Question about crappie schools

Hey guys,

Me and my budies are just getting into night time crappie fishing, and haven't had any problems finding fish but we are having a hard time catching bigger ones. The other night we were out fishing and found a spot that was producing a bunch of fish but nothing of any size. Do crappie tend to school with other fish that are about the same size as them or do they school in a mixture of sizes? We ended up leaving a spot that was really active in hopes of finding bigger fish, but later thought that we may have made a stupid move. What do you guys think we should have done, stayed in that spot or moved on? THanks for your help!

I have at least 5 spots that produce crappies for me. If the little guys are biting in one spot, i move to another. They do tend to school according to size, most times. I've found a few bigger ones under the school but not many. If i'm catching the bigger ones from the start and they stop hitting, i'll change tactics or colors of jig,weight of jighead, or even use a live bait ( minnow, waxworm, maggot, or worm). If i still see fish on my locator and they wont bite, i'll try fishing higher in the water column before i leave the spot. Crappie will come up to hit a slow rising bait quite often. But you should have more than one GOOD spot scouted out. Especially for night fishing.

The biggest crappie I catch seem to be loners. When the bite is slow or slowing is when I catch my biggest crappie and the bite is usually very light.

Loners - rarely catch more than one or two good ones in the same spot,
same day. Typical to be trolling an area catching decent fish, but one time
make a little wider turn, or go a little further in one direction, and BAM.

Then re-center my attention on where I caught the big one,
and whip the water to a froth for nothing :)

Have seen a spot be good for the same one or two biguns
on more than one trip though.

There has'nt been a concentration of large fish on our stakebeds and brushpiles. If we catch a small one it usually means ''move on to the next spot'';)

To me nightfishing and daytime fishing are two totally different worlds.
At night we bring the fish to us with our lights, even though we try to find a "comfortable" spot for the crappies to come to.
Daytime is different and I move quite frequently then.

As pointed out before, many times my larger fish will come very randomly. I might catch 15 10"ers then slam a 15" one later on.

I would probably think more of the waters you are fishing. There are some places around here that typically produce smaller fish.

For instance; Shearron Harris. You can catch all you can put in a cooler there, but they don't have much in the way of size to em.

Jordan has had smaller fish too with the occasional good un thrown in, up until about last year. Last year I was catching my limit easily in just a couple hours. Two years ago, I threw back a lot more than I was able to keep.
This year, I seem to be getting a LOT more 8-9" fish (throwbacks). I'm still getting my limit. It's just taking a LOT more time to do it. I'm no expert, but I believe it's a matter of not that many generations of fish there.

At night, I very rarely move more than once, if that.

I have had luck at catching the bigger crappie on the outside edge of the light in the darker water when the small ones are directly under the light. When I start catching small ones I will move to the dark side of the boat and fish a little deeper.

When your gettin little ones try a larger bait. 3 inch tubes and grubs, paddle tails or swim baits as large as 4 inches.

Crappie schools?

Well, as in most schools, how big they are is usually directly proportional to what grade they're in. Generally, your high school crappie will be bigger than your elementary school crappie. If you get into middle school crappie, you're likely to find a mix of large and small crappie.

Bad part is that unlike people, crappie don't put up signs that tell us what kind of school we just found and we have to bring a couple students up to the principals office (boat) to find out what grade we're dealing with.

Best bet, If you set up and grade schoolers start showing up at the office, you'll know you've found the elementary school and should move on. Stop by at different schools until you find the high school, then camp out in the halls until the detention room (cooler) is full!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joejv4

Crappie schools?

Well, as in most schools, how big they are is usually directly proportional to what grade they're in. Generally, your high school crappie will be bigger than your elementary school crappie. If you get into middle school crappie, you're likely to find a mix of large and small crappie.

Bad part is that unlike people, crappie don't put up signs that tell us what kind of school we just found and we have to bring a couple students up to the principals office (boat) to find out what grade we're dealing with.

Best bet, If you set up and grade schoolers start showing up at the office, you'll know you've found the elementary school and should move on. Stop by at different schools until you find the high school, then camp out in the halls until the detention room (cooler) is full!

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Yeah, what he said. :D