Tainter Lake – Crappies – 4/5/10

The “Crappie Hotline” has been ringing the past week, but I have not been taking the call until yesterday. My friend Chris Granley is one of those guys that is always on top of the spring crappie bite. He gets out after work and weekends as much as he can to scout and hunt down their every move. Yesterday, he even spent his lunch hour doing some last minute surveying to make sure we had our boat over prime crappie water. He never disappoints me and yesterday was no exception. Many times I play the role of the “guide”, so I enjoy going out with folks like Chris that say sit back and enjoy me showing you my home turf. We set out on Tainter Lake.

I had posted last week that I found 53 degrees on Wissota and thought I was getting a reading in error. Chris’s reports from Tainter confirmed that my reading was not in error. The water warmed up very fast this spring. We had 55 degree water on Tainter lat night. We found the crappies scattered from 2 FOW out to 10 FOW. Most of our bites came in more shallow, but there was plenty of action out deeper. It didn’t seem crucial to be in real close proximity to wood either. They were roaming around with stealing a meal on their mind. We anchored in one spot and estimated we flipped 70 crappies over the side of the gunwale. Not bad for a quick trip after work trip.

Chris and I are old school when it comes to crappie fishing. Float, sinker and minnow tipped hook is what we prefer. It seems to get the job done. One small change I’ve made recently is to add a barrel swivel and use a leader. I like to use a superline for my main line and then use a low test mono or flouro leader. If I break of by getting too deep into submerged brush, I don’t lose my whole set up and have a float drifting away on me. Some folks will even use this system and have pre-tied leaders on quick snaps ready to go. I like to use a good quality balsa float such as Thill. Thill even makes a float with a brass grommet to prevent line wear on the top of slip tube. Those are on my shopping list.

I added a photo to show Chris at battle headquarters in the bow. He has three rods out one side of the boat and a couple waiting in the reserve. If he breaks off, all he has to do is reach behind him and grab another rod. For married guys with full time jobs our fishing time is precious. We can tie up a couple extra rods while sitting on the couch when the wife is watching reality TV. Fishing time is fishing time.

A quick note on conservation. Spawning crappies are vulnerable to over harvest. Take only what you will eat and release the bigger fish. Target males for harvest. Bulging egg filled bellies are one obvious clue, but another clue is if you look at the tails. Males go in to prepare the bed by fanning a spot with their tail. A tattered tail is another clue you may have a male in hand.

Now I need to get over to Wissota and get on top of that bite.

Sully