Any tips for warm water crappie

[icejohn]

Posting on the ny board was my first thought but it seams like anytime you ask a question, you get an empty room.People get tightliped when it comes to tactics, or anything for that matter, and also there ant much for crappie up here. It is a shame but i could be around other fishermen at any fishing spot and bringup crappie and they are like oh you mean bluegil! So eather they are keeping it quiet or it is just not that big up here... Dont get me wrong i love ny but i need to be around the numbers you guys from the south are around . Attachment 94568By the way this is my nice that the drs say has adhd or what ever, looks like she is concentrating prety good to me.

I did reply toyou onthe ny board maybe you didn't see.it yet. I have harder time too but as I said there if you find docks near deep water try shooting under thedocks as far back as possible.
Icejohn

[GoneCrappieFishing]

I fished this pattern last weekend in 90 plus degree water, and caught tons of fish. Unfortunately, I was in a big fish tourney and it did me no good, but its 90 plus degrees and fished shallow flats same as I did last year same time on video attached. Ive caught many good ones with this pattern, this time of year. Black and White crappie as well, but more black crappie I think.

Crappie FIshing Crappie.com contest Woods Reservoir MTCC - YouTube

[arkcrappie]

72 degree water=fish could be anywhere. I may be the outlaw here, but i would start in 4-6 foot of water and try different types of cover with a jig. Most of the time, you will find that crappie will be on one type of structure (leaning logs, buckbrush, pole timber, etc) if there is plenty of cover available for them to choose from. If there is no woody cover, you may have to find a creek, submerged stumps, bridge pilings, etc. What about baitfish??? If you know where the shad are, the crappie are not far from them.

These are just some random thoughts that came to mind. Hope that helps.

[Gansett]

OK, here goes my best shot at this. I seem to do ok when crappie fishing in the hot summer months in Alabama; much better than fishing in the winter which is the most difficult time of the year for me. All I can do is pass along what I do and hope that it may work where you fish even though your water will be colder. I fish with a single pole, usually 9' or 10'. I use a small weight on the bottom of the line, sometime just a #5 split shot (maybe two of them at times). I then tie a light wire hook, with a 1/16 or 1/32 round lead head, onto a loop knot about two feet up from the split shot. Then I mostly put on a medium sized minnow, hooking it through the lips (sometimes I'll use a jig alone and other times will tip a jig with a minnow). Bottom line here is, I prefer minnows. My line is hi-vis yellow and I like the 6lb Mr. Crappie, if you can still find it. BassPro has a different brand now, it looks the same to me but I haven't used it. I look for old standing timber( the kind that may have turned grey or black and is slimy below the water) in 10' to 16' of water. I will toss my jig to my right or left and let it swing slowly down like a pendulum. If it reaches bottom without a hit I'll reel it up two turns and let it sit, then up two more, etc. Once the depth is found (usually in 4 to 8 feet of water) I'll just slowly lower my rig down to that depth and hope. Now for something that I'm really excited about. I have taken to holding my rod in front of the reel so that at least my thumb and one or two fingers are touching the rod blank itself. I prefer a small, closed spinning reel with the long trigger,(Tiny Lite) and the reel handle on the left side as I hold the rod in my right hand. For reasons I may never know or understand, the bite may be good for 10 to 30 minutes and then just disappear. Time then to seek another "hole." After several hours I might go back to the first hole and repeat the whole circuit. I'm sorry this is so long, and hope this doesn't come across as if I'm some kind of expert or know any more than anyone else. All I can say is this is how I like to fish with some success in hot weather and I sincerely hope it works for you, or even better, that you develop your own method and share it with us.

[Big Jay]

No luck last night up here either. Tryd in cover, next to cover , in the shade out in the sun. deep ,shalow.mid depth.Nothing. I just dont know?

[gabowman]

If the water is only 72* then I'd be looking in 4'-8' of water for 'em. Heck, down here in Ga the last time I fished the water began at 81* at daylight and I was catching 'em trolling jigs near the bottom in 9.5'-14' of slightly stained water.

[icejohn]

Hey.guys looks like some really good tactics. I think I might try gansetts suggestion I haven't used minnows in a long time and todayI fisbed seneca.river had a little luck on jigs.and swimmin minnow jigs but saw minnows swimming around. I think I'll try live bait next time I go to the river. Thanks to all for your help. I really like crappie.comIcenohn

[Cmj]

No luck last night up here either. Tryd in cover, next to cover , in the shade out in the sun. deep ,shalow.mid depth.Nothing. I just dont know?

Have you tried spawning areas? I've heard that sometimes crappie spawn through june in northern states. Could be if the water warms quickly. If not, they're not far from those areas i would think.

[Hanr3]

One things for sure, what hasn't worked can be eliminated. Keep trying until you find the right combination.

[Big Jay]

Thanks for the info guys. Im going back out this afternoon and im going to put some of your advice into play.No resivors here but i have some big creeks that get 20 ft deep in some spots, im going to start there and work my way to the big lake. If anything works ill post.