Deep Crappies

[whitten1823]

I never had to fish for Crappie's deep in California to catch them, but here in Louisiana it's obvious that I will have to. I was fishing Vernon Lake today fish finder going crazy. Water was 30-35 ft deep and fish were 18-25 ft deep. Now I'm sure they weren't all Crappie, but I'm sure some of them were. I used 4 different colors 3, different size jig heads, with Crappie Nibbles, and without. All the fish I seen on my finder and not one fish. A few nibbles, but that's it. I was vertically jigging, and had another rod in the water just sitting. Like I said I'm new to fishing deep for Crappie's, so what am I doing wrong or what can I do better??

Thank you!!

[kbaker]

In the southern states they go deep when it gets hot.

[Danny W]

I live in Missouri and they go deep but it depends on the clarity and the thermal kline as fare as how deep. I also found that crappie in the heat of the day tend to bite the crank bait then if I get a hot spot I hit them with a live minnow. Live bait seems to work the best. I love nibblers and would rather use them but switch to the minnow shortly after the spawn. Small works best for me.

[slab-in-the-box]

In open water, they can be really hard to get to bite sometimes. Seems like they bite better if they're near some kind of structure. Cast curly tail grubs with a slow retrieve can work good sometimes in deep water. You use the count down method to determine your depth. Also, probably would have caught them using live bait on a tight line rig.

[bfish]

pull some cranks, active fish will bite, most won't be active so cover lots of water.

[Crestliner08]

Try slip bobbers. I'd drop a small 1/32 oz. jig head with a 2" Senko wacky hooked. If that doesn't turn 'em, go home!

[whitten1823]

How do you get a cranks 20-25 ft down? I have a jointed shad rap BSD Blue Shad, I think it goes down to about 8-12 ft I'm guessing.

[bfish]

How do you get a cranks 20-25 ft down? I have a jointed shad rap BSD Blue Shad, I think it goes down to about 8-12 ft I'm guessing.

Bandit Depth Chart

Other brands of cranks run deeper than bandit. Also you can push rather than pull.

[feelay]

How do you get a cranks 20-25 ft down? I have a jointed shad rap BSD Blue Shad, I think it goes down to about 8-12 ft I'm guessing.

You have to troll them with a couple 100 ft of line out.

[WhiteMeat]

If you're like me and too clumsy to longline or spider rig or handle treblehooks: I park it right over the fish and tie on a heavy jighead (~1/4 oz.) with a good skirt (whatever I think is the right size and color for the conditions) and drop it to the bottom, right down the middle of whatever cover them pomoxii are holding onto. I use a good sensitive rod so I can feel the bait hit bottom, and if I'm not sure I yo-yo it a bit to feel the jig bouncing on bottom. Then I retreive vertically real real real real real real real slow and repeat until I get a bite. If I make 3-4 retrievals without a bite, I'll try another skirt (another size or color or style may be needed). If the fish are down there they will eventually bite, it's just a matter of presentation.

But I DO NOT reel in right away on the initial bite, first I make a mark on my line (with a sharpie) where it meets the rod tip. Hopefully I've found the 'magic' depth and will want to be able to easily drop right back down to that depth. Otherwise, I may get impatient and decide on subsequent drops that, even with a 1/4 oz. head, I'm spending way too much time waiting for the bait to fall when actually it's not reaching the fish at all...

That's my best method for success on deep water crappie.