depth of fish you catch

[David Waters]

we have had some discussions about how deep you usually catch your fish. I found it amazing after fishing a few different lakes last year how different the depths really were. I have talked to some folks in one state that swears they could come and fish the lakes I fish and catch fish shallow when I am catching them deep. I am sure some fish are shallow, but I am sure there are only a few.

For instance, I catch a majority of my fish in the surrounding area lakes around 20 feet, give or take 5 feet. It is rare for me to catch them shallower than 15 feet, of course unless I am catching spawning fish. BUt for 11 months of the year, I am catching fish from 15-35 feet deep. Some I caught last year were 45 feet deep, nearly on the bottom. I would drop to the bottom and reel up twice.

The easiest theory I have come up with is that the fish just regulate themselves to the water they are in. In other words, on Wilson lake I catch fish deep, but most of the lake is 25-80 feet deep. Most of the structure is that deep, and I don't see the thermocline as evident on that lake as I do in some other lakes, so oxygen is obviously in the deeper water. The water is usulaly pretty clear all the time which the fish would prefer deeper water to protect from sunlight. Also, these fish I am catching really deep are white crappie. I only on a very rare occaision catch black crappie deep.

On the other hand, I fish Weiss and Neely Henry on occasion. In the months of January and Feb, when I am catching fish deep on the tenn. river lakes, I catch fish trolling jigs in 7 feet and shallower on Weiss and NH. The majority of the lake is shallow, with a creek channel that isn't real wide. Also, the majority of fish I catch there are BLACK crappie.

I have found that the black crappie patterns I have put together seems to always be in shallower water.

What I would like to know from you folks is what is the depth you usually catch your crappie (average), the depth of the water they are in, what kind of crappie you usually catch, and what part of the county your are from and the makeup of the lakes you fish.

I will start

I fish Wilson, Pickwick, Cedar, and Little Bear in North Alabama

I catch mostly white crappie with a few specks mixed in

They are mostly caught around 20 feet deep. I usually fsih water from 18-35 feet deep.

The lakes are gernerally deep, clear water lakes with decently wide channels. THere is more dep water than shallow water most of the time. A few lakes have some shallow flats, but most of my fishing is done on ledges and drop-offs. I tightline mostly.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey David:
Good Thread! I figure crappie go where the food is when they are feeding providing that depth/area has adequate cover if needed, oxygen and an acceptable temperature. We often find a wide spread of depth where fish can be caught at any given time of year.

Our lakes around Hot Springs, AR are deep reservoirs – if you consider 120 to 240-feet deep as “Deep” with few real flats and lots of channels and points. We probably do 90 percent of our fishing outside of the spawn between 10 and 20 feet on some type of drop-off but we can often catch fish deeper or shallower if we try – just not as many.

Here, if anything we’re more likely to catch black crappie in or near deeper water and white crappie farther up the creek arms but that depends on the time of year and can be reversed at times. They definitely have a different preference at certain times more than others.

[skiptomylu]

Way back in like 1979 I use to have a spot that the water was 12'-14' for the most part and had grass over a ridge (if I told you what it really is everyone would know, LOL) with deep water very close and it was not very long. I would troll over it back and forth and on an average day 2 people could go there and boat 60-70 (that is keepers and non keepers) crappie in a hour. I pulled in lots of big crappie there and made some clients really happy. I know it's hard to believe, but I still think if I go there at the right time I can still fill a box fast!

No one else was trolling back then so had that all to my self.

I catch a lot of fish now just at the end of the spawn in 20' of water, but fishing down only 10'-12' deep.

The deepest fish I caught this year was in water 32' and fishing 18'-20' down. That was night fishing a couple of months back.

[Roberta]

The lake we fish is under 700 acres and ranges from 5- 30 feet deep from one end of the lake to the dam. We do most of our crappie fishing along a drop that runs about a third of the length of the lake. Water on the flat is about 8 feet and the drop goes down to 16 feet. The drop is weedy and is used by all fish species as an ambush spot from ice out til mid-summer. We do best casting from the top of the drop lakeside and retrieveing back over the weeds. We troll once ina while along the length of the drop. Mid-summer, crappie can be found scattered on the other side of the lake in the old creek channel in about 20 feet of water. All crappie are white. - Roberta

[gooch]

David this is a great thread. I am looking forward to hearing the responses.

I fish Lake Ouachita and most of the crappie we catch there are in or arround the 20 foot mark.

[ThrillSeeker]

I've always heard that once the water gets well above or well below 65 degrees, the "crappie zone" is between 17 and 22 feet. Does anyone have any feedback?

[ceb]

Good thread...

AR river...Majority are white crappie 8-12' deep. But last winter I caught several in shallow brushpiles 3' deep.

Cane Creek...99% are black crappie 2-5' deep over hydrilla in 12-14' of water (in heavy timber).

[CrappiePappy]

on state, lake, season .... but, I rarely fish water that's deeper than 20ft, and catch the fish mostly from 8-12ft down. But, that's more due to me (and my methods, and using jigs), than the fish or the lakes I fish. I go when I can, but I mostly go when I am reasonably sure that the fish should be in those depth ranges ... therefore I catch the majority of them, in that range. I have caught Crappie, in Jan/Feb, on warm days, from a fallen tree, standing on the bank at the root end of the tree, out of less than 6ft of water, with water temps around the low 40's range, on tube jigs. Still got the same "thump" as when fishing during the other times of the year :D
Spring and Fall ... I'm usually in water less than 20ft, and catching fish from 8ft to 12ft
Summer ... I'm usually fishing in water of 15ft, and catching fish from the 5-10ft range (but only in the mornings, and on shady banks with wood cover)
Winter ... rarely get to go, but have had limited success around shallow wood cover when I did.

They are usually a mixture of White & Black Crappie ... leaning towards more Black Crappie (due to lakes fished, and seasons I fish). That seems to be the trend, but may be influenced by higher concentrations of Black Crappie in the lakes I fish, or me fishing earlier and later in the year (as opposed to when I targeted Crappie, decades ago)

Lakes/Reservoirs I fish range from <1000acres to over 50,000acres ... and have max depth ranges from 60ft to near 300ft. Lots of creek arms, shallow wood cover (or docks), and flats with creek channels or river channels running close by. Most are lowland reservoirs or highland reservoirs ... in KY, Tenn, and Ala.
......... cp

[willsjwills]

TENN=TOM waterway. catching fish from 3ft. down to 12 ft, depending on time of year. have only caught white crappie.

KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY

[David Waters]

According to the data in this thread, it seems the depth of the crappie is directly related to the methods people use to fish for them. Now my question is, (deep thoughts by David Waters ) Are more crappie caught in those depths because of the method of fishing, or are the methods of fishing determined by the depth the fish are holding?

Hmmmmm, that kinda hurt my brain. But in a sense, that is the question I guess I am trying to figure out. My guess is the methods are created because that is where the fish are located. But, it does make sense that there might be fish in the depths of the lake that aren't being fished by most people.

Sorry, what a ramble.

I fish deep ledges because that seems to be where I find the most concentration of fish. But, could someone that has great shallow fishing skills come to my home lake and catch more and better fish?

Keep the reply's coming please! I plan to keep up with all the data and post it later.