Crappie when located can be caught in 39 degree water. Location of course is the first place to start; lure choice to finding fish the other. Here are my recommendations based on years of fishing soft plastic lures for crappie (though live grubs and worms under a float are always a no brainer.)
tackle: small diameter braid (8# test with 2# diameter)
12″ fluorocarbon leader of 6# test for best lure action/strike detection
unpainted ball head jigs in these sizes: 1/32 oz, 1/24 oz, 1/16 oz in hook sizes #8 (smallest) to #4 largest) (Ebay is the best and cheapest source when you have time)
soft plastic grubs (general category) – IE Crappie Magnet grub catches everything as well a over 100 other lure designs
a Beetle Spin with jig and grub is a bit producer.
Find crappie this time of year in mostly shallow water going into pre-spawn. Schools can yield dozens of fish. Work the lures slow with pauses, twitches and glides. Fish can also be scattered in 7′ or less water, in bays, parallel to shore and off points and humps.
Many are found under overhanging trees over steep drops.
Other lures work, but I put my money on those that are most versatile. Soft plastic are it.
I’ve chased crappies a couple times this year on some small bodies of water up north. The first outing found crappies suspended 5-10′ below the surface in anywhere from 15-40′ of water on the wind blown side. Surface water temp was about 50 degs. Last Sunday I was able to find them on a wind blown shore in shallow water (4-5′) using a slow cast & retrieve. Surface temp was 54 degs. Those fish were grabbing a 1/32oz hair jig & 1/16oz, 2-1/2″ white twister tail so they weren’t fussy about lure size. There was some sun on both fishing occasions. I was also marking suspended fish on a different lake 15-20′ down but couldn’t get any takers.
A good starting point might be to follow the wind. I’ve seen this before where the windy side has the warmer water and consequently the more active fish.
If you have a lake in mind I’d stop at a local bait shop or two and ask how the fishing has been on that lake and where some of the action has been found already. Crappies won’t move far from the last point of activity just because a cold front rolls thru, but they will probably be found deeper. If shallow bays or shorelines had afternoon activity prior to the front, I’d look at the slightly deeper water adjacent to these locations and check the entire water column from bottom to top. The deep water is a crappie’s post front security water, but they can be found anywhere top to bottom in it. Rely on electronics to tell you where to find them depth-wise.
Again asking at a baitshop that caters to the lake of choice I’d ask what has been the bait of choice and then start with it. Personally I do not use live bait on crappies and as close as I will get to it is Gulp minnows or PowerBait minnows. My preferred bait is plastic though and in cold front conditions I slow it up a little and often go to a less aggressive profile, but I seldom go to smaller baits with Gulp being the exception: if I have been catching crappies on a 1-1/2″ paddletail I might switch to a stinger-type bait of the same length. I’m more willing to play the color switch game in post cold front conditions: what worked two days ago might hand you a skunk. The biggest ace in the hole is staying flexible and if fish are marked but tight lipped the Gulp will come out. I like the 1″ minnows in water temps much under 60 degrees and this minnow will work great right down in cold water too. Much above 60 degrees and I’ll use the next size larger Gulp minnow or power minnows.
Post cold front crappies do not stop eating but they do change how they eat. Their feeding windows may close up and shorten in duration. Instead of popping a bait good they may simply slide up to it and suck it in gently, much like a winter crappie. Cold front crappies can be notoriously depth specific and may hit or be located in as small as a couple foot band of water, hence a float can be your best buddy. Little things can make the difference to these fish and a clear line can be a huge advantage but let the fish dictate whether they’ll hit a braid or colored line even with a leader.
This post front time is a great time to fish vertically in and amongst the branches of sunken wood or limbs or right up tight to the outside edges of weed lines or right down on top of the weeds themselves to coax crappies out. Wind can be a double edged sword if fishing this period and in sunken structure as boat control has to be spot on or you’ll be snagged up a lot. On the other edge is the refraction from the wave activity to help hide your boat’s shadow and outline.
Find out where the action has been and head right to that area and start snooping. If this lake has just seen ice out those crappies will be ready for meat instead of bugs so they’ll work plastics for you but be ready to switch colors and profiles until you hit on one that works.
We found them last weekend in a 4-5 foot deep depression in the middle of a 3 foot deep flat. They didn’t move much over the three days that we fished there, but their preferences as far as presentation goes sure did. When the water was colder they wanted natural colored jigs (browns, olives, black) that were sitting mostly still in the water. As it warmed up they started to like brighter colors and a quicker retrieve. I was throwing flies, so I went from small nymphs under an indicator to using a yellow streamer worked back to the boat with a quicker pace. My daughter and her husband were using jigs under a pencil bobber and 4# test line. I tie some standard fly patterns on small jigs and it works better for them than live bait.
S.R.
20190511_171320.jpg
20190511_183735.jpg
Looks like you have fun Steve. What’s that hanging in the redhead’s ear? That’s how I look fly fishing.
Hey Tom, Sharon absolutely loved the earrings. And they brought her good luck too.
S.R.
Definitely lucky earrings for catchin’ crappies!
Img-1-1.jpg
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
