• Summer Doldrums ?

    I don't think so! Summer is my favorite time to fish for slabs thanks to ole Crappie Chatt! The hotter the better.

    In the summer here in Kansas the crappie really like to relate to standing timber in shallow water. There is no need for fishing deep water, spider rigging or pulling cranks. Although they all produce fish this time of year dippin standing timber is my favorite way to target some big slabs.When I say shallow I mean that 4-12' range with 6-10' being the sweet spot most of the time. I will focus on flats off the creek channels with standing timber. Dont pass up any tree, big or small. Sometimes the smaller ones will hold that 1 big fish. You will not typically find schools of fish doing this, but pull 1-3 ish off a tree at a time. The stumps just under water are always good!
    My go to tactic is a 1/32 crappie pro jighead with an oversized hook tipped with a minner through the nose. I really think that the 1/32 makes a difference as it allows the minner to swim more freely. But if you have high winds you may need to go up in size. The key here is to be patient. Not every fish is going to give you that THUMP! Actually a lot of them will do 1 of 3 things. Many times while lowering it down you will feel a tic tic tic. Some times it feels like your minner is really lively, but the key here is to stop and wait. Your line will either go slack, move off to the side or your rod will bend over and Chatt refers to that as the tic tic tug.

    There are times that plastic is better or the fish are real aggressive and will hit minners or plastic. With the plastic you will get more of your thump bites than the tic tic tug. But minners seem to work a little better in the heat of the summer. When I am using plastic my go to baits are 2" YUM Beavertails and Vibra King tubes with my favorite color being black and pink with a yellow chartruse crappie pro jig head. I do also have luck with the Bobby Garland Slab Slayers, Crappie Pro Wasshoppa's and 2.5" Chapman Creek Tubes.

    I used to be a 95% of the time bass fisherman. But after a trip with Chatt and experiencing this technique I have become hooked on crappie and can't wait for summer to come along. There is nothing better than pulling up that 15" fat crappie in 6' of water.

    Here are a couple pics from a trip last July with 25 fish over 10" and 4 over 13". The fishing got better the hotter it got that day and it got up to 95 degrees!

    Good Luck out there!

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