Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Chasing Those Slab Crappies


Recommended Posts

Fishing for crappies can be both frustrating and rewarding, and its not unlikely that you can experience both in the same day. Crappies are gaining popularity among fishermen, whether its open water or ice fishing. Some fishermen just want constant action, but others are chasing that trophy... the slab crappie!

Since open water is here, and crappies are heavily targeted, I thought I'd throw out a few tips on catching those slabs. Location and presentation...

Location

Crappies will stage in deeper water throughout the midwinter months, and the term "tight-lipped" will be used from time to time. During midwinter, crappies change their directional movements. During early ice, you will find crappies moving more horizontal throughout the water column, chasing baitfish and aggressively feeding. Midwinter brings upon a change in crappie behavior. During midwinter, you will find crappies more keen on making vertical movements, especially at lowlight periods when the "drifting debris", better known as plankton/organisms, go to work. The term "chasing crappies" begins to diminish during midwinter, as locating them can be more structure orientated.

As late ice approaches, some of the crappies will relocate in slightly shallower water, while others will still remain deep. Sometimes you will find a school of crappies in 5 feet, while another school is still out in the 35 foot hole. I like to search for primary breaks off the shallow bays, these areas tend to hold those crappies "on the move" and roaming, and they are eager to bite.

Once open water begins, crappies will seek out similar areas, but you will find them more sporadic. Crappies in the spring will often times school up, and search for warm water. Locating these first open water crappies can be tough if you are trying to intercept them on their migrating routes. Mid-depth crappies will become prevalent at this time of the year. As the deep water crappies slide up you can find hot action if you can pinpoint them while they are on the prowl. Rivers and lakes will experience two different patterns. Rivers will open up a lot earlier then lakes, and locating warmer water will come a lot sooner in rivers as well. Lakes will call for a different approach which asks for a slightly deeper concentration. There are exceptions though, as fishing can never always be promising or concrete, its an ever changing process.

Locating crappies during the first parts of open water in lakes can be very frustrating. I first start by looking for areas where I found the crappies at late ice, these areas will typically hold crappies at first open water. Mid-depth structure and flats are good spots to look for, areas where you think crappies might hold migrating from deep to shallow water. Mouths of shallow bays are another good choice. Once those dark bottom shallow bays open up and the sun starts beating, you will find crappies moving in. The water in those bays will warm up the fastest, especially if you can find any inlets, runoff, creeks, etc, in the area. Those features only add warmth to the water, and in return, they attract crappies. Not all shallow, dark bottom bays will produce, but if you notice any algae or aquatic blooms then you may be on to something. Crappies are eager to feed once those shallow bays begin to develop.

The options for locating crappies during spring can seem endless once the water starts cooking, but until huge sections begin to warm, locating them can take a few trial and error outtings.

So...

  • Search out the late ice locations
  • Try to plot a path where you think the crappies will use as they move from deep to shallow
  • Mid-depth structure
  • Check primary breaks and shallow mouths of bays
  • Inlets, creeks, feeder streams....
  • Shallower dark bottom bays with any aquatic growth/debris

Soon you will begin to fine tune your efforts and figuring out a pattern will become easier and easier. Time on the water can be important, but a little preparing before hitting the water can make your time on the water more rewarding.


Presentation

Finding the crappies is the hard part, but sometimes what you do once you locate the crappies can dictate the amount of success you have.

When I'm chasing crappies during the spring I think plastics. With all the new tackle innovations out there today you can find plastics to immitate just about anything, whether it be a certain color, size, style, sound, texture...you name it, we've got it. Using plastics can be intimidating to a lot of fishermen, but by building a little confidence you will find that catching fish with plastics gets more productive everytime you tie one on. I like to throw 1-1.5 inch plastics for springtime crappies.

The 1.5 inch Kick-n-Craw by Catch-N Tackle is an excellent choice for spring crappies. It immitates a lot of what drives crappies into striking, with its creature-like appeal and awesome action.
You can find the Kick-n-Craw at www.catchn.com

Another option that has accounted for numerous fish is the PaddyTail by JR's Tackle.
paddytail.jpg
The PaddyTail comes in all different colors and is a dynamite bait for crappies.
PaddyTails can be found at www.jrstackle.com

I also like the line of Southern Pro plastics. Small beetle spins are a good choice too.

I'm not a heavy live bait fishermen when it comes to chasing spring crappies, although crappie minnows are another preferred method by a lot of people. Other live bait options include maggots, insects, grass shrimp, mealworms, crawlers, etc.

Bio-Bait is an alternative to live bait which has changed the way I ice fish and will also have a dramatic effect on open water fishing too. Bio-Bait is made with real bait parts, whether it be crawfish, larva, crawler, minnow, etc. Its live bait that you don't have to keep alive.
Bio-Bait can be found at www.catchn.com

I like to use floats a lot when targeting crappies during the spring, as well as throughout the open water months. The Wave Buster bobber by Todays Tackle is a good choice for crappies. The Wave Buster is similar to the always popular Ice Buster but geared towards the open water fishermen. With the ability to adjust to the weight of the jig for fine tuned performance, it makes fishing a lot easier and effective. Wave Busters and crappies go hand in hand.
You can find Wave Busters at www.todaystackle.com


Color can play a key role somedays. I prefer colors like chartreuse, white, pink, red and yellow for early spring fishing. Colors like purple, brown, blue and green have their place too. Some of the most off-the-wall colors that you think would never work might be the hot item on any given day, so don't count anything out. I've had days where I'll throw 25 different colors only to find out that two are producing.

There is no magic presentation that will catch crappies everyday, but you can develop an arsenal to cover all the bases, for all conditions.


I've touched just a small part of the whole crappie picture, and as we all know, fishing can change from day to day, hour to hour. I guess the only thing we can do is just keep casting smile.gif


Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

------------------
[email protected]
Iceleaders
Catch-N Tackle and Bio Bait
MarCum
Stone Legacy
JR's Tackle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nicely done Matt. You sure know them Panfish. Maybe someday we will have to fish together. I have used those Paddy tails from JR's and they produced very well.

------------------
I'd rather be skunked than follow the crowd!

Brian Rogers

JR's Tackle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Matt-

I must say thanks for all the information, especially since I'm pretty new to the whole panfishing thing, especially Crappie. I caught a few thousand sunnies from my cousin's dock up North when I was a kid, but never actively fished for panfish as an adult.
I've recently (last year or so) started to pursue Carppies, and have been frustrated, elated, angry, and happy all within a short period of time..
Only one questiion for you..
Is there any way to get that long post of your to print?

------------------
Fishin' is life
The rest is just details

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Skick- you should be able to hight light with a left click and hold, then right click select print

------------------
I'd rather be skunked than follow the crowd!

Brian Rogers

JR's Tackle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BDR - Thanks...
didn't even think of that old trick.. should've known to try it..

Again, Matt, thanks for the info. I know I honestly appreciate it!

------------------
Fishin' is life
The rest is just details

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.