Mother Nature is a controlling force when it comes to when crappie migrate into prespawning areas on the lakes or rivers you fish. The length of day or you can say the amount of day light initiates the movement of crappie from its wintertime habitat towards shallower water. North Texas and Oklahoma crappie fishing guide Kayle Ward knows this time of year an angler has to be flexible and open minded to catch fish as crappie migrate.


“Over the past 4 years of traveling and fishing different bodies of water,” Ward owner of Reelin’ Them In Guide Service and 2025 Crappie Master National Champion continued, “I have started fishing in deeper water. Of course that depends on the body of water you are fishing, however, whatever the depth every year it’s the same migration from moving shallow to spawn then back out to deeper water post spawn.”


Ward noted anglers should focus on secondary ditches or back in creek arms, however, not way to the back of the creek arms. “Crappie in my area of North Texas and South Oklahoma will start heading that way while it will be later for more northern states,” said Ward.

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Normally, Ward and his clients are chasing suspending roaming white crappie that are bigger than the black crappie. He finds them on forward facing sonar and drops the lure to them with a 13- to 15-foot pole to catch them. “ It’s important to get the lure down to them fast,” Ward continued, “If they see it this time of year they will eat it.”


To get down quickly to the roaming crappie Ward uses a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce lead or tungsten weight pegged with a bobber stop to keep it in place and below that a 1/8- to 1/4-ounce jighead rigged with a soft plastic lure. “I rarely fish any lighter-weight jighead then a 1/8-ounce head,” Ward went on, “I want the lure to get down to the crappie and get down fast. Another bonus for clients with this setup is having a weight and a jighead they have 2 marks on the graph making it easier to find their lure as it drops down to the crappie .” The heavy setup with its heavy jighead and weight gets the weight quickly down. Ward rarely if ever pushes the lure forward to the crappie instead dropping it directly down seems to get most of the bites.


Typically Ward likes to use bright colored lures when fishing this time of year. “The two lures I use the most are 2-inch Slab Slay’R and 2-inch Baby Shad,” Ward continued, “I’m using bright color patterns. I like the ones with pink, chartreuse or orange colors. I will start with them and then if the crappie aren’t biting them or slow up, I will change to lures that are less bright.”


Ward had two tips for anglers headed out to the lake to fish. First tip was to head to where the water color was stained or dirty. This can be especially productive in coves or creeks for catching roaming and suspending white crappie. In creeks he will probably be halfway back, but not into the back of the creek.

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Second tip and important to know this time of year is crappie can be lethargic and hard to get to bite your lure even if you put your lure right in front of them. “What I do when crappie start refusing to bite a lure that I know is right in front of them, I mean I can see them on forward facing sonar,” Ward continued, “I will just shake the rod tip a little, but not change what depth the lure is suspending at and that movement can really fire them up to bite the lure.”

Article by Brad Wiegmann