where are all the crappies

[Lungbuster4]

need help locating crappies i can't find any

[ratmn218]

just so you know, your not the only one that cant seem to find them,i think im going to let the weather warm up,hope it wont be to long freezer is getting bare

[theminnow]

I have been doing pretty good on crappies this year. I wont give specifics because some of my spots are already being over fished... But I'll give you a couple pointers... First is deep water. having best luck in 26-38FOW and 2nd Is I mainly fish small lakes and have been having the best luck on these.

[tearin' lips]

Ditto on the specifics, crappies have a tendency to bring fisherman to a spot like the plague. Find the deepest water in the lake. This is not always true, but is effective most of the time. I have been finding my fish in 22-26 feet of water and suspended two to eight feet off of the bottom. On some of the shallower lakes in the area I have been finding them in around 10 ft. Small jigging spoons on the pink and white variety have been producing a majority of the hits. I have been tipping them with spikes, the color of the spike doesn't matter. Use you electronics to tell you what the fish want. Some days they have been smacking it, and on others you really have to finesse them. This is where your spring bobber comes in handy. Not just to detect bites, but to create more subtle movements in your lure.

Take Care and Good Luck Fishing!!

[Surface Tension]

This winter Fish lake has been having a fairly good bite. Fish the deep water during the day. Use your sounder to locate crappies not only in an area but as to what depth in the water column. Key is move around. Evening bite has gone well into the night with crappies moving from deep water and onto the shoreline breaks, say 15-20' of water. Nice thing about Fish lake and evening is you don't get the clouds of zooplankton at night to clutter the sounder.

Experiment with presentations. I've found the bite active but very light. Get that bobber as close to zero buoyancy. Use a small crappie minnow and bare hook on one line and small jigs like a 1/16th oz Go Devil or Genz worm with a waxie. Let the minnow be the dead line and lightly jig the other.

You'll probably find the crappies will scatter with too much action so quiver your jigging line at most when crappies show up.

As I said the bite is light and hard to detect so stay on the ball and forget about seeing that bobber slowly going down the hole, set the hook at the slightest movement. On your jigging rod a spring bobber would be a good option.

[ratmn218]

with the last post im guessing what i saw towards the bottom was zooplankton on the vex stacked up and not loads of crappies i couldnt catch? was in about 34 fow, and just before dark and after dark?maybe try fishing in the daylight hours?

[Surface Tension]

ratmn218, zooplankton rise off the bottom at around sunset and in time will be dispersed throughout the entire water column.

[Lungbuster4]

thanks for the help