Crappie Help

I live in Southwestern MN and a lot of the lakes around here are really shallow. I have had a lot of luck targeting crappies by basins in deeper lakes, but I am having some trouble finding them consistently on these shallower lakes.

The DNR survey numbers are really good for these lakes and wondering what I should possibly be looking for in lakes that max out at 8-12 feet.

There aren’t many features to some of these lakes and I use my Navionics app to find depths to save some time.

I like exploring new lakes and trying to find spots to fish but having a lot of trouble to even know where to start on some of these lakes, especially the bigger ones that are over 1,000 acres.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Not an easy task, and there are a number of factors when chasing them in shallow basin lakes.
Most often, they are roaming here today, gone tomorrow. If you figure out the primary food soure it gets easier. They can be cruising weeds, mud flat, transition lines…. a few of the big shallow basins I fish here has a primary food source of bugs rather than minnows. So it’s pushing hundreds of holes over mud

Kip, you talking Ice fishing or open water?

Ice fishing

Kip Kovar wrote:

<strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Ice fishing

How accurate are your lake maps?

Maybe try even the slightest depressions where you find the bottom has changed from mud to sand or if you can find any weed lines next to the deepest water.

Maps are pretty accurate.

Are there cribs in the lake?

Problem with shallow lakes with little structure the crappie can be scattered all over. All you can do is keep moving until you find them. I wouldn’t fish one spot more than a few minutes if no fish, move.

I almost always do better cutting lots of holes and moving around-if any little difference in structure or bottom content will concentrate fish you will be on a hot spot. I fished a truly featurless basin with a guy who sat in his house while I ran around cutting, fishing and moving around. He out fished me because he spent more time with his lure in the water. So if you think the panfish are just roaming around just stay put.