Fall pattern

[no1son]

Fall pattern is on up here for shoreline fishermen.

Most docks hold some crappies and they tend to school up on the deep end, going down to at the bottom in 20' of water or so, laying there in the dock shadow.

We have been taking good numbers of average fish jigging tiny, deep and very slow, mostly very slow vertical retrieve. As 'witching hour' comes on (when the sun hits the tree tops in the west) bite starts to move up the water column and then in towards the weed line. Best size is generally about dark. It takes a light line and a little patience to get 1/32 down that deep, and often it doesn't make it due to greeters coming up to meet it just like when ice fishing. Others take on the bottom, just there when one first tightens the line, others follow, again in both cases just like through the ice.

This year's color seems to be white or pearl. The little Mr Twisters in those colors have been dependable for us in this type of vertical fishing, and continue to be. Also some of the inch and a half Lil Hustlers have been very productive. Smaller baits have produced the best numbers. The crappies are not actively chasing, pretty lethargic in general, with very few solid strikes, mostly little more than extra weight on the line or a tap with or without the the up bite. We have had quite a few quick spits and bite short of the hook this fall, too, especially on the larger tails.

Clear lines have produced best for us this year, and that conclusion comes from a number of side by side tests with both yellow and green hi vis lines.

Carp bite has slacked off, but some are still being taken. Only two last Tuesday evening for me but one was 29". There was also a bonus channel cat of about 3 or 4 pounds on the oatmeat. It has gotten to be a little too much sitting around for me; so we have gone back to working the dock crappies.

Work at 5 in the morning. Sleep now.

[IMFSHN]

For the last week, I've been watching them leave alone a tight-lined jig that is dropping diagonally, and multiple fish at a time, nailing vertically dropping jigs. Lots of nice fish coming in at around 6:45pm to the second (deeper) weed line. The Smocking at the top of the water is happening at about 8:00pm. The Smockers are the crappies, the boilers tend to be the bass.

[no1son]

One thing we generally do is try to find out whether the crappies, on any given day, want lateral or vertical movement and then how much, at what speed, and how much pause might be needed along the way. Not only does that tend to vary from season to season it will vary from outing to outing, even with different size fish requiring different presenations at the same place. During the winter, through the ice, all you can do is vertical for the most part, but that also tends to work all year around, sometimes better with some lateral movement sometimes not. On the docks and along walls I always start dead slow and vertical, and branch out from there if necessary, or if I get curious, I may include some casting even in the middle of a good vertical bite, especially if I am not satisfied with the size.

One thing I learned on the ice, is to look for that "point on the point". You often don't need to be off much to get blanked.

[P-row]

Very interesting no1son. I love learning anything I can about crappie fishing. You seem to always have good insight and tips to share. Being here in N. Ill. I get the great pleasure to ice fish also. I feel the same that summer and winter tactics do overlap each other. Your "point on the point" is one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle I have discovered in my years of chasing crappie. Thanks for sharing.....

[Bob/MN]

We are still experiencing the summer pattern I my area. The water temps are still in the 70s and the lakes still have a heavy thermocline.
The weeds and shallows are still abundant with bait fish.
I crappie fished a lake last week and the fish were in 6-10 FOW feeding on minnows. With the warm water I used action jigs(twister and paddle tails). These lures produced a nice limit of 11-13 inch slabs.
With the cooler nights it should not be to long when the water temps hit the mid 50s and the lakes turn over. Then the crappie fishing gets even better.

[no1son]

This past week we ran into crappies from on the bottom in 20' to on top at the weedline, all off one dock in a single afternoon. Nothing concentrated, just a fish or two here and a couple there. We had to move around quite a bit to keep the bite going. Baits ranged from 2" twisters to inch and a half lil hustlers and rat-tailed shads, fished at a number of speeds. Color of bait mattered. Smaller size of tail was more productive, too. It seems like we are finding smaller separate pods of moving fish instead of a concentrated bite. But we are also seeing a lot of minnows and fry; so the eaters can't be very far away.

Hoping for a good soaking rain this weekend. Fresh water from any runoff should pick things up. It has been quite a while since we had new rain water of any quantity around here.

[Bob/MN]

A friend of mine and I did some lake hopping for crappies last week. The water temp ranged from 61 to 63 degrees. Most of the fish both gills and crappies were in 6 to 12 feet of water. One exception was a lake with some sort of hatch going on(Small fly like bugs all over the surface) The crappies were in 22 feet of water lurking over a mud bottom. The bite was extremely lite and we missed several bites. We did boat some nice slabs in the 11 to 13 inch range. 1/16 and 1/8 once inside head 1 1/2 inch tube jigs did the trick.

[Bob/MN]

With the water temp at 60 degrees the panfish are still up in the weed beds 6 to 12 FOW. We did encounter a few pods of fish roaming the flats in 20 FOW.
We used a slow tolling presentation with a 1/8 once jig tipped with power bait for the deep pods. The shallow presentation was a small home tied 1/32 once jig fished under a balanced bobber. Power bait was used to scent the jigs.