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not the most experienced crappie fisherman in the world but I sure do love doing it. My question is what are the crappie doing in the summer and what is the best way to fish them. All of the ponds I fish don't have docks an are pretty much structure free on the surface. Bu they have lots of crappie in them. Everything Ive read says fish structure and docks and this does not apply to me What else can I do? The pond I fish are around 15 ft deep
Weed beds and/or big rocks on the bottom, as well as actual contours of the bottom surface itself all count as 'Structure.' Depending on the size of the pond, a minnow and a bobber should do nicely regardless; depth may depend on water temp, whether they're hugging bottom or suspending, etc. Pond fish are typically hungry fish!
If there exist a substantial bait population, chances are the crappie will be following it around closely. We fish a pan shaped featureless bowl of a lake and do well drifting across the main basin. When we mark bait, we get bit! As of late we are trying this technique side pulling. Too early to evaluate on it's effectiveness, but it works for a lot of folks down south of here.
If you are not that interested in learning all about using all types of jigs ...artificial baits and attractants etc.
Just use minnows and crappie hooks and some split shot and slip bobbers. Sometimes you might want to just vertical fish without the bobber. But actually they work pretty good even if you're fishing right beside the boat vertical however deep.
You just keep hanging that live minnow right above or the same level as the fish. Around any wood structure,weed beds,rocks,etc. And your gonna find em and your gonna catch them.
I have three boats,20 rods and reels,hundreds of jigs and jig heads,attractants,4 fishfinders,4 electric fillet knives,maps,radar , sonar,LOL.
You think I need all that junk just to go catch some crappie? All that stuff is just to make it interesting.
When I was a kid I had a 12ft jon boat, and a skull paddle and cane pole. You give me a bucket of minnows back then and a day or two to figure things out and I'm gonna catch them things like their going out of style.
I will tell you one thing extra you can do. Look at these little rubber beads in the link below....I use the green ones. I slide two of them on a crappie hook. I catch more fish with them then without them. Something about that minnow wiggling around and those little beads on that hook shank just kick it up a notch some days.
https://www.cabelas.com/catalog/prod...ref=prd1167393
https://www.cabelas.com/catalog/prod..._ref=prd744320
We have a small pond 5 acres. The crappie seem to hang in the deepest spots where structure is close by. We just pitch jigs around and catch them.
Summer Fishing for crappie can be a quick trip into madness. In larger lakes, after the post spawn period (when the fish quit sulking...), the schools will scatter all over a lake, and during the day will suspend at various depths, anywhere from 15 feet, to over 40 feet deep, with little or no regard for structure. Oftentimes they will refuse any bait unless it is right in front of their nose. There are two ways to counter this: Either troll with a spider rig, with each rod set at a different depths, and watch the SONAR unit carefully. Adjust the depth when schools are located. Or. you can follow the contours of the channels, especially those with good access to shallow water (where crappie go to feed at night...). Start your depth at the thermocline, and look for a water PH of 5.5-6.5. Vertical jigging works best in this situation. You just need a lot of patience and a good sense of humor.
At night, summer crappie will move into the shallows, following schools of baitfish. A light will attract bugs, which will attract minnows, which will attract crappie. This works especially well on docks. A submersible light is even better.
In ponds, they will most likely suspend in the deepest part, during the day.