I definitely appreciate your advice. I do think there is a lot to be said for continuing to move around and find active fish. I am better than I used to be but still working on that, continuing to move and try new spots.

I have been focusing on targeting cover, and I am going to try targeting bait fish, particularly tight grouped balls of bait that look like they have predators under them.

I haven't been fishing in any water deeper than 25 feet, and I am going to look there as well on logan martin. It seems complicated this time of year, like the fish could be quite shallow or very deep or anywhere in between, which just means I need to spend more time looking. My outboard motor has been out of commission for a while which has made it harder to cover a lot of water.

I enjoy the challenge of figuring fish out, and I recognize that I need to stop fishing what I want to fish and let the fish tell me where they are and what they want. Thanks everyone for the input.

Quote Originally Posted by Ditch Basser View Post
Find the baitfish schools, Crappie will be there or very close by.

When the Crappie aren't feeding, and the water is 40 and below sometimes they will lay flat on the bottom. I've caught Crappie in those conditions with mud on their fins and belly. I'm not a deep-water guy and typically catch my fish in 10 feet of water or less year-round. Finding the baitfish is always the key. Next is depth of fish since Crappie will come up to hit a bait, but don't look down. Then bait color and size and finally the action of the bait.

Especially in winter the baitfish school you see may be small gills or stripe instead of shad. If you don't catch any Crappie on the first school you find then keep moving. The perfect setup is a bait school with large fish just below the school. In my experience these are usually Crappie following the shad and picking of weaker members of the group.

I think when you find Crappie on vertical structure, they are waiting for baitfish to move by to rush out and get a quick meal. This is the reason when fishing laydowns I keep moving looking to just catch the one or two active school on each piece of structure. I find I catch more by continuing to move rather than anchoring or tying up and sitting in one place.