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Thread: Do crappies really school around shoreline?

  1. #1
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    Default Do crappies really school around shoreline?


    As of crappies behavior that trend to school together, do they still school when hunting especially close to shoreline?
    as I got a lot of recommend to move around when fishing for crappies, fan casting if you don’t find it move to other spot, so on and so forth, and if you find one then you would find a whole pack. This is not my case, not usually but quite often.
    Last night I was searching for crappies at new spot. I caught one with bobbers about 3’ down. I immediately cast to same spot and around the area with no more bite. This is shallow beach area with close by deep drop off to 20’. I fan casting the whole beach got a couple of bite but no landing until I got close by rock pile I got my largest bluegill.
    Anyone care to explain?

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    Maybe a Scout looking for new territory..for school...LOL ...sorry I got no answer

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    I think they do. A couple of lakes I fish they seem to move through in groups. If you happen to get there at the right time you can slew them, miss them and you might catch one of two stragglers. I've seen it many times when shore fishing. Hit a spot and nothing and bam the school moves through and you can't keep 2 poles in the water than nothing. I think they are following the schools of bait.

    A good example was last year while ice fishing I watched 2 guys set up tip ups in a long line, maybe 200 yards long. When one flag went off one guy would run to it and the other would run to the next flag to wait for the school moving through. The 2 guys must have run close to 3 miles in a half door of snow. Seen it many times with other species of fish also.

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    Usually Crappie do not school around the shoreline. If you do find a concentration of fish along the shore, its usually in the spring and due to some type of feature; ie. sandy bank, rock pile, grass line or lay down. Crappie mostly school in the summer months in open water under balls of shad or they relate to deep water structure like stumps, drop-offs and brush piles.
    Only need three more years before I can think like a fish.

  5. #5
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    A few years ago, a member friend and I caught 36 cookie-cutter 12 inch black crappie males in one hour. We were longline trolling thru an area the size of a living room no more than 20 yards off a shallow bank at a small point that came out from 5 feet deep to 9 feet on the bottom. These fish were staging for spawning.

    I would say you would be much more likely to catch groups of black crappie near shore but around cover like a blow-down tree or weed bed.
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  6. #6
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    I can see them school in Spring or spawning period, I caught them almost every cast.
    Now it is getting hot in SoCal water temp over 70 and they are spreading around. Some evening I catch them some don’t. Normally i would wait for sign of shad to show and hit them with bobbers or 1/32oz jig head. The window is really shot it last less than hour compare to before all evening till night time.

  7. #7
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    If a bait school is on the bank the crappie will be there in numbers , if the bait school moves so will they . I have hammered crappie close to the bank when it wasn’t near a spawn only to have them leave following the bait that brought them there.
    They follow bait schools with gusto and will be gone with bait as fast as they get there .
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