Catching Prespawn Crappie - by Brad Wiegmann

For many anglers it’s been a long, cold winter. Icy temperatures and muddy water has kept them off the lake, but that’s all changing. The longer, warmer days mean crappie will be moving towards prespawn locations and anglers venturing out to catch them.



Professional crappie angler and Bobby Garland Crappie Baits pro staffer Jeff Schwieterman welcomes the change of season. “During the prespawn period crappie fishing, I look for pathways that crappie use to begin moving shallow to spawning areas. The pathways are structure and ledges that crappie will stage on before continuing on to shallow water for spawning,” revealed Schwieterman.


Often these pathways are located around the mouth of a feeder creek or somewhere along the creek channel. Schwieterman will search both shallow and deep water fishing for prespawn crappie. “I have found out over the years that the male crappie will hold in the shallower water while the female crappie tend to stay in the deeper water during the prespawn period,” divulged Schwieterman.


When fishing for prespawn crappie, Schwieterman will fish the north end of the reservoir moving to the south end as the water warms up. Temperature plays a part in where Schwieterman fishes for crappie during the prespawn. “Basically, I am looking for the crappie to move up shallow into prespawn locations once the water temperature rises up to 58 degrees,” noted Schwieterman.


Another factor that will influence where Schwieterman fishes during prespawn is water clarity. Since warm water temperatures will move crappie to prespawn habitat, Schwieterman is searching for the warmest water temperatures. “Early in the year stained or muddy water will heat up quicker compared to clear water. So, I will purposely fish in stained or muddy water knowing this will have staging prespawn crappie,” pointed out Schwieterman.



Schwieterman focuses much of his time fishing for crappie during the prespawn period in the mouth of creek, creek channels and bridges. The technique he uses depends on the cover or structure. For open water situations, Schwieterman uses a spider rig. When Schwieterman is fishing around bridges, brush piles or cover, he uses a single pole rig.


A typical spider rig that Schwieterman uses during prespawn consist of eight 14-foot BnM Pro-Staff Trolling rods rigged with 6-pound test Sufix Siege monofilament fishing line. On four of the rods, Schwieterman will have Caps and Coleman minnow rigs that are baited with live minnows. The other four rods have a double rig consisting of either a 1/8- or 3/16-ounce Bobby Garland Mo’Glo Glow-in-the-Dark jig heads (www.Bobbygarlandcrappie.com) with the top jig head being rigged with a Bobby Garland Baby Shad or Bobby Garland Minnow Mind’r and bottom Mo’Glo jig head with a Bobby Garland Slab Dock’r or 3-inch Bobby Garland Slab Slay’r.




To find prespawn crappie, Schwieterman will stagger the depths of the lures. He will begin with the bottom lure bumping the bottom then change them moving the lures farther away from the bottom. Once Schwieterman begins catching prespawn crappie, he will set all the rods to that depth.


His single pole set up for fishing bridges, brush piles or cover consist of a 10-foot ProAnlger Tackle jigging rod rigged with 8-pound test Sufix Siege monofilament fishing line. Similar to a spider rig, he will use a double rig set up with 16-inches of line separating the two Bobby Garland Mo’Glo Glow-in-the-Dark jig heads with a 3/16-ounce jig head with a Bobby Garland Slab Dockt’r or Bobby Garland 3-inch Slab Slay’r on the bottom and a 1/8-ounce jig head with either a Bobby Garland Baby Shad or Bobby Garland Minnow Mind’r on the top.


Again, Schwieterman will stage the depth of the jigs until he starts catching crappie with a single pole. While he will stagger the depth with a single pole, Schwieterman will intentionally bump the lures into cover with a single pole rig to initiate a crappie to strike.


Lure color for the spider or single pole rig depends on water clarity during the prespawn period. Schwieterman uses contrasting colors with his jig heads and lures. He believes that contrasting colors will result in more strikes when crappie fishing.


Crappie anglers searching for prespawn crappie have several options when it comes to techniques. A spider rig allows an angler to crappie fish in open water focusing on pathways where crappie will stage before moving back to spawn. An angler can also use a single pole set up around bridges, brush piles or cover to catch prespawn crappie. Either way it’s a welcome period with spring just around the corner and crappie moving towards shallower water.