Shallow winter crappie?

[Les Young]

I've been vertical jigging & had a fellow tell my buddy that we're fishing way to deep & that he's catching them from 3 foot up to 6 inches under the surface on jigs or minnows. Of couse my buddy never asked him how he was catching them. lol I thought about a bobber & wondered if bobber fishing is a good winter technique? Does it work good with jigs too? What else do you guys do to catch them this shallow in winter? I wouldn't have figured them to be this shallow right now & of course a buddy went today & caught 57 on another lake & said all were from around 20 & down to 35 feet deep like i've been catching what i've caught all winter.

[DockShootinJack]

I catch them shallow on docks all winter long. I caught some the other night 2 feet under a float.

[Les Young]

Thanks Jack. No docks to fish here. Like i said i thought about bobber fishing but have never done it other than for brim when i was a kid. Sounds like i need to give it a try though.

[DockShootinJack]

Jig under a float is a good tactic for me. A slow stop and go retrieve will get lots of strikes. Bait will seek out warmer shallow water. The crappie will be on the bait

[Chuck Adams]

Les,
I fished for about 4 hours today.
I caught 20-30.
Water temp was around 41 and water was pretty muddy.
Tried dropping on them with 10 footer.
Had a couple takers but most would follow the jig up about a foot and then turn away.
I caught fish in 6-8 foot of water and 35 foot of water with the target around 12-14 ft. I would get about 15 feet from the pile. LS was on 30 feet so target fish would pretty much be in center of my screen.
Pattern today was to pitch past the school and let it sink until the jig was just above fish. Then slow roll it over them. Caught 1 or two in each pile but then they would quit and I would move on.
1/16 oz hand tie was bait for today.
Various colors tipped with white crappie nibble and soaked with Slab sauce.


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[Les Young]

Les,
I fished for about 4 hours today.
I caught 20-30.
Water temp was around 41 and water was pretty muddy.
Tried dropping on them with 10 footer.
Had a couple takers but most would follow the jig up about a foot and then turn away.
I caught fish in 6-8 foot of water and 35 foot of water with the target around 12-14 ft. I would get about 15 feet from the pile. LS was on 30 feet so target fish would pretty much be in center of my screen.
Pattern today was to pitch past the school and let it sink until the jig was just above fish. Then slow roll it over them. Caught 1 or two in each pile but then they would quit and I would move on.
1/16 oz hand tie was bait for today.
Various colors tipped with white crappie nibble and soaked with Slab sauce.


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Chuck i have a lot of them really follow the jig then turn & leave it. I try doing it like you said & slow rolling over them all the time & don't have much luck with it. When i catch them decent it's always vertical jigging. I don't understand why but we just don't do any good casting & letting it pendulum back over them. I may be using to much weight too. Usually a 1/16 jig by itself or a 1/16 jig with a #3 splitshot above it about 18". Both usually have one of my shad bodys & a nibble.

[Chuck Adams]

Les,
No split shot today.
I casted a double 1/16 and 1/32 jig rig with Crappie Magnets and it was falling too fast. When I say cast I really mean flip or pitch. Too lazy to re tie on the ACC 6.6 so I just picked up the 10 Kevin Rogers 10 footer and used it all day with the hand ties and white crappie nibble.
Seamed to have just the right fall and I could track it just fine on LS.
The fish I caught just bolted out of the pile and crushed it. The rest had zero reaction.


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[catchNgrease]

Fished the last couple of days with a cork no more than 4 ft with a 1/48 and most of the time and they would hit it on the fall before the cork settled. But fish was caught under were these fish by tight lining the column. If you start tight lining first you will scatter the shallower fish pulling crappie through them. Also If you throw something light and small this time of the year and let it pendulum back to you they will smack it at all depths.

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[DockShootinJack]

Good tip

[NIMROD]

Some shallow lakes even with sub freezing temps they stay shallow . I seldom fish deep all year long