favorite time to fish for slabs thanks to ole Crappie Chatt! The hotter the better.

In the summer here in Kansas the crappie really like to relate to standing timber in shallow water. There is no need for fishing deep water, spider rigging or pulling cranks. Although they all produce fish this time of year dippin standing timber is my favorite way to target some big slabs.When I say shallow I mean that 4-12' range with 6-10' being the sweet spot most of the time. I will focus on flats off the creek channels with standing timber. Dont pass up any tree, big or small. Sometimes the smaller ones will hold that 1 big fish. You will not typically find schools of fish doing this, but pull 1-3 ish off a tree at a time. The stumps just under water are always good!

My go to tactic is a 1/32 crappie pro jighead with an oversized hook tipped with a minner through the nose. I really think that the 1/32 makes a difference as it allows the minner to swim more freely. But if you have high winds you may need to go up in size. The key here is to be patient. Not every fish is going to give you that THUMP! Actually a lot of them will do 1 of 3 things. Many times while lowering it down you will feel a tic tic tic. Some times it feels like your minner is really lively, but the key here is to stop and wait. Your line will either go slack, move off to the side or your rod will bend over and Chatt refers to that as the tic tic tug.

There are times that plastic is better or the fish are real agressive and will hit minners or plastic. With the plastic you will get more of your thump bites than the tic tic tug. But minners seem to work a little better in the heat of the summer. When I am using plastic my go to baits are 2" YUM Beavertails and Vibra King tubes with my favorite color being black and pink with a yellow chartruse crappie pro jig head. I do also have luck with the Bobby Garland Slab Slayers, Crappie Pro Wasshoppa's and 2.5" Chapman Creek Tubes.

I used to be a 95% of the time bass fisherman. But after a trip with Chatt and experiencing this technique I have become hooked on crappie and can't wait for summer to come along. There is nothing better than pulling up that 15" fat crappie in 6' of water.:D

Here are a couple pics from a trip last July with 25 fish over 10" and 4 over 13". The fishing got better the hotter it got that day and it got up to 95 degrees!

Good Luck out there!

[Crappie Buster]

What is more enjoyable than catching a mess of crappie for the dinner table? I can’t think of much. One thing that does comes to mind is catching a mess when few others are. The 50-60 crappie anglers that are at the landing in March have now dwindled to 2 or 3.Why most people don’t fish for crappie in the summer is beyond me. I say this as someone who has just started fishing for them this year. In years past I’ve been a winter and a spring time fisherman, following the fish from the deep depths till it’s time to beat the bank with jigs. When they quit biting on the banks, we quit also, but not this year. If you get the chance this summer go out and give the crappie a try, you might like the results.

This year I set a goal for myself to catch crappie until it was time for Deer season (Aug. 15th here). So far, I’ve been fairly successful. Most days are slow and you have to fish for them, but that’s the fun in it. On my home lake, Lake Murray, the crappie make a run up the rivers (Big and Little Saluda) in the early spring to spawn. They make a run back down to bigger water in the summer time to find cooler, deeper water. Not all fish leave the rivers though as I have found out this year. There are “resident” fish that remain in the river year round and these fish can be caught with a technique called single pole jigging.

I learned about the technique from a fellow Crappie.com member as I saw him doing it and became inquisitive. It is really simple, find structure and you will find fish. Funny thing is this structure doesn’t have to be in deep water as I suspected. I have been fishing structure at all the depths the river has to offer. Structure that I have been fishing include: tree tops, stickups, bridges, and docks. I have not put any brush out and have not fished any man-made brush.

The key to this method is finding structure with a purpose. I look for logs on humps adjacent to the river, logs in creek channels off the river, tree tops that have fallen into the river channel, and docks that are near the river channel. One thing to keep in mind is that depth does not play as big a role with this technique. Although it is a common assumption that you must fish deep in the summer, this technique will catch fish at all depths. My last trip out my best fish came from 4 foot of water. Think outside the box and it will pay off.

The equipment that I have been using is a 10’ B’n’M Tuff Lite pole, a Wally Marshall Tightline Special reel spooled with 4 lb Wally Marshall High Vis line, and a 1/64th oz jig. The High Vis line allows me to see the bite of the finicky crappie and stay in contact with my jig at all times. The 1/64th oz jig is very light and presents a slow presentation for the crappie. Adding a little scent such as Slab’s Minnow Sauce will help! Just drop the jig beside the cover and twitch it a few times, working it vertically so that all depths are covered. When you feel the thump, set the hook and hold on! After the first fish you’ll know why you SHOULD be crappie fishing in the dog days of summer!

Good Luck and Tight Lines to All!

The first picture is of a beautiful sunrise this summer. This site on a July South Carolina day means it’s about to start cookin’!

The second picture is of me holding two of our nicer fish from a morning trip a couple weeks ago.

The last picture is of my dad sporting his SLAB. This one was released to grow another year!

[Rat]

Summer Crappie Tactics

Once the Crappie Spawn is over and the “weekend warriors” have left the lake, die-hard Crappie anglers know this is just the beginning of great fishing. Many of the Crappie anglers I know also don’t mind catching a few White Bass or Perch either and these species can usually be caught by ‘accident’ while fishing for Summer Crappie.
The key to catching Summer Crappie is finding the fish. Easily done in the Spring when Crappie go shallow to spawn or use traditional staging areas for pre-spawn; that is why so many people fish the spawn for Crappie. Admittedly, looking out over a large expanse of deep, open water and guessing where they are can be a bit disheartening. In the paragraphs to follow you will learn how to “narrow” the water and then use good techniques to find the fish.

Find The Fish

I call locating the Crappie “Narrowing The Water”; we narrow the water down to where we know the fish are located. It is a two step process:
1) Finding the correct depth
2) Finding structure
But not necessarily in that order!

When I was younger I learned an important aspect of fishing for Crappie. We all know it is not cool to ask about someone’s “spot”; my Dad told me when you see someone at the ramp or dock with a nice mess of fish all you need to ask is, “How deep?” Almost everyone will answer truthfully, after all you’re not asking them for the coordinates to their spot, and in reality, this is a boat load of information. Applying this information is pretty easy. Once you know the depth Crappie are holding, whether you asked someone or found them on your own, you have eliminated ALL of the remaining water column. So if you catch fish in the 15 feet of water at a depth of 11-13 feet (IOW, fish suspended 2-4 feet off the bottom in 15 foot water) you will likely find them at this depth all over the lake; until something changes.

Crappie almost always relate to structure, and open water is no different; you just can’t usually see the treetops sticking out of the lake. Finding structure on your SONAR is pretty straightforward, if you know what it looks like on your graph. Keep in mind man made structure like PVC condos can look very different on a graph than natural structure; even though out of the water they look very similar. You may not always see the Crappie on the graph when you find structure. The best way I have found is to give it a try anyway. If you haven’t had a bite in 30 minutes move on. Remember the depth you do catch fish, or use a depth locator type reel, and use this as the starting point on other structure.

Once you have a good idea as to the depth and how they are relating to the structure you can start fine tuning your techniques. Remember, Crappie fishing is finesse fishing, bait presentation is paramount this time of year.

Techniques

Straight Lining
Simply stated, straight lining is fishing off the side of the boat straight down. But it is so much more than that. One guide says he tries to hit the Crappie in the head with the bait! IOW, he slowly moves the minnow or jig around the structure to get the bait in just the right spot to elicit a strike. Moving slowly is the key; this is not rapid jigging but very slow and deliberate probing of depth and structure.
Long Line Trolling
This is the traditional trolling technique most of us are familiar with. A number of rods are set out at various distances from the stern of the boat and trolled along. The key to long lining is to cover the right depths and works very well when structure is very far apart, fish are actively moving or you just need to cover lots of water to find the fish. If your lake holds White Bass you will probably catch a few long lining.
Slip Bobbers
Slip bobbers can be used in open water the same as we use them in protruding cover and close to banks. This method makes it very easy to hit the target depth as well as keep the bait on any part of the structure we want for a longer period of time.
For example, you could pitch a slip bobber rig over to the other side of a brush pile and slowly let the bait drift back toward the boat. This will keep the bait over the brush pile longer than just flipping the bait and letting it settle back close to the boat. Slip bobbers can also be lighted with small chemical light sticks for night fishing making for great strike indicators.
Spider Rigging
There is a reason the spider rigging is gaining in popularity – it works! Spider rigging is a slow trolling method where you “push” the bait rather than “pull” the bait like long line trolling. It entails the use of a large weight, in the ½-1 oz range, with your bait tied above it. Multiple rods are usually used and arrayed off the bow of the boat and are slowly trolled around and over structure to catch fish. Multiple rods means multiple depths can be covered quickly and once the fish are found at a certain depth all the bait can be adjusted to that depth.
Spider rigging along a brush line, over brush piles or other structure in open water is very effective.
Night Stalking
Night time fishing is the best! The sun is down, the pleasure boaters have left for the night and many times you will have most of the lake to yourself. Any of the above techniques can be used at night but you will need some specialized gear.
Lights! Above water, submersible, lanterns, glow sticks; they all work. Some better than others at different times, but any light is better than no light!
Bug repellent is mandatory, the noseeums and mosquitoes are killers at night!
A Headlight for tying knots, fetching minnows and removing that hook from your thumb.

There too many variations on baits, techniques, times, weather patterns and all the rest to cover here. Just know this, the best time to go Crappie fishing is when you have the time! Find what works and do that until it doesn’t work anymore, then try something else.

Summer Crappie fishing is a great way to fill the freezer, take the kids out or introduce some one new to fishing. You are usually not in one spot too long, catch plenty of fish and if the kids get restless just go swimming. I have caught Crappie on one side of the boat while my son swam on the other side!

[blairarnold]

Really good thread.

One suggestion is that if you are fishing in rivers or other streams with current, they can frequently be found in eddies.