Not what I was looking for...

Yesterday me and a friend hit the water for the first time this year. I don't often get the chance to get out and fish. But yesterday was the day...and boy was I excited! It was rather windy and the water was choppy to say the least, but when you only get to go every once in a while, you go. I do not actually have a fishing boat but rather I fish from a Jackson Kayak. I am fairly new to crappie fishing w/ only actually catching 2-3 in my lifetime. All that being said, I do not have a depth finder on my kayak yet so finding structure and the like has proven to be quite difficult. So I did what someone suggested me to do. I found a chunk rock bank and fished it up and down w/ minnows and a bobber. Depth was set at about 3 ft on my bobber. Got the line in the water and the bobber disappeared! Fish on! I was elated! Got the fish to the boat and it was a good size red eye bass. Thing gave up a fight. Don't get me wrong, it was a fish none the less but not the one that I had set out for. Continued fishing using the same method and same thing, fish on. This time it was a bluegill. Then again caught another one as I was heading back in. I got to the water about 3 pm and gave in to the wind around 630 pm. Does any one have any suggestions as to how to locate the fish without a depth finder? I have spoken to a couple of guys and they say the spawn is close, real close. Water temps are around 59 degrees. Any tips for catching some slabs would be greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by clangford

Any tips for catching some slabs would be greatly appreciated.

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Forget the minnows and learn to fish a jig.

Charlie Brewer's Slider Company - Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* Weedless Crappie Slider "Why&How"

Look for "wood" along the West/Northwest banks in an area where the bank is somewhat sheltered from heavy wave action. Seeing as how you don't have a depth finder, look for fallen trees or standing trees (close to the bank) or even submerged brush/bushes .... anything that will afford the fish a current break, hiding place, a backdrop, or shade.

Papa is heading you in the right direction. You can jig wood and cast if need be. Crappie Sliders will help you cover some ground and hopefuly find active fish, 1/8 oz red head with yellow body is a good start.

Thanks ice nitro. Bad thing is there isn’t very many downed trees on the waters i fish. They are deep and clear reservoirs. However I did order a fish finder for my kayak and hoping I will be able to locate structure etc using that. So hopefully I will be able to find some slabs soon!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

("Bad thing is there isn’t very many downed trees on the waters I fish")

This could turn into a good thing also. By dropping some fish habitat you could create a honey hole or several where you could go and know where to fish at times.

(Fish habitat) it will help the fish and help your fishing also. "Build it and they will come."

I hadn't thought about that. Thanks for the input scrat. I will be heading to youtube for some DIY videos. Thanks again

Left my electronics home once and had to get creative to find the tree we wanted to fish. 50' of construction string and add a 3 or 4 oz bank sinker, or another that looks the least grabby you have. Mark the string with different colors denoting the depth and black marks every 2' in between colors. Red at ten, blue at twenty, and so on. I was fishing 55 fow and the tree was on a ledge that went up to 26'. Dropped it over the side and unrolled and held it as I went toward the ledge. When I hit the ledge, I knew where the tree was. If you drop over and find say 15fow, then hold it there and drift until you find something that sticks up and throw a marker on it and fish. You get the idea, hope this helps.