James H. pointed out about 3 weeks ago that crappies were on the break between shallow and deep. Are they at the bottom of those mid-depth basins now?Does it depend on weather and time of day? Any other tips on the after dark bite? Gonna try it again this weekend.
Typically by this time of year the most consistent crappie bites I fish are all basin bites. Sometimes the fish are in the bottom 2-3 feet of water, sometimes they suspended 10+ feet above bottom, either way they’re usually out over 30+ feet or water and roaming. If I was going to try to go catch crappie right now that’s where is start looking, anyway.
Thanks James.
I do not fish over the basins. Local lakes here will have 20 to 30 shacks on them.
The deepest we went to was 16 ft this weekend. And 12 to 16 is where I catch most my crappies all winter long. I do not sit over basins with everybody else
The deep Basin bite can be a hot one. One thing to know is those basin crappies move around a LOT. It’s rare to go to where they were yesterday and find them there again today. Be prepared to drill a ton of holes to locate them and drill a ton more to stay on them. Working as a team with one person drilling and the other checking the holes for fish works the best. If not marking fish, don’t bother to even fish the hole. Most of the time basin fish are suspended enough to easily see them on a flasher. The other thing is if catching fish out of more than 30 Fow. you better reel the fish real slow or they most likely will not live to be released. Even reeling slow I ? rather those fish survive after release. The good thing about deeper basin fish is you normally don’t even have to wait till after dark to catch them. They normally bite throughout the day. With the snow cover and the depth I’m not sure the light where the fish are is that much different during daylight hours. On sat. we checked four or 5 spots and drilled a ton of holes to locate the fish. Once located we had a blast catching some really nice fish.
Much like bass in the summer months. There are some fish that spend the whole season shallow and other fish that will spend the majority of the season deep. Ever on the same body of water. I’m not sure why that is. on the same day on the same lake I’ve caught nice crappies in 6 Ft of water in the weeds and nice crappies in 40+ ft of water suspended out in the basin.
Much like bass in the summer months. There are some fish that spend the whole season shallow and other fish that will spend the majority of the season deep. Ever on the same body of water. I’m not sure why that is. on the same day on the same lake I’ve caught nice crappies in 6 Ft of water in the weeds and nice crappies in 40+ ft of water suspended out in the basin.
I have often wondered the same thing. I’m glad it’s like that because it keeps me away from the crowds. But often is a tougher bite to find. I enjoy the challenge, and I enjoy the fact of finding the fish and not being close to anyone
Typically by this time of year the most consistent crappie bites I fish are all basin bites. Sometimes the fish are in the bottom 2-3 feet of water, sometimes they suspended 10+ feet above bottom, either way they’re usually out over 30+ feet or water and roaming. If I was going to try to go catch <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie right now that’s where is start looking, anyway.
Chasing those big basin fish is where that Mega 360 sure would come in handy
On a lake I fish for walleyes the slab crappies come out of the basin and onto a shallow 7ft flat about an hour after the walleyes move thru in the evening.Can sit and pick off one here one there all night.At the same time there are still fish in the basin its just that the fish that move shallow are much easier to catch since they are only there for one reason,to eat.
We found a lone basin last night. Decided to go and try and battle the wind and set up over 30 ft of water. 1 other shack in site. Drilled a few holes and spotted fish from 27 ft to 31 in every hole we drilled so we set the shack up and dropped some demons with smaller fat heads and jigging a pinhead minno with minnow head while the kid jigged a tungsten toad tipped with spikes. Man those fish were not wanting anything. I ended up going through 4 different spoons, he did the same with jigs and spikes to plastics.
I new it was bad when they weren’t taking the demon under a float with a minnow. So we switched from small fat heads to small crappie minnows. And it was game on lol all you could catch 6 inch crappies. This was from 430 to 8 pm. A few moves and no different results. What are the bigger crappies doing when these little guys are going.
The bite was very negative, rod tips would move just a tickle and they were on. All the while both vexilars were lit up from 2 ft off bottom up to 15 ft. Loaded with fish.
Whats the next move in that situation, how do you trigger them to bite? We went home with our heads down. Which is okay. The night before we did good on a walleye bite. I guess that’s fishing
Maybe the bigger ones were higher in the column? I have found that more than a few times, may not catch a lot but they could be there. I found that to be the case on Tonka early ice a few years ago everyone was catching dinks I was getting better quality, fishing 5-8ft down in a 20ft spot.
Maybe the bigger ones were higher in the column? I have found that more than a few times, may not catch a lot but they could be there. I found that to be the case on Tonka early ice a few years ago everyone was catching dinks I was getting better quality, fishing 5-8ft down in a 20ft spot.
We tried every bit of water for 4 hours. From 8 ft down to the 28 ft down. Either they sniffed and ran or didn’t react at all.
I almost always jig the top marks and above them but you have to try all the heavy reading marks in the column. It was a very negative bite. I was more curious what would trigger a bite. Is it a time thing? If we fished from 10 pm to 2 am would it have been better.
Sometimes crappies only turn on at night, but that seems to be more of a certain lake thing from what I have seen.
Sometimes crappies only turn on at night, but that seems to be more of a certain lake thing from what I have seen.
This lake the bite starts right at dark and usually goes as late as you want to stay. But with the weather blowing in last night they were tight lipped
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>John Rasmussen wrote:</div>
Sometimes crappies only turn on at night, but that seems to be more of a certain lake thing from what I have seen.This lake the bite starts right at dark and usually goes as late as you want to stay. But with the weather blowing in last night they were tight lipped
Wind was brutal yesterday, had to hold onto the hub tight while setting up I bet.
I strapped it to my running boards on my truck and it wasn’t bad at all. I only put 1 ice anchor in. And I’m pretty sure that’s the 3rd time I ever even used a anchor.
Bear, Jan. 31 you said:”I don’t fish over basins” On this thread! Ha go back shallow is my advice if you want bigger fish. Just sayin’what you would probably say to me 
I dont typically, the lakes near me will have 25 shacks on the holes or basins so I try to stay away from them. But it was so cold and windy that day I didn’t want to hunt and search for fish. I wanted a quick easy outing and went to a public basin that was really quiet. Had 5 local skid shacks on it that no one occupied. I usually like to find my own spot and fish alone.
Usually looks like this
20220131_165341-scaled.jpg
I salute you! Soon I’ll be fishing shallow weed stuff again, nice thing about shallow spots is you also get more action on your tippies.
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