The crappies are already starting to feed guys! I have been seeing them caught on the river in town here(pool 1), and I have also heard of a report of a small local lake with open water producing several crappies.
I cant tell you which lake the crappies were coming from, but I can give you a couple tips on the river.
On the river, look for any slack water area, or warmer water inlet that is holding some bait and your likely going to find some fish… these can be springs, run off areas, culverts, or spillways. The culvert areas seem to be best with the deeper water, most often the fish will be tight to the wall or structure in the area.
For the lakes, the best place to start is smaller lakes with aireation systems, these lakes really took a beating in the recent warm weather, and a couple have fishable open water.
If your looking for true *slab* crappies in the metro area, they can be found on the Mississippi river if you spend the time to find the right spots. Coves, backwaters, scour holes at culverts, large eddys at major water inlets.. just about any relatively protected area with some cover, or deeper slack water(even 5′-10′ is ok) is a great place to start looking.
Baits of choice for me is the traditional feather or hair jig in 1/32 or 1/16 tipped with a crappie minnow under a small float(reduces snags) is always a proven producer. Small plastics will work, but I have much more confidence in hanging some meat on the hook to find the fish in the 1st place.
The water is cold, fish very slow right now for the best results.
I am not going to give out any locations, there are lots of places out there holding crappies right now. It takes a little work to find them, but once you do, it often pays off big!
Good places to start looking is just about anywhere on pools 1 & 2, and the lower regions of the Minnesota river around Pike Island. Dont be afraid to fish lumber in strait runs of the river, one log can hold lots of fish if its in the right area!
