How to locate and catch summer time cappie...

[Wade2131]

Plenty of sucess during the spring and then nothing thru the summer except the nite bite, which is great, but I would like suggestions on locating crappie in summer patterns and then catching them. Methods such a long line trolling and pulling crank baits are options, but I normally spider rig.

[M R Dux]

I typically troll Bandits in most of the same areas I would be looking for crappie in the winter time, along secondary channel drops or main channel ledges that have scattered cover. I catch most of my summer fish CLOSE to cover but not right in it. Look for suspended schools of crappie in these areas holding right under bait clouds. I think speeding your presentation up over spider rig speeds triggers a reaction bite. I run 1.5-1.8 trolling Bandits. Current will be your friend in the summer.

[Rip a Lip]

Check out the pulling cranks 101 thread on the Mississippi board

[Donald@CrappieLogic]

Check out the pulling cranks 101 thread on the Mississippi board

x2 world of knowledge right there

[backtocrappie]

To be perfectly honest I see little difference on summer vs spring vs fall except for depth. In in spring they're shallow, in summer they tend told right on the thermocline and tight to structure. The main thing I do in summer is fish shade and low light conditions. My last trip had me baffled while trying to cover a big lake I'm fairly new to. I opted for bridges and rules of thumb and it paid off.