Great morning for crappie catching

A friend and I shared his boat this morning and chased crappies on the heels of the recent cold front. Did well as long s we stayed with 56 degree or warmer water. Crazy fishing today. I was cleaning my sunglasses with the jig over the side of the boat down about 6″. It was basically hanging right on the side of the boat and a nice 12″ crappie came along and snapped it up. Most of our fish came in about 4 to 6 feet of water right off shore of where they’ll spawn. Lots of males very dark now.
I kept enough for a meal tonight and the females’ eggs were starting to get fairly loose so it won’t be long.

A 2 1/2″ Kietech Swing Impact bait on a 1/16 ballhead under a float was stellar….had to be purple with a chartreuse tail. Any other color got zip. For that matter, any other bait/color combo got zip. Nice fish today.

Nice Tom! I love seeing those really dark black colored crappies when the spawn gets going.

We hit the lake again quite early this morning and had 27 degrees with more than a breeze out of the north. Miserable start but the wind was mostly to blame. Honestly we never found an area without wind messing things up.

The water had taken a 4-6 degree knock downward from Weds. I thought we’d having to really dig to find a decent hit but nada. The male are thick on the edges of spawning water. Not totally shallow but not very darned far off it either. We caught a mess of male fish today with most being right around 12″. One curiosity today was that we caught as many silver sided fish today as dark. Not black yet on the dark ones but getting there. We now the silver fish were males because they were spraying and the bellies were not distended.

Purple/chartreuse tail Kietech Swing Impacts at 2 1/2″ took the honors again today. Other colors and other paddle tailed baits in the 1 1/2″ range were tried but nothing came to them.

WE had enough of the wind by 10:30 and pulled it. With the forecast being quite cold for the next few days I’m assuming the water temps will drop even more and slow down any ideas of a spawn anytime soon or at least string it out. Its hard to get accustomed to this beast wind on the water. If Iowa didn’t suck and Canada blow it would be nice on the water with the sun.

I always struggle finding Crappies on Pepin, for spawning on Pepin do they use more sandy areas or timber as it seems many flats have more muck which I believe they would not use for spawning, I have been wrong before.

I went on Wednesday evening for about 3 hours. I left at sunset but I considered staying out with the bright moon. Anyone ever target crappies in the spring with a moon out at night (not ice fishing)? It wasn’t gangbusters like it was a couple weeks ago. I caught enough to stay interested and an accidental 17 inch largemouth. They were all released fully alive to complete the spawning process.

Aren’t those swing impacts paddletails? How do you get any action fishing them under a float? I would think they just hang down unless you drag them along.
I have been doing well with the 3.5″ paddletails on the river but dragging them in current with half ounce jigs. Different species of course.
I assume you referring to LZ? If so, is it true that they have the new public launch open at fisherman’s?

eyeguy507 wrote:

Aren’t those swing impacts paddletails? How do you get any action fishing them under a float? I would think they just hang down unless you drag them along.

I assume you referring to LZ? If so, is it true that they have the new public launch open at fisherman’s?

Fishermans is open to launching now. Like the Pondy, no charge.

The Swing Impacts are a paddletail bait. They’re super under a float by just giving the float small successive pops, then let rest a few seconds and repeat as you retrieve slowly. These baits are super lithe, really active. Even slight wave action sets them in action.

I fish these on 1/32 heads under a #2 [bb2] Mini Stealth float, not the ones with the sleeve that locks the line or locks open to use as a slip float but the originals with the silicone tube that locks the line to the float stem yet allows for instant depth change just by slipping the float on the line. If we get into wind I’ll switch up to a 1/16 head and the #3 mini-stealth float [bb4]. Either weight and float combination is great for down to about 6 feet. Below that I use the newer #3 mini-stealth with a 1/16 head having either a #6 or #4 hook depending on bait size. The Swing Impacts will fish with either hook size.

Crappies, even those in a neutral mood really hammer this bait. In the case of upward hits, these original mini stealth floats are primo at showing such hits, wayyyyy better than any other float on the market.

Tom P. wrote:

I always struggle finding <em class=”ido-tag-em”>Crappies on Pepin, for spawning on Pepin do they use more sandy areas or timber as it seems many flats have more muck which I believe they would not use for spawning, I have been wrong before.

Check inside marinas along shorelines, especially if there’s some shade offered by trees. On the lake proper look for areas where shallow rock and fine gravel/coarse sand meet. Natural indents in the shoreline are good areas to snoop. On a lake like the Zumbro there whole lake sees spawning action. The river locations will be harder to pin point. Shoreline weeds make good areas to poke around if they are not in direct current.

One reason spawning river fish can be tough to pin down is that the time from fertilization until the hatch is only days and I don’t think the fry stay put very long. Once the bulk of the fry have moved off the nest the males boogie. Unless there’s a high water event on the Zumbro the beds aren’t disturbed so easy by current and the nests stay active longer.

Backwaters are rife with spawning crappies and much easier to locate due to the similarities with lakes.

Read somewhere that crappies like to spawn in reeds, no reeds? Then wood, no reeds or wood at a good depth? Then emerging pads. This has really held true for the lakes I have fished.
Oh and ask around, those river guys will tell you where they spawn (kidding those guys will tell you zilch! doesn’t hurt to ask though)

tim hurley wrote:

Read somewhere that crappies like to spawn in reeds, no reeds? Then wood, no reeds or wood at a good depth? Then emerging pads. This has really held true for the lakes I have fished.
Oh and ask around, those river guys will tell you where they spawn (kidding those guys will tell you zilch! doesn’t hurt to ask though)

I know but had to ask just because.

Nice report Tom. We enjoyed some really good crappie fishing up here ahead of the cold snap.
I’m gonna have to place an order here soon!

River guys are notoriously tight lipped, was not giving you a hard time Tom P.
River spots esp. backwaters can get hit hard, so I get it. In Canada they are cagey about Lake Trout, they will tell you all you need about walleyes. Pepin to me is half lake half river.

For some reason I can figure out lake Crappies pretty easy but Pepin has been a struggle since I started to fish it. I know there are some huge Crappies out there as I have caught some while trolling for Walleyes pushing that 14-15 inch mark. Maybe one day I may get as smart as Tom when it comes to targeting Crappies on Pepin that are not in the known community spots.