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Thread: Where and how to catch Crappie now

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Where and how to catch Crappie now


    I have caught Crappie in the spawn, but once the spawn is over where and whats the best way to catch them in a lake? I was thinking of trying minnows in cover, But I assume they will be deeper in the late spring and summer.

  2. #2
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    the crappie usually move out to the feeding area they haunt for the summer, bluffs, trees, brush piles, logs close to the banks, mouth of coves, usually any where you find bait fish your going to find crappie, in the hot of the summer here in missouri, I find crappie in 5fow or less, up the creeks, and back of coves, also find lots of crappie on creek channels some times in the channel and sometimes just to the edge in the shallow areas, always check brush piles, or stake beads, boat docks are awsome also, crappie like shade and move in and out, so if you dont find them first hour or two look close to where you know they are and you will find them. good luck

  3. #3
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    Try boat docks , especially the larger boat houses. They provide a lot of shade and food.

  4. #4
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    The fish are done spawing for the most part on the lake I fish and I have been having good luck trolling crank baits out in the middle of big spawing coves. There are a lot of fish suspended out in 20-35ft of water recovering from the spawn and they will hit the cranks. They don't seem to be relating to any type of cover just bait fish and loafing. Good way to cover a lot of water and get several baits down at one time.
    Fish like your hungry!

  5. #5
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    ditto on the above post about crankbaits.

    on the small lakes and creeks, i haven't had much luck since the peak spawn which seemed to occur a month ago.

    but today i went and caught over 20...and 10 were keepers by anyone's standards. they weren't biting really fast or one after another like the spawn...but once i found out what they were biting, i was able to catch 10 really nice ones.

    i caught the keepers on a strike king bitsy minnow in "sexy shad" color. they were in deeper water than they were during spawn and almost all strikes came with the little crank bait at about 1 ft below the surface using a slow retrieve.

    i tried the usual jigs which had worked before (mainly road runners and southern pros) chartreuse, black/orange, red, etc. with no luck. had nibbles and caught a couple of really small ones.

    if you haven't tried a small crankbait like the strike king bitsy minnow, you might want to pick a few up and give them a try. be warned that you will catch bass on this lure too (and bream). i was on a bream bed last week and caught a 3 lb. bass using this bait. it was almost more than my ultra light spinning combo could take.

  6. #6
    gabowman is offline Super Moderator * Crappie.com Supporter
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    The fish move back out on the same pattern that they come in on, just in reverse. I know the days are getting hot and the surface temps are rising on the water but the water is still plenty cool underneath the surface yet so the fish havent moved too far. Do some searching around the creek channels back away from the banks you usually catch them on during the spawn. Try looking in the 10'-15' deep waters first. I'm still catching quite a few in 6'-8' deep water right now longlining.
    Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

  7. #7
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    Default Night Stalk

    An alternate method you may want to try is night fishing. I usually get on the lake about an hour before dark. Go to the deeper water (12 -25') adjacent to where you were catching them during the spawn and anchor down, put out a couple of submersible lights (qbeams work good), and set out a couple of poles with #2 hooks and a medium size split shot about 12" from the hook. Keep your graph on and you can see where the bait is and how deep the crappie are holding. Once you start catching crappie, just keep your lines at that depth and change up depths once the bite stops. You should catch plenty slabs using this method right now. Oh, another tip, don't ever fish at night during a full moon or during a bright night, or you'll be lucky to catch any. Good luck, hope you find them. Thumbs Up
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