How do you fish for summer crappie with no brush?

[Spoon33]

I do pretty well on the lake by my house during the spawn, by going up and down the dam with jigs. However, after the spawn is over I can’t catch them. I only caught 3 fish yesterday and today, all being spawned out. However my main question is what to do in the summer with no deep brush? From the banks out to the lake is a slow gradual increase in depth, essentially no big drop offs near the banks.

So how do I find the crappie in the summer? The only brush piles I know of, are the 2 the state dept of wildlife has marked that get fished by everyone.

I’m sure there is other brush somewhere, but I’ve never seen it, so any recommendations please on this? No boat slips/docks either except for the small one at the ramp.

The lake is a smaller lake (800 acres)

[Eagle 1]

Does he lake have black or white crappie ? or both ? How deep is the deepest water ?

[Erin Brewer]

Side imaging... learning the lake contours.. if you can spider rigging or long line trolling


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[Spoon33]

Im not 100% sure if there are black crappie in the lake, only caught whites. Deepest part is 18-20’ around the dam.

[cevans]

Troll crankbaits is easiest way to find them.

[wannabe fisherman]

I never fished with a brush, always used a Pole and hook !

[Ketchn]

crankbaits in open water along the edges any deeper water creek channels and or sink some of your own cover maybe ?

[GreenLine]

Troll anything with a hook. You’ll find the hidden brush. Then fish there


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[John Doe]

I like to troll. You will eventually find the fish covering a lot of water. We have a lake similar in size to yours (678 acres) with several creek channels - the main channel is deep - up to 30’ in some spots. That is where we have the most luck after the spawn, but we find them on some rock poles on a flat that’s about 12’ deep too. There are old creek channels crossing that flat which are not deep, but the fish will suspend over them too. Late in the evening and early in the morning the fish seem to suspend higher in the water column, and retreat deeper in day.


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[Spoonminnow]

Your like is unusual if it has no docks, points, inflow creek, wetlands, lily pads, shallow weeds, overhanging shoreline trees, humps offshore, original channel on bottom before the dam was built and other fish attractors. There is a lake near me that fits your description and daily catches in summer are limited unless prefrontal conditions bring on the bite - one thing to consider vs bright, sunny, cloudless, calm days. What time(s) of day do you fish?

Another question is what lures are used, where they are used and the retrieves used with each lure type. Sonar can only do so much; lures are my fish and pattern finders. The more water covered the right way, the better the chances of finding catchable fish.