Crappies In April

[eyespy&eye]

I live in Farmington and have fished the St Croix the last couple of years now. Mainly fishing for sauger and walleye. Would like to get into some crappies this spring, but don't really know where to try (depth, etc). I find it the easiest to drop the boat in on the Mississippi in Hasting and cruze down to Prescott. Any suggestions on fishing crappies from the Prescott area and north? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Spring crappie hangouts are few and far between from my experience. I know of only 2 spots so I won't share them here. We found a spot last year accidently by trolling for eyes. We started picking up several crappies on #5 shap raps. The area dropped gradualy from the shore and not the usual quick drop off. Kinda like a large shelf. About 12 feet of water or less was the ticket. Good luck. When you do find them they are generaly good sized.

[Ferny]

Hey Guy's, I will tell you when I have targeted the crappies on the first warm days they weren't in there May spots! I have never tried the deep WI. hole where everybody ice fishes but my guess is they are still there until the water really warms up.

Suzuki That's the same way I found one of my summer crappie spots. I kept getting fish on raps and when reeling them in was losing them. Finally figured out they were crappies and took it easy on them and started boating them. The spots I have got crappies have produced year after year for me. The nice thing about river crppies is they are ALWAYS keepers!

Later,

Ferny.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Fern-that's exactly what happened to us.
Fish on, fish off, etc. Finally landed a couple and discovered we had been hooking big craps. This year I'm going after them in that spot with the right technique.
Your right about them being big. I always try to lift them out of the water since their just panfish!! Inevitably I lose a few when they tear off the lure.

[Steve-O]

I was catching them last Spring south of Stillwater on 4" tube baits!! They were huge.

[eyespy&eye]

Thanks for the responses so far, anyone ever have any luck fishing crappies by the Prescott bridge out in front of the beach (not sure what the bay is called). See alot of people out there during late spring, early summer.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Yea I always see those folks there shoulder to shoulder but I don't know what they are catching. Funny I never get any walleyes there but the commercial netters get tons of nice eyes in their carp nets.

[eyespy&eye]

Still have not had a chance to get out yet. I won't be able to get my boat out of storage for a week or so. Wondering if anyone has any updates on the Croix's condition, water levels, etc. Any luck with the crappies yet?