Which Area to Fish?

[Duck Dogs]

I am a novice crappie fisherman but I am going to give it a try this weekend. I found a cove on the map that I want to try. In the mouth of the creek it has some rip rap next to a marina with a lot of boat slips that are adjacent to deep water and plus has shallow areas on the banks. The back of the cove is shallow water that also has a little rip rap. My question is what area do you think would be the best area to fish? The area next to the marina has more structure and various depths of water to fish however I have heard that crappie tend to spawn in the back of the coves opposed to mouths of coves where the marina is located. I assume the crappie could spawn in the shallows next to the marina but did not know for sure.

[TXcrappiefan]

Coves are always a prime place when the crappie start spawning. Depending on the lake you are in I would start shallow and then work your way deep. Boat slips are not bad, look for the ones with the crappie lights on them.

[TwainGang]

Kind of hard to tell- you live in Alaska or Florida- or somewhere in between? Where crappi elive is dependent on seasons and water temperature.

[Locator79]

Where do you live? If the fish are on the spawn, you can probably catch them around just about any wooded cover.

[DC Crappie Kid]

Follow the creek channel. When the fish move shallow, they use the channel like a highway. If it feeds into the lake, run up it during the spawn and you'll find crappie. If it fades out in the shallows, fan out and try shallow structure/cover near the end of the channel. This doesn't work year-round, but this time of year it should be your best option (like others said, when the spawn hits depends on your location).

[Smoky]

I'd love to give you some advise, but need more information from you. When you first come onto Crappie.com there's some good articles that my help you. Tight Lines!

[Duck Dogs]

I live in North Texas. The fish are starting to spawn in the area lakes so they are shallow. I just don’t know if I should try to fish the shallow water in the mouth of the cove that is adjacent to deep water and has a lot of structure or will the fish go to the shallow water in the back of the cove to spawn. The back of the cove is just a large flat. Again the area in the mouth of the cove has the most structure to fish but I didn’t know if the fish would abandon this when the spawn for the shallow flat in the back of the cove (about 1/8 mile away).