The best ways I know to locate California reservoir crappies
All too many times do we get so pumped up to go fishing after watching Karl Kalonka, Wally Marshall, or Barry Stokes on YouTube only to get skunked in our own backyard! If viewed carefully, one would notice that most of these televised crappie shows are filmed on natural lakes. Natural lakes and reservoirs vary differently and to a certain extent, affect crappies differently. Understanding the how and why a reservoir exists may help an angler bring home slabs for dinner.
Natural lakes can easily be noticed by a quick glance around the lake or Google search will tell as well. Majority of natural lakes will have homes surrounding the shoreline filled with of docks. For instance, Clear Lake in Lake County, Northern California is full of beautiful shoreline homes and literally hundreds of docks connected to backyards. Generally, natural lakes are shallower and the water level is constant. Being that the water level does not fluctuate much, anglers can pattern the crappie movement season after season and year after year. Depending on the lake’s regulations, many homeowners will drop brush piles near docks. In a nutshell, crappies in natural lakes will be much easier to locate but catching them is a whole different wild animal and one we will not tame today.
Reservoir crappies on the other hand are much more difficult to locate. Reservoirs are manmade with dams, dug deeper, the lake floor is generally clean from debris, and the water level changes constantly causing murky water, temperature changes, which in turn affects the fish habitat. After all, reservoirs are designed to retain water for human consumption, irrigation, and crops. Crappies do not make it on their list of importance. Even then, crappies can still thrive and be located by using a few tips and techniques that I have had success with.
During the dog days of the summer, pay attention to your local news and swing by your local reservoir when the lake is low. If you live in a state like California, chances are, you will have drought issues most summers. Droughts can be a benefit to explore the naked lake floor. I have found rock piles and lay down trees where I never thought they existed. Also look for signs of hard rocky bottoms as those are potential spawn locations. California is packed with red clay mud bottoms that crappies do not like to nest on so finding good spawn locations during the drought is a wise move.
Also, during the summer when the lake is low, all types of lake fish will be bunched up in one location. They will be deep, in some kind of shade, and you may need a boat to get out there but it is here that many have said that most fish will be in five to ten percent of the water. Be expected to pull a mixture of fish during this time.
In the fall, use a boat and learn to operate a fish sonar. The boat and sonar does not need to be fancy. A kayak or canoe would do just fine. Hummingbird units are the easiest to work with. These units are plug and play unless one goes with a fancy side imaging or 360. Locating bait fish with a fish finder during fall is the key.
In Northern California, spring fishing is the most difficult in reservoirs and the easiest in natural lakes. Because of the ever changing water levels and temperature of reservoirs, crappies do not spawn in the same location every year. Trolling will be the most effective during the spring. The objective is to catch staging females and once located, males should not be far away. It is then that one can transition to bobber fishing to locate the males.
When all fails during any season, night fishing in reservoirs is extremely effective. Why chase after them in the summer heat, battle the spring waves, or cold fall winds, when they can come to you after dark. Night fishing can hold its own article which will not be discussed here, but it is worth the trip if you can stay up until the moon goes down.
It is safe to say that more crappie anglers will prefer a natural lake because of the more predictable crappie movement and locations. This will mean that reservoirs will have less crappie anglers at least here in Northern California. I am not sure about you, but my blood pressure increases double when I drive in San Francisco or Los Angeles. I prefer fishing a reservoir with less boat traffic and still bring home a string of crappies.
