Hi Paul:
Welcome to the board
Crappie will be in the shallow waters in the spring to spawn. That is due to the time of the year, the amount of sunlight and rising water temps. Also crappie will be shallower in the mornings and evenings and maybe at night.
I doubt that we will ever really know why crappie suspend as specific depths. We can guess as to the reason. Factors that we look at are as follows:
Water Clarity
Light Penetration depth
Water Temp
Dissolved Oxygen Content
Thermoclines
Structure (Fishing Facts Defination 1970's as per Buck Perry)(dropoffs are a good example or a ditch or river channel bend.
Prey Fish Location
Cover on Structure ( Weeds, Submerged Trees, Stumps, Rocks and man made cover)
Depth of the lake
Water Quality
Lets look at the prey species first. Crappie eat a lot of different organisms thoughout their life cycle. Each prey species also has it's own life cycle. So I think that by studying the life cycles of the prey species we may be able to help zero in on the crappie. Where are your kids when the Pizza is ready? They will near the pizza Right? So crappie should also be near the food source if they want to survive. Crappie can survive a week without eating and then gorge themselves when they find food.
There are many things that crappie eat. Minnows, Aquatic Insects, Terresterial Insects, young of the year fish that have just hatched out.
My captive crappie eat minnows from 1/4" long up to 2.5" long and have at times had two minnows sticking out of their mouths at one time. Crappie don't hang onto dead minnows very long. They will inhale a dead minnow and immediately spit it back out. It must taste bad as they won't eat a dead minnow. I have feed my crappie dead minnows over the last year and they refuse to eat them. Must be bacteria or something that make the dead minnows smell and taste bad.
I wish that there was more information published about the different prey species. I am not that versed in this subject but wish I knew much more.
I have read that some tiny microinvertibrates migrate vertically in the water column. The crappie may follow these invertibrates up and down in the water column or it may be that the minnows are following these microinvertibrates and the crappie are following the minnows. Either way it may explain why the crappie are suspended in the water.
Your lake sounds like the water is very clear. Lots of highland lakes like the ones you describe are not very fertile as compared to a lowland reseviour that has lots of farmland in the drainage area.
If the crappie are at 30ft deep then you might want to get a devise that lets you measure how much line you have out. Add some good heavy weights to the bottom of the line and tie the jigs up from the bottom on the fishing line about 18" or more. Use a palmar knot and leave a long tag line to attach the weights to the end of the tag line. You might even use several jigs one above the other. Another method would be to troll the ledges using a deep diving crank bait. Buck Perry makes baits called spoonplugs and they come in different sizes which dive to different depts. You can troll those behind the boat to help get down deep and to see if you can locate active crappie. Some guys even tie a small jig to the treble hooks on the crank baits. They use monofilament line and tie the jig back from the treble hooks. Leave a foot of line between the two baits. This is a trick I read about many years ago in the Herters Hunting Guide book. It's an old trick but some say that it really works.
If you are trolling you can measure how much fishing line you have out and note when the lure hit the bottom. If you are in an area of known depth you can adjust the boat speed so that the lure is riding just above the bottom. Right down the boat speed and amount of line out for each different depth or just adjust the boat speed or amount of line that you have out to keep in touch with the bottom. Once you get the lure to run at 30ft then go out into the deeper water where the crappie are suspended and troll though them at the right speed. If they are there they may hit the bait. I fish a small stipper pit that has plenty of fishing pressure. It's fished hard almost every day by many people. But one guy caught a 13" crappie on a crank bait while fishing for bass. I normally catch lots of crappie in this pit but they are normally much smaller. I am going to set up to start trolling as this pit is good for that type of fishing. If you locate the crappie at 30ft mark the spot with a GPS unit or a bouy. If you catch more than one fish you can slow troll though the area with just a jig set at 30ft.
I wonder if the amount of rainfall in your area has been less than normal over the last few year. I have read that the west is in a dry spell. Some say it's the worst dry spell since the last 500 years. Maybe your lake's water level is low and the fish have moved to new areas.
They make reels that have line counters on them now. Might want to invest in those. Or if you have a 30ft long boat you can measure out 30ft of line and then put a mark on the line. Measure out 30ft of line from the end of the rod tip and then put a ink mark on the line at the reel using a magic marker. Use different colors for different depths. Then when you are fishing you can let out line until you see the marks.
Originally Posted by ID_Paul