Winter on the Pocomoke, frustrated

[Zippy]

Hi everyone,

Ive always been a typical prespawn, spawn crappie fisherman. I love this fish and have tried several times to figure out the post spawn, summer fall and winter bite. Although I have always caught fish, my catches have been spotty at best. Other than the spring I have never been able to find these fish in tight schools. Here I am again pulling my hair out trying to locate crappie on the Pocomoke.

Over the past several weeks I have had days where I caught one crappie, a day where I caught 5, and today not one. The day I caught 5 they were all spread out and not tightly schooled. At the start of today's trip I was determined to figure it out, water temp was 46 degrees, cloudy with a low incoming tide. I started out finding the main channel drop off along an inside bend in the river and motored along until I saw a nice piece of wood on the fishfinder, I dropped a bouy and casted to it as well as tried to verticle jig.... Nothing.

I then repeated this pattern for several hours with no bites other than possibly a nibble from a sunny. The deepest water I was in off the ledge was 16 feet with the adjacent flat at about 6 feet. I never caught one. Gave up trying to locate them in deep water and just casted on a 6 foot deep flat and caught one tiny bass.

Feeling frustrated that I can't figure this out. I have heard stories of nice catches in the winter on this river but not for me.

Any advice on depths, inside or outside bends, tides etc? Where are they. Seemed to be big carp rolling on the surface all over the river today btw.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[captmikestarrett]

Winter crappie are always in the main channel where the flow of the tide is almost nothing on full outgoing. Rip rap walls with a southern exposure and deep water up against the rip rap. On the Potomac we find them in 12 feet of water on main creeks that do not have a major feeder creek. Just a huge muddy flat to drain from. Winter fishing is not easy as the bite only lasts an hour or two on outgoing. Got to have sun and clear water. Then comes the issue of lures vs bait.

Yea that is why I will not take clients out in the fall for them.. real hit and miss.

Capt Mike

[Zippy]

Thanks Capt Mike that helps.

[tear-em-up]

Capt Mike summed it up good.There easy in spring thats why most people only fish them then.We still use lures 95 % of the time alot times just holding em still in winter.They can change how they want it from day to day also,1 day vertical and still next day slow retreive.

[Zippy]

Thanks tear-em-up I'll keep looking. Are you guys disregarding structure on the bottom and just fishing the deep flat at the center of the channel? Paying any attention to bends in the river etc or just probing until you find a school? My fish finder almost never shows fish on the bottom unless some of those "piles" I'm seeing are actually tight schools of fish. I don't plan on using any bait, I'm mostly a jig fisherman. Are you using Browns and blacks for your bodies? One of the best colors for me is a dark silvery gray/green sassy shad type jig body.

[Mikeguard01]

You will probably get some different opinions on where to look. All bodies of water can be different. One place I fish in the winter we look for schools of shad, the crappie and other fish won't be far away. I agree Mike and tear rip rap with almost no current. Also don't forget bridge pilings, boat docks, and piers, anything that will hold heat from the sun and also provide shade.

I also have quite a few spots where they can be located very shallow in winter in 4 to 6 fow adjacent to deep water. These are shore fishing spots, whenever a boat would show up in these areas the bite would be over. It would take 20 minutes to an hour before we would catch any fish after they left.
Try to keep a log when you do find fish to include the location, time of year, water temp and clarity, and weather pattern. The more info the better.
Fishing in winter can be tough, but once you find them it will be well worth the effort.
Good Luck
Mike

[Zippy]

Thanks Mike that's all good advice. This reminds me of fly fishing. Fly fished a ton from an early age and occasionally caught a trout, never many, but I kept trying. Traded some art work for a lesson from a local expert when I was 22 years old. One two hour session and it changed my understanding of fly fishing, simplified my approach and from that day forward I caught trout almost every time out. Sometimes it only takes one little change and it all clicks. Thanks for the advice I'm excited to go out again and give it a try.

[tear-em-up]

We use alot of chartruese and smelt fin-s,going out of town again this weekend prolly no fishing for me .

[Zippy]

Got out today and yesterday, caught fish but not a ton. At the very least I got a good sense of what the bite feels like. Really gentle, just a tiny tap followed by slack as the fish took the jig from below. A lot like ice fishing. Started out two turns of the reel off the bottom about 2.5 feet, caught some small ones. Came up another foot or two and got a few bigger. All in 15 feet, steep drop off main channel with some fallen wood below.

[mouse4x4]

Where are you fishing on the river. You need to get up above the snow hill bridge for best results at least up around goat island an all that. We slayer them constantly above the bring but my fishing buddy works for state highway so we raise an lower when we want lol. Where are you located I live right down in public landing.