Looking for your Crappie knowledge and suggestions please.

[offthehook67]

I have been all about Walleyes for years but on my home lake there are some huge slabs. I have seen them come into our harbor. I have been searching this site for early ice out Crappies and although I have found some info here I have yet to find what I am looking for. Can anyone offer up a link or two from this site that has info as to where to look for early slabs not long after ice out on big water? Such as a 16,000 acre main lake with smaller lakes attached for a total of roughly 25,000 acres and can be as deep as 100+ FOW with the Mississippi running through it. When it gets later in May say around Memorial weekend and the water warms that is when we see them in the harbor. Up until then I struggle to find them. This year I will be going up a few days before our Walleye opener which is May 10th and I want to target some slabs for a couple of days prior to fishing eyes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

I am attaching a couple of photos. One is a screen shot of the lake I am referring to. The other is a slab that was caught in our harbor in late May. When they come into the harbor I feel it is not a challenge but my better half seems to want to sit there and catch them. I am looking for the challenges that Crappies present us and especially on big water.

[deathb4disco]

Can anyone offer up a link or two from this site that has info as to where to look for early slabs not long after ice out on big water? Such as a 16,000 acre main lake with smaller lakes attached for a total of roughly 25,000 acres and can be as deep as 100+ FOW with the Mississippi running through it. When it gets later in May say around Memorial weekend and the water warms that is when we see them in the harbor. Up until then I struggle to find them. This year I will be going up a few days before our Walleye opener which is May 10th and I want to target some slabs for a couple of days prior to fishing eyes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I betcha In-Fisherman has at least half a dozen DVDs on the subject. I would go to their site and search.

They also have a book on crappie fishing which would be worth tracking down.

[rnvinc]

Jason is a member here...he checks in from time to time...

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/

Rickie

[ifish]

You might pm plateboater. Sounds like his style.

[Hanr3]

The pattern is simple and repeats on every body of water. Crappie head for deep water in winter, they spawn in shallow water when water temps reach 60 degrees consistently. Between ice out and spawn, they move along natural structure (creeks channels, points) and cover (weed beds, fallen timber, brush piles) to the spawn beds. The trick is to figure out where the are going and which route they are taking.

HINT: Walleye eat Crappie. Crappie are food for bigger game fish, and they are the predators for smaller fish (minnows). Crappie need to stay in cover or be eaten, and they need to be near their food to survive. For their survival they need to meet both of those requirements. Spawn is coming, and they will move from deep water to shallow bays following routes that provide both cover and food.

[jigolo]

bingo deep water adjacent to the shallow spawning grounds. crappie will sit at the depth of the first drop even in a 100 foot deep lake after ice out.. so if there are multiple drops they will still be at that first drop off of the lake. this is called suspend so like said if the lake goes from 5 to 15 to 30 to 40 to 100 they will be sitting in 15 fow @30, 40 and 100 fow etc... etc ... it is not uncommon for them to be smack dab in the center of the deepest hole of the lake adjacent to the weed line adjacent means closet to it 5-20 foot down ... now reservoir lakes the fish tend to hang near structure like points river channels stumps even man made debris like pine trees and fish structures that are like pallets with 2x4 sticking strait up out of them.. etc.. etc.. if you find these mark em with the gps fish will always be around them.. by the way see if you can find the book crappie wisdom either at the local library or on some thing like half dot com or even amazon etc.. etc.. this book will be your best friend..


by the way the above was true for 30*F to 50*F now 50*F to 63*F they are in pre-spawn and come in same with spawn from 64*F to 70+*F now post spawn is like 70+*f on this is when the head deep in the lake cause they don't feel like spawning any more cause there mod soured and try to cool off. fyi those are surface temps not under water temps of the spawn grounds like your boat harbor

[Mojo700]

Skinner80 posted links to some very informative videos you can watch online for free http://www.crappie.com/crappie/showt...ght=good+video

You wont see a fish caught or even a lake in the videos, it's all classroom-style seminar, and the guys' videos are the most informative for someone who really wants to KNOW more about where to find fish and why. There's many more than the crappie videos that are worth watching too.