Interesting bite

[Zippy]

The reason I find crappie interesting is that it is constantly changing. With all the fishing I do along with he reading and watching you would think it would be automatic to understand the fish and be able to find them fast. Yesterday I arrived at the river and went shallow, I mean it's around the spawn and that's where they will be right? Well they weren't there and after a half mile of casting the shallows I had only caught 2 fish. Frustrated I moved out of the oxbow and into the main river and decided to slow troll the edges of deep water. Started catching fish and a few good ones at that but didn't recognized the pattern. Went back shallow and slow picked a few more fish before moving back to the main river and started slow trolling again, and again started picking up fish on my way back to the dock. After one particularly large fish I decided to circle back to see what was holding that fish. I realized that there was a steep drop off from a shallow flat covered in lily pads going from 4 feet to over 12 in a steep drop off. Set myself off of this ledge and started catching. Caught 30 more fish in a little more than an hour.

Whats crazy is the sun was high and the wind was light with zero cloud cover when I arrived. Why I headed to shallows in these conditions makes no sense to me now and I hope that I remember this lesson in the future. What I learned is don't head shallow as a routine if weather, pressure and wind conditions say otherwise. Even spawning fish are moving and will retreat to deeper water in bright sun and no wind. This all might be elementary to more experienced crappie fishermen but was a valuable lesson for me.

Here is a shot of my buddy with a nice one from the drop off

[Iwannafish]

Interesting lesson there.... It is very easy to fall into a habit, and then expect it to work every time. It is spring, and the fish are "supposed" to be shallow, but you have to be flexible to catch fish consistently. You figured it out and that is a lesson worth remembering. BTW, that is something I have to work on as well.....

[Locator79]

Fish and learn.......never gets old...

[Zippy]

Thanks for the replies. Fishing for over 40 years and still learning. We have a friend that is amazed that we are able to put together good catches on tough days. He'll ask what we're using where we are fishing etc. Next time I see him he will say he wasn't able to catch anything but a couple of small ones. I'll ask what he was using and where he was fishing, his response is always the same "I fished in 3 feet of water and tried worms, and minnows" totally disregarding my advice everytime. Some people don't learn or don't want to learn.

[Gabepeeps]

I read how people will catch them really well with a certain color like solid pink. Well, on my lake, pink won't bring you a bite if you hooked the fish with your hands. Sometimes have to go through 10-15 colors before I find one they really like. It's trial and error. If a certain color or tactic worked everytime, we wouldn't be on CDC.

[bugman]

It's a great feeling when that light bulb goes off in your head those kind of lessons will always stick with you....good work.

[cpd21]

we are all still learning....every day....right now on Eufaula we are getting humbled....it has been tough and the spawn should be on.....but no hotspots on the lake at all....so we are racking our brains trying to find fish differently than we have in the past. Its hard not doing what was always successful previously.

[EnonEye]

Nice post and timely seeing as how tomorrow will be my 1st time on the water for crappie this year. Conditions will be just as you wrote, calm winds, hot and sunny. Our fish here should also be shallow and spawning taking place but I won't hesitate to troll the deep side of the water as you suggested. Will post results Monday. Nice pic also.