In summer and winter, crappie are deep and usually don't move very far. In spring and fall, they move into the shallows for a while. Fish in transition are hard to find some days, but if you follow creek channels edges, points, etc.., you can usually find some willing to bite. Crappie really like vertical wooden cover. That is why docks are so good, especially the ones that don't have many braces that make dock shooting difficult. Floating docks also provide shade and can sometimes be a magnet for the fish.
Brush piles, bamboo hotels, and other cover that fishermen have put out off shore also provide the most action for me at least. I have put out my own, but I also spend a little bit of time nearly every trip to scout around, using my electronics to find drop offs with cover on them in the form of stumps, brush, rock piles, etc. I have found some beauties that are covered with fish in great numbers. I know where to look for fish at the different seasons and that probably shortens my search somewhat, but, this doesn't come overnight. It takes time on the water.
The 3 secrets to crappie fishing are location, location, and location. Grin. Actually, location, presentation, and confidence. Leave off any one of these three and you will go without fish. Obviously, if the location you are fishing doesn't have any crappie there, you can fish all day without a bite. If the fish are there and you are not presenting the lure correctly (and that can be as simple as the proper direction, or depth of the fish) you will go without a bite. If you don't have confidence in what you are using as a lure or in the spot that you have chosen or the myriad of other variables, then you might as well take up golf. At least you can throw a club when you hit a bad shot. It gets expense to throw the rod/reels in the lake when you go without fish. Grin.
To expand a little bit on presentation: If you don't use the countdown method in order to find what depth the crappie are holding on, then you may easily fish either above or below the fish. The suspended fish usually aren't going to chase a lure and crappie feed upwards most of the time. But there are certain weather conditions when the fish are right on the bottom and one must hit the bottom and jump the lure up off the bottom to entice a strike. Vary speeds, lure profiles, and/or colors to find what the fish prefer on any particular day. What they will hit today, is not necessarily what they will hit tomorrow. I believe that most people fish too fast for crappie. Slow down and watch your catch rates go up. What I call dead sticking a lure is also a productive method on some days. Two of my biggest crappie came while I was dead sticking a lure in 30 feet of water. I waited 45 seconds to a minute before the fish would bite. But it was worth the wait. Most don't have the patience to wait on a fish to bite that long. I have watched video of crappie looking at a plastic lure and the fish stared at it for well over 30 seconds before inhaling the lure. I believe this happens more often than we realize. That is why at certain intervals of my retrieve, I do a subtle "palsy" twitch of the lure. This invokes a reaction bite so many times when the crappie are easing along with my lure and watching it. I can't read a crappie's mind, but I think he may think that the bait fish he is following has suddenly detected the fish following and is trying to flee. Some fishermen are constantly twitching the lure without giving it a rest in between twitches. That may work on rare days, but usually doesn't happen that way with me. Some make 40 yard casts with heavier lures and fish mono and catch fish sometimes doing just that, but I don't like to make long casts, even in open water. I want more control over my lure than a long cast provides. Grin.
I haven't covered all there is about crappie fishing, but I will leave you with this. There is an exception to every rule that someone has about crappie fishing. People catch them in 4 feet of water or less during the summer time, on rare days, but I never have. In summer and in winter, most crappie are 15 to 30 feet deep or deeper. emoBigsmile emoGeezer Hope this helps the ones who are struggling to find and catch crappie.
My favorite lures and colors: Bobby Garland Baby Shad and Slab Slayers in 2" and 3" plastics. Crappie Dawg lures by our own Korngrinder are excellent lures and I use them a lot and they catch fish. They are 2.25" long. I will use panfish assassins a little bit and the 1.5" panfish assassin on a 1/32 oz jig head will skip under docks better than any lure that I have tried. Also, Strike King crappie baits I have used a little bit. I have lots of colors and my favorite color is the one that the fish prefer today. Grin. The clearer the water, the clearer the lure. The dingy water calls for brighter lures in mo-glo colors, and deep water calls for dark colors, especially something in blue. Like Blue Thunder BG shads. The top selling of the Bobby Garland lure company. I have said enough. If you can digest this and get better.......???
