Where does one concentrate on targeting crappie once the ice has come off the lakes. I know once the water warms up they move shallow in north facing bay’s, but we are ways from that. Are they still suspended over deeper holes next to spawning ground? Never really had much luck right after the ice goes.
I’d be looking at that first deep break adjacent to the shallows.
Until the first turn-over I’d look for them to be fairly close to where they were before ice out.
After that first turn the fish will migrate to deep water near where they’ll spawn and during afternoons when the water warms enough they’ll come shallow to eat and enjoy the warm water but will settle right back into that deep stuff as the water cools after sunset. Cold fronts and high-rising barometers will run them right to the bottom of the deep water until the water has warmed to about 54-55 degrees, then look along the deep side of the first primary break near shore.
Imagine submerged weed tops as being that first primary break and the bottom/weed roots being the deep water for locations having weeds. Sunken points will hold early pre-spawn crappies too. But for immediate ice out crappies look right where you last caught them under the ice at least until after the first turn-over in that area.
Check your water temperature and clarity. If the temp is under 39 degrees and fairly clean one day and crud-filled and 41 degrees the next you’ve likely had the first turn and it can take 3 to 10 days to settle the fish down after that event and they will not likely be found where you last saw them under the ice.
Also, when crappies transition from last ice/pre turn-over to post turn-over/ early pre-spawn they’ll tend to be scattered all along travel routes to pre-spawn staging areas until the water gets into the very high 40’s and low 50’s. Depending on the weather and the wind this can take some time. For tracking the water temp find yourself a submersible thermometer used by stream trout anglers and tie a 6 foot length of heavy cord to it. Lower the thermometer, WHILE HOLDING ONTO THE CORD, and check the temp down at least 4 feet….don’t rely on your transducer temp reading. You don’t catch fish right off your transom so why take the temp there? Get the temp down where the fish are.
Very good information there Tom! Thank You!
Wow TOM great post. I love to fish for crappies but tend to do poorly till spawn time. I get out once a week so cannot check daily water temps, but would you say that if you go to a known clear lake and it is cloudy that you should launch into a different lake and maybe have that plan ‘B’ in mind before you go? Do you prefer deep or shallow, dark or clear lakes this time of year? Water clarity? Would like to do better this time of year—–Thanks
Most of the water I fish is colored and has limited visibility. Clarity will depend a lot on rain fall and run off but this year, thus far anyway, run off will be a minimal impact on clarity where I fish.
Deep….shallow? Lot of things dictate where to fish. Afternoons with nice clear skies will warm shallow bays and shorelines and you’ll see crappies gravitate to those areas with warmer water. Wind can push mid lake cooler water to shorelines that one might think would have crappies on it only to find that the cooler water has kept the fish at bay. Barometric changes can keep fish deep in spite of nice shore-warming conditions. Rain related water rise will tank fish for a day or two.
Crappies at this time of year will most always have deep water nearby. The deep water affords them seclusion when the barometer is playing games and deep water is the most stable water when the river/lake is rising or storms pound the water with thunder. Think in terms of nice weather, shallow water by day. When the water starts to see consistent 50 degrees at the 6 feet I use as a benchmark for water temp, I will generally begin to see some consistent activity on shallow pre-spawn structure but deep water nearby will still be a requirement. Don’t pass up fishing if the fish have been bumped off the shallow stuff. Go deep, fish vertical, fish slower and use smaller, more compact jigs and baits. If I mark crappies deep during a cold front and colder water I drop a jigging demon down and use a piece of gulp minnow on the hook. Hits will be light but the fish will still hit.
I should add this. Crappies, whether river or lake, like vertical submerged structure. Bridge pylons, dock pilings, sunken trees all offer that. In cold water of winter under ice this stuff can help create current breaks in the rivers as well as food all year long. This vertical stuff can have fish stacked against it from top to bottom and often the water temp will dictate where along the structure the fish can be found so taking time to fish from top to bottom is important. You want to consider which side of this structure has shade too. Crappies in clearer water will seek the shaded side of this stuff, even at depth. Unlike white crappies that are happy in open water where shade isn’t found, black crappies really prefer the shaded side of things so as you fish down on this structure be sure to cover all sides of it.
I’ve made suggestions of fishing from top to bottom….that’s how you want to approach structure of this nature so you are not dragging struggling fish up past or thru others and spook them off.
Another great post-where do you river fish-Mississippi, Zumbro, Black? I will probably fish next weekend, boat or ice-so will be be 40 or less any advice lake or river.
Thanks
I fish the Zumbro a lot, but of late the water doesn’t want to warm up much. Yesterday it was at 42 degrees at 6 feet. I thought I’d find about 45-46 but nada. Cool air and constant blow doesn’t help. We’ve seen some rain with thunder here this evening but not enough rain to mess with water levels. Still, rain and wind will slow the Zum up bite-wise. The Lake City marina had some fish willing to play on Tuesday where the ice was off, but there was plenty of ice left in the inside areas of the harbors…may be gone now. If I took a boat, I’d focus at Lake City on the outside of the sailboat marina right up tight to the deep water adjacent to the breakwater and the pier. Cast to the rock , let your jig drop to the bottom and then slowly jig it away from the rock at the bottom of the rip rap where it meets the mud bottom. A small minnow on a jig might be the best approach just to locate fish. If they pick you on the drop you may want to rig a couple rods with slip floats and figure out the depth they are at. If you find a couple at mid column you can slide along the wall and find many at the same basic depth.
Early after this ice is off the back waters there are hundreds of locations on pools 4, 5, 5a and 6 that offer crappies and panfish. Crappies will be the first to go with any regularity. The best way to find the early crappies is to start where the winter fishermen had to leave off as the ice got bad. The water will still be fairly cold and the fish will not have moved very far.
I use all plastics or Gulp 1″minnows to get crappies, but having crappie minnows and/or waxies will up your percentages if plastic isn’t your thing.
Like anyone, I have to search each time I hit the water to determine where the bite is at. Once I find fish I try to establish if the fish are roaming to eat or if they are suspending and in a neutral mood. Most always with early ice-out crappies I find them at specific depths….fish too deep and you’ll never know they are there, fish too shallow and you may get nipped but find they won’t chase up to hit. That’s when I hang a float to target the water they are active in. I might fish when we’ve had three of four nice days with minimal wind and lots of sun that’s warmed the surface water up good and find crappies willing to chase a jig/plastic without a float. I always have rods rigged with and without floats so I can stay versatile.
Thanks for the info Tom!
Tom you should just write a book, I’ll buy it, you make money and I’ll stop buggin you with questions.
Anyway sounds like untill the water warms afternoon is the only time to go-I’ve always thought too that all year they are fairly close to where they spawn (unlike walleye and pike) and if you know where they winter you really have a good idea of the full picture. Still not clear about those spring turnovers, I wonder if Pepin even stratifies
Pepin has too much current to turn over effectively. Waters with little to no current are most affected by a turn-over. By the way, a turn over occurs when the water temp reaches 39 degrees at the surface.
Don’t always assume that the afternoon is “the time” to fish while the water is still real cool. I took time yesterday to run to the Zumbro and fished an hour in 43 degree water, all plastics, and caught good numbers…. in the rain yet. Nothing huge but nice 10 1/2 to 11 1/2 inch crappies. But if crappies are migrating from deeper water in the afternoon when the water gets a little warmer they are still going to be found somewhere along the deeper water adjacent to that warmer shoreline in the morning…..they aren’t swimming a half mile just to snuggle in warmer water. 50yards maybe but more like 50 feet is more probable.
The biggest mistake people make in the spring is that they see a whole lake to fish. Sit down with a good paper map of the lake and find points and shorelines that have the elements I’ve just mentioned and circle each location. Pick, say two, of these spots and focus on what they offer and really fish each one by picking apart what’s there. If the first one doesn’t pan out go to the second and again, really pick it apart. BUT, before you leave the lake, go back to that first spot and do it all over again. Fish do not turn on, on the whole lake, at the same time. A lake is nothing more than a myriad of micro biomes that have similarities but that are all different. Seriously, when you stop the boat at any new area, treat it as though you are starting at square one if the fish don’t hit in the first two minutes.
The key yesterday was to get the casts well away from shore and out over much deeper water while having a float set at about 4 feet. Every hit was from underneath and laid the float flat on the water before diving. By moving the float to fish deeper I took myself out of the strike zone. The fish liked the deeper water but definitely favored hitting upward. The barometer was sagging a bit yesterday morning from the previous day and I thought it might make a difference and it did.
Color was also a factor and my nemesis, pink/white, finally bit me. Every fish came off this color with the minnow bait on the right being a solid producer along with the paddletail found closer to the center of the picture. My general rule of thumb is that any bait color with a chartreuse tail is the right color but the fish had eyes for this pink/white number and I never got a bump using my more traditional colors.
Hypothetically this spring season of early open water should be a season of live bait and tough fishing conditions. I use plastic and I use Gulp 1″ minnows. Bait is not a part of my culture. When I still fished thru the ice my best catches came on open water plastics on conventional jigs, not the micro miniature stuff that the ice fishing industry wants you to believe is the sure thing. And as for staring locations in the very early spring or every early first ice, head to where that fish were at during the ice out or ice up. They will not be far away from either location.
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so after a few nights searching for the colors you posted I’m at a loss. A little help?
Cha-Ching. And by the way Tom, those are some fantastic looking plastics.
Cha-Ching. And by the way Tom, those are some fantastic looking plastics.
X 10000000 
Not likely going to find those colors on your pet bait shop’s display hooks. The baits most likely will not be found there either. The molds that create the baits are all made to order on a custom basis or are ordered from a custom maker in Europe. The colors in the baits shown in this thread are those that I made up for these baits.
The unfortunate part of these baits is that the European ring-bodied paddletail molds are able to make only one bait at a time so they are not going to be for sale, at least not until I can amass another ten molds of each bait. The split tailed minnow is a domestic mold that makes ten per injection and those I can make a few of.
For those who want to see other baits and color examples you can check out this link. While I have maybe two hundred bait/color pics on the computer I am slowly shifting many of them to this site for easier viewing by ya’ll.
them sure are pretty plastics!!!!!!!!!!!! 
The ones shown in this thread got a couple crappies this morning but purple/chartreuse was the king pin color today. The crappies were DEEP compared to the last few days but they were way more aggressive this morning.
The floats were pegged at about 7 feet while casting to about 10 feet of water. There’s a break at about out in around 8 feet that creates a small shelf and the crappies all came over the 10 foot water right next to where the shelf shallows it up a bit.
Really good stuff, Tom!
Thanks for your time on this post Tom!
I love the plastics I’ve gotten from you!
Tom. Thanks a bunch! I’ve learned more reading this in five minutes than ever before for early season crappies. I can’t wait to get the boat out and ready and get on the water!
Any updates Tom? My temp gauge said 45 (I did not get the temp gauge because I would let go of the rope OR get it caught in one or both of my props) Going on Friday to the lake I pmed you about, will focus on points and weededges. Have had no luck pounding the shallows in what should have been perfect conditions-Time to go deep.
Tom or anyone else-forgot to ask-what type or brand of slip bobber do you like?
Just read an article about waggler styles-the line slides at the bottom instead of going threw the whole base-knot rubber stop?
Thanks
I like the Thill bobbers that feed through the bottom I think the line feeds through them better plus how how the line lays in the water and there’s a good variety of options
I found the water all the way up to 45 degrees this morning along with nearly a foot of rise and caught crappies as I described. 1/32 jig with a plastic generally under 2″. No specific color preference.
On the floats. I do not use slip floats per se, but do use the Thill mini-stealth in a size 2 for the 1/32 heads and a size 3 for 1/24 and 1/16 heads. I set my floats up to be static on the line yet easily slipped up or down to adjust the depth. With nothing tied on the line slip the tag end thru the hole at the bottom of the plastic stem, then slide the black latex tube on the line and continue running the tube right over the line and stem until the tube is butted against the float body. Now tie on your jig or hook. Add your weight as per usual if you are fishing plain hook. Just hold the line below the float in one hand and slide the float up or down with the other to adjust. Simple….very effective float. Upward hits are instantly seen and any hit will be broadcast in a blink.
Most all of the fish caught today were at about 7 feet over 10-12 feet of water.
Here’s a pic as a visual aid in mounting the floats.
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Tom-You use the Stealth as a fixed float, so did you have it set at 7′ up your line? In another post about the marina on Pepin you do recommend using a slip float-some people if they target panfish in >5 ft. will cast or vertical jig. Stealth looks good I’ll have to get a couple.
Thanks
When I am on those docks at Lake City I am fishing vertically, no float. When this mini stealth float is rigged as shown it will be able to be adjusted simply by holding the float in one hand and the line either above of below the float [depending on whether you want to raise or lower it] with the other hand and simply move the float. It takes quite a bit of whipping around to make the float move while casting and if you have a fish on you can reel right up to the float and keep on cranking to shorten the distance between rod tip and float. The latex tube is the key to this unique adjustability.
I’m about 6 feet tall and I am using a 6’6″ rod right now so I can set that float at 7 feet and still cast quite a distance….if the wind isn’t straight in my face. Where I am fishing is a little different too in that this is about the only place I set a float this deep.
The mini stealth is a solid investment as far as floats go. Other floats may show an upward hit but none will react as fast as the mini stealth and as far as depth adjustment there is no other type of float that sets as easily or quickly for depths down to five to that seven foot mark and still allows you to fish fairly fast.
Thanks Tom-also it seems lots of other set floats would put more stress on your line than the Stealth. Will look for the at FF today.
I just got back home from a quick trip and this is one of several that challenged me a bit today by not coming up any higher than 8 feet to hit.
This morning was chillier than yesterday when they were found down at 7 feet. I didn’t bother with a temp reading today but now wish I would have.
You can’t see it. but the mini stealth is on the line.
I wanted to mention as well that the mini stealths come on a clip on version as well. I’ll buy those floats and pull the plastic stick/stem out of the bottom of the float body and pull the sliding clip completely off and just toss it. I turn the stem around and glue it back in the body so I have a solid stem, not slotted. Then I punch a hole thru the stem about 1/16 up from the end using a paper clip that’s been heated. Once the hole is punched and the overflow has cooled I trim the overflow off with a razor blade and then add a spare latex tube.
The mini stealths as seen in the rigging picture can be tough to find but they can be ordered on line from Thill or Lindy tackle. You’ll want the bb2 for 1/32 heads. The next size is the bb4 which will handle up to a 1/16 head.
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Tom=so were you swinging an 8 foot stretch of line behind a fixed float? Would’nt a slip float have been easier? Nice that the stealth lies flat as you say but don’t you wait for it to go down anyway? Nice fish BTW.
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