The Evening Bite

I've always heard that crappie bite best the first and last hours of light. But my experience has been that they may be biting great in the evening and as soon as the direct sunlight leaves the water, say 45 minutes before dark, they quit biting. A week ago we pulled up into a place 15 feet deep two hours before dark, the crappie were piled up there near the bottom, we caught them like crazy, and 45 minutes before dark they totally quit. We drove around the immediate area and the crappie no longer showed up on our fish finder. Where do you catch them the last 30 to 45 minutes of light? Not where you think they should be based on conventional wisdom or what you have read, but where do you actually catch them during this prime time? I'm also wondering what happens to the bite for trollers the last 45 minutes of light. This is a mystery to me.

I have no solid answer but I do have an opinion. I too get set up first thing in the morning only to find a slow bite for an hour or so and don’t fish much for the evening bite lately. I think that when they shut down in deeper water that they might pick up in shallower areas, maybe a nearby drop off, or on some structure like a treetop or shallower brush pile. I also wonder if downsizing then might pick up a few more. That has worked for me a bunch in the past when they quit hitting regular size baits in the daytime.

:donoI have noticed the same thing about the evening bite, but my experience has been more like 15 minutes before dark. Basically, I use that extra daylight to load the boat before dark.

I have seen this many times and to be sure its quite frustrating ….they are packing up and heading off to their dark thirty hunting grounds is what I am about 99.9% sure of …..

I have noticed this also. Sometimes they bite right up until dark then shut off for awhile. I don't think the fish leave I think they just stop biting. When I night fish I set up an hour or two before dark. Once the sun is down and the lights are out they normally start back up

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I was watching a U-Tube yesterday. The man was on the bank and used a butterfly net at the Bank and dipped up dozens of inch long shad just before dark.. He used a small white Jig casting from shore and caught a dozen Crappie in a few minutes. they were mostly about 7 inches but I think the Bigger ones was just out of casting range

During the spring I fish smaller creeks that empty into the lake (I am on the bank). My opinion is they go further up the creek into shallower water right before dark. It is like they just keeping moving on up shallower to as far as the lake is backed up... I catch a lot at night up in the creeks in the spring time.