Bowl Lakes for Crappies

Hello everyone I was looking for some help. I have a lake where I know crappies are in but during the summer I have a hard time with them. the lake is just a bowl. Its max depth is 29 feet and I was wondering how I would tackle it. What kind of techniques would possibly work such as slip bobbers with minnows or jigs and wether night bit would be better or early mornings. Thank you very much for the input.

Find a weed bed and troll a 1/16oz tube jig by the edges of the weed beds would be my first inclination.

I fish a lake like this….find the deepest spots near breaks and look for suspended fish on your electronics. I like to drag small plastics or jig and minnow through those spots. I think slip bobber would also work.

My guess is the fish are moving constantly so if you find them you’ll need to keep moving. I usually give it 10 minutes and move if I don’t catch anything.

I just did that this weekend in the Brainerd area. Most of the lake was rung with lily pads and weeds. Once we found some clean water we slow trolled Road Runners with skirts and whacked them pretty good. If it is a round lake like you say, go into search mode and slow troll the edges. That should turn up something. Also, talk to the locals to see if there is a crappie bite in the first place. Someone will know. Hopefully a local bait shop could offer some insight.

These bowl shaped lakes generally have some shoreline weeds that peter out as one gets to deeper and deeper water. Matt and Mocha are both spot on with locating the weeds but the edges will likely offer more action….if the crappies are relating the weeds. Crappies at this time of year in lakes that are basically structure-less beyond the shorelines will suspend over the deepest water and often their travel is more up and down in the water column as they seek some relief from the sun and daily temperature fluctuations.

If you can locate a thermocline with your electronics try focusing on fish you mark just above it. If the water is very clear, maybe fish either very early in the morning or late into the evening/early night time. Try fishing on cloudy days and days with significant wind , while being challenging due to the wind, can often be killer days because wave action will help dissipate light and break down the heat from above.

Something that slips right past a lot of anglers at this time of year on bowl lakes is to slow troll a small crank bait. A # 9 Rapala in either floating or sinking can be a great lure. I use a lot of YoZuri sticks and cranks at this time of year, primarily on the Mississippi but small lakes will dish up nice crappies while using a more aggressive bait. I’ll get a picture of my crank box used for crappies and post it here for you.

Here’s one of the boxes of crappie cranks I carry, the other is still in my buddies boat. Most of these baits will be trolled using a 3/8 drop-shot weight, some in the lower right hand compartment, and three way swivels. The baits at the top of the box are all 2″ -2 1/2″. Those closer to the bottom of the box are also hot items for sunfish right about now.

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Tom, those must be some HUGE Crappies to bite a #9 Rapala…just sayin’…

A #9 Rapala is NOT a big bait. Trolling walleyes on rip-rap with #11 and #13 Rapalas will catch crappies on the Mississippi. Crappies in bowl lakes compete for food and something as large as a 3 to 4 inch sunfish can become dinner for them. Crappies eat much larger foods than most anglers realize. I had the occasion to fish a smallish lake near Backus and we were trolling #7 Shadraps, I believe possibly nines, off the break outside of weeds looking for walleyes. We caught several crappies in the 12 inch range which went back to the cabin for supper and those crappies all had frogs in their guts. Not small frogs either. Crappies don’t have to be huge to eat larger foods.

Tom, thanks for the insight–Yes, a #9 Rapala Stickbait is different than a #9 Shadrap…Sounds like some very nice Crappies nonetheless!!

Tom about what speed do you troll at? Are you dragging bottom? What about leader length.
Thanks

Troll just fast enough to give the baits subtle action. Using the drop shot weight under a three-way with a very short dropper line I usually tie in three to four feet of leader line from the swivel to the lure. The very small baits get a slightly shorter line.

I don’t fish these anywhere near bottom. The dropper weight simply allows me to fish more vertical with the small cranks in tow and I usually will start by targeting water maybe 6 feet deep and drop lower as time dictates. In lakes like these suspended crappies are way more willing to shoot out of weed cover to grab a small crank and having a good handle on what’s happening is to one’s advantage, hence the vertical nature of the presentation. The further away from the weeds or more to the middle where there’s no structure the trolling speed gets dropped down to a crawl as I have found that while they will still hit they are not going to chase much.

Submerged weeds hold the aces so to speak, but the suspended crappies will still obliged you if you’re willing to slow things up. And as mentioned, you may need to fish closer to the low light periods in clear water lakes, even around the weeds.

Tom,
When is your book of Crappy wisdom coming out?
Great info as usual.

Tom-why not just fish a plug that is designed to fish vertically like a ice fishing plug-you could tie directly to the lure which would mean you could feel the take better and would be simpler.

I like the way these cranks swim. I don’t have much ice stuff anymore. Ice and I aren’t good company.

I tried small crankbaits on a lake in northern St. Louis county that held some enormous crappies. It worked great….except every 5 minutes a hammer-handle Northern would snap it off your line. It turned out to be an expensive way to catch Crappies. We went back to jigs.

SR

we have a ponds that are basically like this around here. we find crappies suspended over deep water. we find any structure close to that deep water and drag jigs or cranks around until we find them.

Tom, some great ice fishing plugs out there to try in the open water-be ready though the retailer will look at you closely and ask to make sure you are using the plug for ice fishing-you can lie: but be convincing.

Steve Root wrote:

I tried small crankbaits on a lake in northern St. Louis county that held some enormous crappies. It worked great….except every 5 minutes a hammer-handle Northern would snap it off your line. It turned out to be an expensive way to catch Crappies. We went back to jigs. SR

Steve:

I tried to write this a week ago, noticed it didn’t take and haven’t had time to get back to ya regarding…

It seems that when I was fishing braid (10#/4# diameter) and using the appropriate 10# floro leader, I was cutting off at the uni knot!!! Well I had some 20# floro from my FL fishing and said I gotta try it. Well I have been experimenting and continue to be pleasantly surprised at the results.

At first I used it walleye fishing in the spring with friends who always fished clear mono, even at dusk when light was at its worst and I had broken out the green or yellow mono for increased vis. Well it worked out extremely well!!! While I wasn’t beating my friends by huge numbers, I was certainly keeping up with their catches!!!

Fast forward to last spring, where I was fishing with a bass guru and we were chasing early spring crappies and bass. Well I had two rods and the panfish rod had 2# mono on it and was woefully undergunned for the wood and weeds we were in. So I was left to try something different. I had 10# floro on a spool in my bag and tried to put some on that spinning rod, of course it twisted up in no time. So I was left to the walleye rod setup above that I was going to use for bass if they seemed to be biting.

Well the famous Kalin’s crappie scrub on a 32nd oz. jig on that 20# and I was catching 10″ gills!!! My avatar has that shown!!! What I found out in that lake was if the panfish weren’t biting, the hammer handles were. Never bit off, line bit up, but never cut off.

Well last fall, same set-up for perch, 40″ musky takes my perch!!! Of course the jig was in the right spot, but I felt comfortable that I had the right line to get it in the boat, which we succeeded in doing. My brother was outfishing me in the perch dept., so I did downsize my floro to 10# that day, but a testament to fishing aggressive until the fish tell you otherwise!!!

Now I am going to go out and try some trolling for crappies and perch before the fish fry walleye fishing tonight!!!

Mark