7-16-22 crappie on crankbaits

I hadn't fished one of the local lakes in a few months, so I tried it again on Saturday. Got a late start (8:30 a.m.), but the fish weren't going anywhere. In paddling across a main arm of the lake, I noticed most of the fish on the depthfinder were holding less than 10 feet of water. I set my lines to run crankbaits the same depth I'd been catching on another lake, at 10 feet or below, then paddled a mile without a single strike. There was a boat running down the channel, so I slowed down, which caused my crankbaits to run shallower. Immediately, I caught a crappie on one line and missed another on the second line, which told me I was either running too fast or the lures were too deep. I shortened my lines, slowed down, and started getting bit regularly. I ended up catching 39 crappie, 3 bream, and a few junior bass. I also probably missed around 15 strikes. They wanted the shad color when the sun was out and flashy purple/pink when there was cloud cover. None of the crappie were over 11 inches, so I didn't even break out the bump board. Being forced to pay attention and believe what my electronics were showing me helped me adapt and start catching.

Jim

Attachment 432457Attachment 432458Attachment 432470Attachment 432471Attachment 432461Attachment 432472

Way to figure them out and adapt and catch. Good pics.

Crappie strike up so shallower above them would be the way to go. Sure turned out to be a good day. Reading about your paddling wore me out though. :Rofl

Beautiful crappie pictures, thanks for the story and catching technics. :highfive

Where is the thermocline at right now? Crappie are going to sit on that line and look up. Haven't been on the water in over a month and with the hot weather we have had, the thermocline is probably around 10'-12'.

Very nice

I'm glad that you found some hungry ones and figured out what you had to do to catch them. Thank you for sharing your trip and pictures with us

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Very nice. Enjoyed the pics.

Nice! Same pattern on Harris fish seem to be at 12ft but want the crankbait at about 7ft, no hits on cranks running 12ft, kinda strange.

Hit the same lake again yesterday and found the thermocline deeper, but still fairly shallow. Started shallow with smaller crankbaits, but couldn't keep the small bream off it. Switched to a #5 Glass Shad Rap ( I accidentally left my deeper cranks at home) and caught an 11" white bass immediately, then a 13 inch largemouth off the same point. Moved out towards the main lake channel, dropped the crank back to 135-150 feet and boated the first crappie within 5 minutes. From then on I concentrated on the main channel, the deepest basin, and avoided the shallows. Ended the day @13:30 with 32 crappie (none over 11"), 10 bream, 3 largemouth, and 1 white bass. I gave 13 crappie to a family that was fishing for their supper and only had one hand size bream on the stringer. Around 12:30 the breeze slowed and green cotton ball looking algae was breaking loose, floating, and made pulling cranks impossible.

Jim