What did I do right/wrong, how to improve..

[Gundy]

So this morning I went out for my first ever actual 'dedicated' crappie fishing objective. I have been a pretty hardcore catfisherman this last year. But ever since my cousin took me fishing for crappie one evening we and caught a little over one mans limit in about an hour I was addicted.

I purchased a small 2-man bass boat (9.5ft long) at the end of last year with a 40lb trolling motor. I tend to stick to small lakes ( 100-150acres ) until I get more comfortable with wind and what not.

I hit a 100 acre lake up this morning for crappie. I caught around 9-12 eight to nine inch crappie. And one good sized small mouth bass. However my method for catching the crappie is rather odd to me. When I fished with my cousin, we vertically jigged a brush pile and pulled monsters out from it. This being in my mind, I equipped myself with a road runner jig and attempted some steep drop offs per the Kansas wild life website for the lake I was at. Both casting and slowly retrieving, to casting and jigging while retrieving. No luck..

I decided to try float and jig fishing. I put a bobber on one of my poles about 18-24 inches from the jig. I then tossed this pole out and went to equip one of my other poles. While I was doing this I was trolling at one speed ( slowest for my motor ). As I was getting ready to throw the second pole out, I noticed I had caught a fish on my first one. So I basically trolled up and down this embankment with float and jigging letting the waves and trolling motor do the work. I netted around 9-12 crappie as mentioned above throughout a 2 and a half hour span. I was so happy I was actually catching fish, as I have hit a few small lakes up close to home and had absolutely no luck what so ever. However my fish were pretty small.

I am not confident with my fish finder and will be posting pictures and questions in the trolling/electronics section as I believe this may be the culprit to getting bigger and more fish and targeting brush piles.

Is this method actually viable? Was I getting fish that were basically coming to the shoreline for meals? How and where could I target a school of them? After I caught a few from a location I would stop and try fishing that location but would get nothing unless I was moving up and down the embankment. I attempted to troll without the bobber, but didn't get any fish. From my initial impression, I thought after I went up and down a few times I could isolate where I was picking up fish, and try and figure out where they were coming from. But the results were random, sometimes picking up fish in the same spot, and sometimes farther up or down.

It was a pretty steep drop off from the shore line, around 6-12ft sharp drop offs. Water temperature around 58 degrees. Clear lake, 100 acres. Sunny day around 74 degrees with fog on the water in the morning.

[skeetbum]

Pond fish tend to be different than larger lake fish. I use trolling to locate fish and then slow down and change up til you find the right jig/bait/presentation. As you already have probably found out, depth is important. What doesn't work at 6 feet may nail em at 12. Sometimes they want a real slow rate of descent, which makes you go lighter and lighter til you find it. I have used 1/64 to get the fish to hit, but was steady busy once I did that. That day I saw fish but couldn't get a hit. used 1/8- nothing, 1/16- nothing, 1/32- a few smaller fish, 1/64- caught over 40 with a 15 fish limit. Sometimes, like high pressure days, the fish feed for a short period then slow down dramatically. I see fish all over my sonar but get small fish or none at all.
I could go on but I want to say that you are on the right track by knowing where to find fish, and changing tactics to generate a bite. There's no better teacher than time on the water, and no such thing as a dumb question around here. Most all of us started where you are right now. Welcome from Middle Tennessee.

[jimp]

it's always a trial and error method. What worked yesterday will not work today, nor for tomorrow. Bait color may change, may not, only the depth will, maybe a change in speed, maybe just one factor, maybe 2,3,4? you've got the right idea, try different things until you get a "thump", then do it again.

[sparkie51]

Next time this happens fish the same way you were doing but when the fish stop biting move over the deeper water. From the sounds of it you were fishing suspended fish that were making short runs to the ledge than backing off. I see that happen alk the time, sometimes even if you fish out the other side of the boat you'll get back into the bite. Each day your out fishing you'll notice something different, now next year when the conditions are the same as they were when you were out you will know what to do to catch fish. Next time you go out you'll add another tidbit to your arsenal to catch fish until one day you get real cocky, thinking that you know all, and the fish will stump you. Than the old brain will kick in and you'll remember, hey wait a minute didn't this happen before under these same conditions once before and I did this and caught fish, and boom you'll be back into fish.

[Gundy]

Next time this happens fish the same way you were doing but when the fish stop biting move over the deeper water. From the sounds of it you were fishing suspended fish that were making short runs to the ledge than backing off. I see that happen alk the time, sometimes even if you fish out the other side of the boat you'll get back into the bite. .

So basically move over to deeper water near the location I caught the ones shallow? And keep using bobber and jig, or just jig the suspended fish once I find them on the sonar?

[SuperSS27]

So basically move over to deeper water near the location I caught the ones shallow? And keep using bobber and jig, or just jig the suspended fish once I find them on the sonar?

Yep, just move to the deepest water that is near the structure because the crappie will suspend off that particular structure. Use whatever you need to to catch the fish. A slip float will allow you to adjust your depth while also letting you use a variety of jigs or presentations. You can also try small crankbaits while drifting over spots that you have marked fish. Jigs and elbow spinner combinations allows you to cover a large portion of the water column too.