Crappies are a cold blooded creature so the level of their activity will always be related to water temps. I caught crappies on a lake if the Fifty Lakes area 2 weekends ago. Well actually it was on a creek that beavers have dammed. We go all the way to the dam (1/4 to 1/2 mile) and anchor in 3 to 4 feet of water. Because of the dam the settlements settle out of the water and have created a small shallow ‘black’ silt bottom. Because of the silt bottom it absorbs the suns energy faster than say a rock or sand bottom. This lake is also tannin stained so visability is 3 feet at the max. The lake is also smaller and shallower than the lake my parents are on, so we tend to fish this lake on the opener because the stained water seems to me to hold more of the suns energy. I’ve found temperature differences as much as 6 or 7 degrees between this lake and the one my parents are on (which has had secchi disk readings of as much as 17′). The lake my parents are on is also deeper hence it will take longer for this lake to warm up. So I’ll generally go after crappies on the lake my parents are on a week after the opener. My advice I guess I’m trying to say is look for shallow black bottomed bays as far removed off the main lake as possible. Because this water will warm up first. Hence making the crappies more active. Also since they are in shallower water they tend to spook easier so sometimes it’s neccessary to move into these areas with stealth.

A friend and I got 17 crappies in the fifty lakes area yesterday. They were really slow to bite. Just like ice fishing. We would catch 3 to 5 then they would shut down. And we would move to another spot, and not get any and then got back to the spot where we caught them and get another 3 to 5. We did this until we had 17. I also caught a small nothern. We had to wait until they had the bobber underwater at least seven to ten seconds before we could set the hook, or else you ended up with nothing.

When I was a teenager I was incouragble also. I realized my problems were drugs and alcohol. My parents went the tough love route until I sobered up at age 20. I was sober for almost 15 years, and in the realm of insanity I decided to drink again. My parents went the tough love route again. I drank for another 5 years and now I’ve been sober (through AA) a little over a year. My mistakes in life were of my own making. I was fortunate enough to have parents like yourself who cared and instructed me how to live my life the right way. But they had to let me hit my own bottom alone. But I look at my fathers and my relationship as a little like the story of the prodigal son. My father now, and he’s the man I want to be like. I know because of my faith in Jesus Christ I’m able to tell my father I love him, and tell both of my parents that whenever I see them or email them. I just had to change the way I was thinking, for me to drink or use drugs is death and I no longer want to die.. I’ll pray for both you and your son. God Bless.

I’ve caught a few of them while fishing for crappies in the shallows with a twelve foot crappie pole and four pound test. 25 minutes to land the fish and I’m 4 to 8 crappies behind my brothers. But there fun to catch anyways.